by Ally Gray
The few guests who’d made it so far filled the two scant rows of white wooden folding chairs that had been placed strategically at the front of the outdoor venue. The minister looked on with a bemused expression, while Porter grinned so widely that his smile seemed to divide his face in two. Priscilla smiled back as she approached the altar, walking tragically alone with no one to give her away, but with her head still held high.
Behind her, two 55-inch flat-screen televisions faced the altar, one on each side of the flower petal-strewn aisle runner. A video camera on top of each monitor relayed the images and sound. The security detail continued to stand guard over the televisions, an overly large man placed on either side of them, standing watch with his cannon-sized arms crossed in front of an equally impressive chest. If they weren’t so intimidating and the situation so grave, the men would have been a glorious sight to behold, as Mandy’s and Tori’s contented sighs clearly said every time they passed by.
“Dearly beloved,” the minister said with forced brightness, “most of us are gathered here today to celebrate the union of Porter Lancaster and Priscilla Hardy. For those of you joining us via closed circuit court TV, we welcome you to raise your hand if you can’t hear.” No one laughed at the absurdity of the announcement, and when Stacy turned to look at the monitors, she saw nothing but smiles from the two matched sets of relatives, all wearing their department issued orange jumpsuits. She held the remote control clutched fiercely in her hand, having muted the televisions in case any of them still harbored any ideas about objecting to the marriage. She was completely tickled at the view, though, as the security detail Mr. Giudice had brought in stood guard on either side of the monitors, as though these cornflakes could do anything to stop this wedding from the county jail.
For his part, Rod stood off to the side under the shade of a large weeping willow tree. When he’d arrived to tell her in person that he had the signed release papers, she’d made him promise to wait until after the ceremony.
“There’s no reason to ruin their day by having these people show up,” she’d explained. “And besides, we’ve already rented the monitoring equipment. We can’t get a refund at this late date, especially not after having them deliver it and set it up on a moment’s notice. Trust me, it’s better this way.”
“Yeah, well, there’s this unfortunate little thing called obstruction of justice. If I’m gonna sit on these papers and keep these people locked up, I’d better have a damn good excuse. Sorry, but not wanting them to spoil those kids’ special day isn’t reason enough to have the taxpayers of this state pay for their lunch today.” He’d given Stacy a defeated look, bothered that he couldn’t be more helpful when his job interfered, and walked towards his car.
“Shoot,” Stacy said out loud, not realizing anyone could hear her. She saw her assistant standing by her elbow and said, “I just wish there was some way to keep him from getting back to the office in time to free all of them.”
“One step ahead of you, boss,” Mandy said with a laugh.
“What did you do?”
“Oh, I just took a lesson from the Lancasters and Hardys. I let the air out of his tires.” Stacy looked shocked for only a moment, then laughed loudly and threw an arm around Mandy’s shoulders.
“You’re amazing!” she cried. “Let’s go, we’ve got to get this wedding underway before he calls roadside assistance!”
Now, as the bride made her way to the front and her family surrounded her via the glory of technology, Stacy could physically feel the weight of the world leaving her thin frame.
“You’re an evil genius,” Nathan said in her ear, the feel of his breath against her neck sending chills up her spine. “I can’t say that I’ve ever attended a prison wedding before, but you have to admit, it’s kind of exciting in a caged heat slash conjugal visit kind of way. Am I right?”
Stacy shook her head once to silence him, but she suppressed a laugh at the way his mind worked.
Chapter 13
The overly decorated car carrying the happy couple towards their honeymoon pulled away from the property at the exact same moment that Nathan came up behind Stacy and slid his arms around her waist, pulling her close to him and nuzzling the spot behind her ear lightly.
“You ready to call it a day?” he asked sweetly, knowing she had to be dead on her feet. “I’ve got a car waiting to whisk you off to a land of bubble baths, foot rubs, and high thread count sheets.”
“Not in a million years. We’ve got the cleanup to oversee, then there’s the customary round of drinks at Hugh’s Bar to get through. It’s a ritual that sees us through any crisis situation. You might want to head on home if you can’t stand the sight of ugly drunks being hit on by even uglier drunks.”
“And miss the chance to watch you dance on a table? Never!” he answered with a smug look.
“I have never danced on a table in my life, no matter how much I’ve had to drink!” Stacy shot back indignantly. “Abigail insisted that all of her employees be the picture of class, no matter the occasion.”
“That may be true, but I can keep hoping! Maybe if I get lucky, tonight will be the night! Clean up can wait, I’ll get my car and bring it around, so you go tell your gang of miscreants to get their dancing shoes on.”
Stacy smiled wickedly and raced inside to tell the others. Within only a matter of minutes, everything was secured and the doors were locked, and one by one the chief staff members headed towards their awaiting cars in the employee parking lot. They were stunned to find Nathan’s “car” was a stretch limo.
“I figured after that last time, we could use a designated driver. And since my seventeen-year-old nephew is busy tonight, I had to order us this.” He laughed at the looks of amazement that temporarily stunned his staff, then roared as they shouted in unison and shoved their way towards the car. The squeals and calls of delight subsided as they piled inside the bus-sized Hummer limousine and pulled out of the parking lot in the same direction that Priscilla and Porter’s car had taken, although this one wouldn’t be traveling anywhere near as far. The driver took a left onto the main road while the party got underway in the back of the large vehicle. Nathan poured the champagne in undersized plastic glasses, and offered a toast to what had to be the most difficult event the company had ever staged.
They arrived at their favorite dive bar and filed into the venue, pushing tables together and rearranging chairs. Their usual bartender had a tray of shots ready, again courtesy of Nathan’s pre-party planning and speed with a cell phone.
“See? You guys aren’t the only ones who can throw something classy together!” he said confidently. “Oh wait, my fault, I guess this isn’t all that classy!”
“Are you kidding? These shot glasses are the real deal! Genuine glass even, all the way from Taiwan!” Mandy teased. The others clinked their miniature glasses together in a toast and downed them, which was followed by a brief silence as everyone cringed from the first taste of hard liquor of the night.
By the fifth tray of shots, no one was cringing as they threw back the amber liquid. By the sixth, they weren’t even feeling it go down anymore. Oddly enough, throughout the adventure and the recounting of the events that led to that night of drinking, Nathan watched the assembled group with a small twinge of jealousy, feeling very much like an outsider who’d been allowed to tag along instead of the guy whose name graced their paychecks, even if it was in the form of a stamp Stacy kept locked in her desk drawer. He watched the easy way these friends interacted, laughing at each other’s inside jokes and outdoing each other with outrageous stories from previous wedding nightmares, and generally acting more like a family—a well-behaved, loving family, that is—than people who worked for the same company. He turned to sneak a glance at Stacy, who was enjoying herself immensely now that the crushing weight of this event was off her shoulders, and was filled with a new wonder at how he came to be lucky enough to have her in his life. His bubble of joy almost popped when he thought back to how he had
almost lost her, and how he’d had to fight to get back into her life after convincing her that there was nothing inappropriate about their relationship.
He signaled to the bartender that they needed more to drink, scribbling the air with his hand to remind him that this was all on his tab. Nathan sat up straighter as he waited for their drinks, fidgeting nervously while the others talked and laughed.
“Are you okay? Aren’t you having fun?” Stacy asked, leaning closer and speaking directly in his ear. It was his turn to react to the feeling of her warm breath sliding up his neck, and he chuckled softly as he felt goose bumps rise up on the back of his neck. He placed an arm around her shoulders and kissed her forehead as she said quietly, “We can leave if you want to, you know. They’ll be fine without us.”
“I’m having a great time, I promise. And it’s about to get even better.”
She leaned back and looked up at his face, perplexed by his words. She hadn’t had so much to drink that she couldn’t make sense of what he was saying, so she simply returned his smile with an uncertain grin of her own.
When the waitress appeared with the tray and everyone had taken another glass, Nathan said, “So far tonight we’ve all had the chance to lift our glasses to a variety of causes. We’ve toasted to bosses from hell and bridezillas and hillbillies, but it’s time I propose a toast of my own.” He lifted a small glass and waited for the others to quiet down and follow suit. “To Stacy, my sweet, wonderful, lovely… bride? Will you do me the incredible honor of marrying me?”
In the movies, this would be the part where the jukebox scratches to a halt and the burly men playing pool in the corner turn to stare at the newcomer walking in the door, Stacy thought to herself. She watched Nathan’s face expectantly, waiting for the punchline. When he didn’t say anything else and instead just watched her face earnestly, she turned to look at the frozen expressions of her staff members. They offered no help either, so Stacy turned back to Nathan and laughed lightly.
“You’re so funny,” she started to say, but stopped in mid-sentence when he reached into his front pocket and retrieved a ring box, setting it defiantly on the table in front of her like a gauntlet he was throwing down. She heard the gasps from her close friends, but couldn’t bring herself to look at them. Instead, she stared at the small black velvet box.
“Am I really all that funny?” he asked quietly, his voice turning very serious. He opened the box to reveal the three carat solitaire nestled inside the folds of satin. The gasps from earlier returned and brought friends. “Because I think I’m being really, really serious right now.”
Stacy reached out to touch the box for a second but pulled her hand away as though it would bite her. She looked first at Nathan, but was unable to read the emotion behind his eyes. She looked to her friends and co-workers, the people who were probably closer to her than anyone else on the planet, but they offered no clues. She was always in charge, giving orders and issuing commands to make their clients happy, but for once, the lady with all the answers came up with nothing. She even looked around the bar briefly as though she expected a camera crew to jump up and tell her the joke was finally over.
She picked up the box and examined the ring, but instead of a symbol of love she saw reflected in its gleaming facets all of the problems that brides brought to their special days, the problems that Stacy had to solve before they could move on with their perfect lives. She was so certain that the box and its contents represented the worst in people, the things that they brought to her doorstep and dropped there, waiting for her to pick them up and put them to rights again. But something about the box caught her eye, and she looked closer, realizing that the small shiny parts on the outside were actually places where the velvet exterior had worn thin, had aged. She furrowed her brow as she looked at it, and Nathan noticed.
“Oh, that. It’s… kind of old.”
“The ring? You mean, like an antique?” she asked, stalling for time while her whiskey-addled brain processed what was unfolding right before her eyes.
“No, not an antique, but still… old.”
“How old, Nathan?” she asked evenly, knowing the answer before he could answer. She closed her eyes and waited.
“About three months after we met. I’ve been carrying it around ever since, kind of like a good luck charm. Just… waiting.”
Tears pricked at her closed eyes, and she knew without opening them that the sound of a contented sigh going around the table meant her friends approved. She was surprised to figure out that she did, too. Without even needing her eyes to find him, Stacy leaned towards Nathan and kissed him passionately, ignoring the low whistles from the party at their table or from onlookers around the suddenly crowded bar. She was oblivious to everything around them, focused instead on the person who’d waited so long for her to get her life together and accept him.
When she broke this kiss, she opened her eyes to see Nathan’s smile lighting up his face in the dark corner of the bar. She smiled back, but laughed when he said, “I’m going to need you to actually commit to an answer verbally, in front of these witnesses.”
She nodded, and finally managed to whisper, “Yes, I’ll marry you.” They kissed once more as their table erupted in boisterous cheers, this time causing those same burly pool players to look up. Applause broke out around the room as word began to spread of her acceptance.
“I only have one demand… we’re running off to Vegas to get married!” she announced, spawning a round a hilarity from their group. Nathan nodded and looked relieved.
“I was so hoping you’d say that.”
Also by Ally Gray
Available Now:
I Do, You Die - An Events By Design Cozy Mystery - Book 1
Wedding Duress - An Events By Design Cozy Mystery - Book 2
The Bride Wore Black - An Events By Design Cozy Mystery - Book 4
Mob Wedding Mayhem - An Events By Design Cozy Mystery - Book 5
