by Laura Durham
Betty Belle gave me a final squeeze before releasing me.
Myrna stood, her back stiff. "Yes, we own you a debt of gratitude." She smiled at me as she held out a hand. "I understand this is something you do often."
I shot a look at Fern who was pointedly looking at the scone on his plate. "Not often, but I'm glad we were able to help. I hope you can enjoy the last few days of your trip."
"Luckily, we're here until we leave," Betty Belle said with a snort of laughter. "Especially since we lost our driver."
Myrna pressed her lips together. "I feel like a fool for being taken in by Seamus and Deb."
I patted her arm. "I wouldn't be too hard on yourself." I thought about the cold-blooded killers I'd thought were the sweetest people in the world. "It happens to the best of us."
"I'm just glad one of us didn't get impaled on an ice sculpture," one of the ladies said.
Another nodded and looked askance at the sweets on her plate. "Or get poisoned with a chocolate truffle."
I crossed my arms and stared at Fern. "You've been quite the storyteller, haven't you?"
His cheeks became a mottled patchwork of pink, but his eyes lit up as he glanced behind me. "Hello there, Detective."
I turned as Reese slipped his hand in mine and grinned at me. "Ready to go?"
I gave Fern what I hoped was a stern look as I waved goodbye to the ladies and we weaved our way back through the dining room to the foyer. "Did you talk to the people you needed to?"
"Actually, I did," he said as we baby-stepped through the revolving door together. "You know that the newlywed couple that's been following you around?"
I rolled my eyes. "Grace and Derek. Are they still here?"
"Not for long," Reese said once we'd spilled out onto the sidewalk. "I thought I recognized them when I saw Fern talking to them yesterday. I made a few calls and sent a phone pic of them to my buddies back at the station."
I felt my stomach drop. "Don't tell me they're criminals."
"Nope," he said. "Reporters. They work for DC Life magazine."
"Okay," I said. "What are they doing over here pretending to be on their honeymoon?"
"They've been researching a story about the wedding planning team with all the murders at their weddings."
My stomach tightened into a hard knot. "Us? They're printing an article about all the murders that have taken place at Wedding Belles weddings?" I felt tears prick the backs of my eyes. "That will destroy my business. No one will hire us after they read that. Do they mention Richard and Fern and the guys from Lush too?"
"They were planning to," Reese said, turning and holding both of my arms. "But that was before I stopped them."
"You stopped them?" I heard my voice crack. "How?"
"I mentioned the various ways they'd probably impeded the investigations, as well as potential charges for concealing their identities to the Gardaí here." He winked. "I might have implied they would face charges both here and back in the U.S."
I threw my arms around his neck. "Have I told you how much I love you?"
"Not in the past hour," he said, chuckling.
I kissed him hard, not caring that we were standing on the sidewalk in front of the hotel as people walked around us. I pulled back and raised an eyebrow at him. "You still want to go site-seeing?"
"It seems a shame to come to Dublin and not see anything," he said.
A bright red double-decker bus pulled to a stop at the corner. "We aren't going on that are we?"
He laughed again. "No." He gestured to a black cab idling at the curb. "I hired us a classic black cab."
"Annabelle!" I heard the deep bellowing voice and looked up to see Buster and Mack waving wildly from the upper, open-air level of the double-decker bus.
I waved back as the bus lurched forward then said to Reese. "You don't think Richard and Kate are on there too, do you?"
He shrugged. "Maybe they slept in."
"That would make sense for Kate, but Richard doesn't sleep in."
Reese held the door to the cab open for me. "I'm sure we'll catch up to them later."
I got inside and settled myself on the leather seats, enjoying the roomy interior of the classic car. Reese sat next to me and draped his arm over my shoulders then tapped the driver.
Our car wound through the streets of Dublin as the driver narrated what we were seeing, skirting us past Trinity College and Christ Church Cathedral then along the Liffey River. He slowed when we reached a white iron pedestrian bridge. "Here yeh are, lad."
"I thought we'd walk across the bridge," Reese said, hopping out of the cab and offering me his hand.
I followed him, breathing in the fresh cool air and looking up as we walked beneath one of the pointed metal arches spanning both sides of the bridge and topped with a streetlamp. Once we'd reached the middle of the bridge, Reese stopped. I looked down the river and could see most of Dublin spread out before me. "It's beautiful."
"It seemed like a perfect place." His voice shook slightly as he took both my hands.
I looked over and spotted two familiar figures at the other end of the bridge. "Why are Richard and Kate here?" I squinted. "And why is Richard holding a bottle of something?"
"It's champagne." Reese said. "I have to come clean, babe. Richard wasn't only telling me things about the case and helping me arrange a flight over here. He was also helping me plan this."
"Plan what?" I looked back at him and saw that he was kneeling down on one knee in front of me.
My heart started pounding and my mouth went dry. I'd seen enough proposals in my life to know the signs. I'd even helped plan a few myself. I'd just never given much thought to being on the receiving end of one.
"What are you . . .?" The words died in my throat as he popped open a small jewelry box and a diamond ring sparkled up at me.
"Annabelle Archer," he said, his voice thick with emotion. "You are the most fascinating, frustrating woman I've ever known. Will you marry me?"
The world seemed to stand still as I glanced over at Richard with the bottle of champagne and Kate holding her phone out, clearing recording this moment. I looked down at the ring glittering in the box and then at Reese's hazel eyes, which had deepened to green. After living my life around matrimony for so long, it felt almost surreal that I could be a bride.
"I already got Richard's blessing," Reese said, his face earnest.
I felt tears filling my eyes. "You did?"
"Are you kidding?" Reese said. "I was afraid if I didn't, he'd bake me a batch of Ex-Lax brownies."
"In that case," I said, touching his cheek. "Yes. Of course I'll marry you."
Beaming, he slid the ring onto my finger, and stood up, sweeping me off my feet and into a deep kiss. I could hear whooping and cheering behind us, and I recognized Kate's cat call. All my nerves and anxiety seemed to evaporate as we kissed, his strong arms holding me tight.
When he pulled away, I gazed up at him. "You know you're stuck with them now." I motioned my head to where Kate was still cheering and Richard was tapping his foot impatiently. I noticed a cab screech to a stop and Fern, Buster, and Mack all pile out and start waving and clapping.
"It's a package deal. I always knew that." He kissed me again, this time softly. "And to be honest, they feel like they're my friends too at this point."
"You know they love you," I said.
"They love me because I love you," he said.
I held out my finger to admire my new ring. "Same thing."
"Yeah," he grinned at me and swung me around in a circle. "I guess it is."
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