Married by Monday (Weekday Brides)

by Catherine Bybee

  “You were expecting blow up dolls?”

  “You know what I mean.”

  Carter switched lanes and navigated onto the freeway.

  “Everyone says the same thing. My dad was a cop for years. It’s hard to not be real after that. People anticipate a Kennedy when they consider my mother’s upbringing.”

  Eliza could see how that would be expected. Abigail might be polished, but she wasn’t pretentious at all. “You’re lucky to have them.”

  Carter glanced her way and his expression shifted into sorrow. He grasped her hand and gave a gentle squeeze. “I’m sorry.”

  “Don’t be.”

  “I am. I should have realized that meeting my parents would remind you of yours.”

  “My parents were happy, too. Spending time with your parents reminded me of the good times.”

  “I wish they could be here for the wedding,” Carter told her.

  “If they were alive we wouldn’t be getting married.” Her attempt to correct Carter resulted in his frown.

  “I guess,” he mumbled.

  What does that mean?

  Their flight home was uneventful and quiet. Eliza wasn’t sure what she’d said to upset him, but she could feel his mood shift. Between the silence, the wine, and the late hour, Eliza found herself nodding off on the plane.

  Security followed them from the airport to her house where Carter dropped her off without even a hug.

  Sleeping was impossible. Memories of the good times with her parents morphed into the time following their deaths. The empty shell of her life twisted into bitter feelings and a hard shell around her heart. For years, she didn’t let anyone in.

  That had changed, somehow. Her deep friendship with Samantha and the affection for the people in her life, for Carter, made her vulnerable.

  She once again questioned if she was doing the right thing. Curled up in a ball on the side of the bed was Zod. Outside of guard dogs, Eliza never had owned a pet. Pets equaled roots and she knew better than to plant those.

  Yet here she was forty-eight hours from her wedding with thick wooded roots growing everywhere.

  What happens when it falls apart? She held no illusion that it wouldn’t at some point. Happiness didn’t last forever.

  Stop thinking, Lisa! She twisted her pillow so the cool side hit her face and curled into a fetal position. Stop thinking!

  Chapter Seventeen

  “You’ve got to be kidding me.” Eliza stared down Gwen, Sam, and Karen and backed away from the silk scarf they held up for her to put on.

  “C’mon, Eliza. You’re getting married tomorrow, and if there is one thing I missed out on with my marriage to Blake, it was a bachelorette party.”

  Bachelorette party? Was Sam kidding her? “You get married every friggin’ year.”

  “But it isn’t the same!” Samantha and Karen shoved their way into the house and waved at the cute security guard sitting in the car at the end of the drive.

  Zod started to bark at the sudden appearance at the door. Eliza told him to stand back in a language he could understand.

  “Are you surprised?” Gwen asked as she placed a fake tiara on her head.

  Surprised? She was settling into a long episode of Home and Boring Television to lull her to sleep. After only a text from Carter since their trip to his parents, Eliza was a mite apprehensive about her decision to marry the man.

  “I’m stunned,” Eliza told her temporary roommate.

  “Since you invited Karen to bring Sedgwick to the wedding, I thought it was okay to ask her to come,” Samantha pointed out as they walked into the kitchen with bottles of expensive wine in their hands.

  Eliza smiled at Karen, knowing she could trust her. “Of course it’s okay.”

  “We wanted to take you to Hollywood. There’s this great place on Sunset that was perfect. But your security detail nixed our plans.”

  Deep inside, Eliza was charmed by the ladies’ effort. From nowhere, Gwen produced a small cake in the shape of a tied knot with Eliza and Carter’s name on it.

  Samantha uncorked a bottle and poured everyone a glass. “You know, I miss this place sometimes.”

  “Mrs. Sweeny still cooks fish every Friday night and stinks up the neighborhood,” Eliza reminded her friend.

  Samantha wrinkled her nose. “Really?’

  “And the yippy dog across the street barks all day,” Gwen added.

  Sam shook her head. “I still miss it. In a weird way.”

  “Psychotic way.”

  Gwen shook her head. “I disagree.” The hoity British accent added to Gwen’s claim. “It might be quaint, but it’s liberating.”

  “This coming from a woman who has lived a life of privilege.”

  “Privilege and restraint. That security detail that is keeping us from scantily clad men shaking their bottoms for our eyes, followed me around London most of my life. I know better than anyone here does how straining that can be after a while. Living here without those bonds has been relaxing beyond words.”

  Eliza tipped back the wine and enjoyed. “I hear ya.” She could only hope the security guards were temporary.

  “Is someone going to explain why they’re here?” Karen asked.

  Samantha didn’t miss a beat in her cover up. “Tomorrow, Eliza is marrying the man who may be the next Governor of California. They insisted on security.”

  Karen released a simple “oh” and didn’t say anything else.

  With their wine glasses filled, they returned to the living room and turned on the stereo.

  Eliza’s thoughts wandered to what Carter might be doing…

  ****

  “You’re getting married tomorrow,” Blake pointed at Carter while holding his shot glass. “This needs a celebration.”

  “Like you celebrated the night before your marriage.”

  “No. I screwed that up. But I’ve made up for it every year since.”

  Carter glanced over to Neil who tipped his shot glass back and downed his third shot within the hour.

  “So that’s why you want a wedding every year.” Carter enjoyed the slow burn of the twenty-year-old whisky and listened to his best friend boast.

  “I get married every year because I made Sam marry me in Vegas. She deserved better. But you…you’re doing it right the first time.”

  Am I? Blake knew that Carter was marrying Eliza for her safety. The fact that it wouldn’t hurt his campaign couldn’t be ignored either.

  “If you say so.”

  “It doesn’t matter why you’re getting married,” Neil said, reading Carter’s mind. “What matters is that tonight is your last night as a single man. Any self respecting bachelor is entitled to inebriate his brain before he gets married.”

  Carter turned to Blake. “You didn’t get wasted.”

  “I was too busy writing up a contract with my lawyer. You’re not.”

  Damn. Carter hadn’t even thought of that. Not that he worried that Eliza would attempt to marry him for what she could gain out of the deal. But considering her cold demeanor the other night, maybe…He shook the thought from his mind.

  “C’mon, Carter. Your drink is dry, and we have a full night ahead.”

  The noise from the radio droned out his groan.

  The sound of a “full night” held very little appeal.

  ****

  Eliza held a silver wrapped box next to one in scarlet red.

  “We didn’t have time for a bridal shower and a bachelorette party, so we’re combining both.” Karen’s eyes were glazed over, and Gwen was tipsy and giggling with every word.

  The first gift was a skimpy white silk teddy with a belted robe that would barely cover her bottom.

  “It’s beautiful, Karen.”

  “Open the other one,” she insisted.

  The red box was smaller and rattled when Eliza shook it. “Should I be afraid?”

  “It won’t jump out at you if that’s what you mean.” Karen’s sly grin made her nervous.


  Sure enough, the second box was scandalous. “Handcuffs…really?”

  Gwen’s giggling spread among them. It felt good to laugh. With her life on edge, Eliza hadn’t laughed enough, lately.

  “Mine next,” Gwen said as she thrust gifts into her hands. “I’m a bit more practical I’m afraid. I wouldn’t even know where to buy a sex toy.”

  Samantha and Karen both said “Melrose” at the same time. Another fit of laughter ensued.

  “The first gift is something new.”

  Inside the elegantly wrapped box was a pair of drop pearl earrings with tiny diamonds dangling on a gold chain. “They’re gorgeous. You shouldn’t have.”

  “Don’t be silly. They suit your dress and will frame your face beautifully.”

  “They’re too much, Gwen.” They had to have cost a small fortune.

  “Rubbish. Now open the next gift. Something borrowed.”

  The long box was light and adorned with a gold bow. Inside was a tiara with a veil fastened to the back.

  “I had a coming out party when I was sixteen, and my father gave me the tiara. I hope you’ll wear it.”

  “Are these real?” Eliza picked up the crown and ran her fingers along the stones.

  “Of course.”

  “I don’t think I’ve seen that many diamonds in one setting in my entire life,” Karen said.

  “Me either.” Eliza started to shake her head. “This has to be worth a small fortune.”

  “Probably. Image was everything to my father.” There was longing in Gwen’s voice.

  “I’m honored.”

  Gwen leaned forward and kissed Eliza’s cheeks.

  “Oh, and here.” Gwen took a small envelope from the box and removed a coin from inside. “A sixpence for your shoe.”

  “A what?”

  “You know. Something old, something new, something borrowed, something blue, and a six pence for your shoe.”

  Eliza palmed the coin before returning it to the box.

  Inside the next box, Samantha gifted her with something blue. A garter and a baby blue corset with matching panties.

  “Carter is going to love that,” Gwen announced.

  Eliza’s first thought was how right she was. Then it dawned on her that she and Carter hadn’t been intimate. Okay, if she counted their brief moment of insanity in the kitchen then maybe they had been. But not really.

  And who said they would be on their wedding night. Theirs was a marriage of convenience. The expectations weren’t the same… Were they?

  “Eliza?”

  The thought of Carter removing her wedding dress and discovering the soft blue lingerie brought warmth to her thoughts.

  “Eliza?”

  Would he like it? Did he enjoy that kind of thing? What man wouldn’t love that kind of thing?

  “Helloooo?”

  “What?” Eliza snapped.

  Karen tossed her hand up in the air, and Zod shot to his feet and ran to the window.

  “We lost you,” Karen said.

  Zod barked and Gwen told him to quiet.

  “I’m sorry. I was…thinking about Carter.”

  “I’ll bet you were.”

  Zod kept barking and Eliza felt a chill dart down her spine. “Was ist es?” she asked the dog.

  The women in the room stopped talking and making fun of Eliza’s lack of conversation.

  Eliza turned off the lights, stood to the side of the curtains, and pulled them back.

  “It’s probably a cat,’ Karen said.

  The K9 shot to the back of the house.

  Eliza shuddered. A dark memory tugged at the back of her mind. She followed Zod to the backdoor and grasped her purse as she passed it.

  He scraped at the door, and Eliza didn’t hesitate about opening it.

  “What’s happening?” someone behind her asked.

  She found her handgun and released the safety. The door opened and Eliza stood there poised.

  “Holt.” She instructed the dog. Zod stood on four legs and barked into the darkness.

  “Who’s there?”

  Samantha rushed to her side. “What is it?”

  “I don’t know. Stand back.” She flipped on the outside light and saw nothing.

  “I’m sending my dog,” Eliza shouted in the dark corners where the light didn’t reach.

  No one outside said a thing, but Zod kept barking.

  Eliza waited two seconds and sent him in. “Suche!”

  Zod took his command and bolted into the backyard. He ran to the back fence and jumped up half its length. He doubled back and sniffed the side yard.

  A noise from the opposite side fence sounded and Zod rushed to the other side.

  “Miss. Havens?” a man’s voice called from beyond the fence.

  “Don’t move,” she yelled to the voice.

  “Oh, shit.” The man yelling sounded like the guard Carter stationed on her once he asked her to marry him.

  “Don’t move!” Eliza rushed to the side yard “Stehen Sie hinunter!” she instructed Zod to hold his attack. But God help the guard if he moved. Zod was instructed to attack anything that moved.

  By the time Eliza made it to the side yard, Russell, the guard, was pinned to the side fence, and frozen in place by a vicious dog growling and barking at his prize.

  Eliza grasped Zod’s collar and shoved her gun into the pocket. “Did you see anyone?” she asked the guard.

  Russell hadn’t moved from the fence, his eyes never left Zod. “Only the dog.”

  Eliza swiveled back to the yard and searched the dark corners.

  Who was there? Who had been there?

  ****

  “We’re fine,” Eliza explained to Carter over the phone thirty minutes later. “It was probably a cat.” Thought she knew that Zod wouldn’t react to an animal the way he had.

  “I don’t like it.”

  “I’m sure I overreacted. We’ve been drinking a little. I’m fine, really.”

  “I still don’t like it. You should stay with me tonight.”

  “The night before our wedding?”

  “Of course, why not?”

  “It’s unlucky.” Lord, even she knew seeing the groom the morning of the wedding was bad luck.

  “That’s ludicrous.”

  “Yeah well, that’s how my mind works sometimes. I’m fine. If there was anyone in the back yard, Zod scared them off. I’m sure they won’t be back tonight. Russell didn’t see anyone either,” she added for extra ammunition for her argument.

  “Still…”

  “I’m fine, Carter. I promise.”

  “If something happened to you—”

  “It won’t. But it’s sweet that you care.”

  “We’re getting married tomorrow. Of course I care.”

  Did he? Did he really? “I’m nervous,” she admitted.

  “About tomorrow?”

  “Yeah.”

  “I am, too, a little.”

  How nervous? “Are you still in? Cuz if you want to back out—”

  “No! I’m excited, nervous, and everything a groom is supposed to be before the day of his wedding. I’m not having second thoughts.”

  Eliza smiled into the phone and cradled it closer to her ear. “Me, too,” she sighed.

  “So we’re in?”

  She nodded. “Yeah. We’re golden.”

  “Good,” he said. “Now let me come over there and get you.”

  “Not happening, Carter. Gwen and I are fine. My guess is Neil will have two more guards on duty before midnight.”

  “Three.”

  Eliza laughed. “See. We’re fine.”

  “Ahh.”

  “Enjoy your last night as a single man.”

  “I’d rather fast forward to tomorrow.”

  “If you can do that, California is guaranteed to elect you.”

  Carter chuckled.

  “I’ll see you tomorrow then,” Carter said.

  “I’ll be the one in the white dress.”
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  “I’m looking forward to it.”

  Eliza held onto the phone for a long time after he hung up.

  Chapter Eighteen

  How in the world did Samantha do this every freaking year? Eliza sat rod straight in a chair while Gwen fussed with her hair and Tracy the makeup artist carefully applied mascara to Eliza’s lashes.

  “You have the most expressive eyes,” Tracy told her.

  “Really? What are they expressing?”

  “Nerves, oodles of nerves.”

  Eliza couldn’t argue that. If it wasn’t the fresh coat of polish on her nails, she’d be nibbling up a storm.

  Samantha stepped into the room wearing the striking three-quarter length gown that rose high on her waist. The gown was perfect for an outdoor wedding. Ever practical, Eliza insisted that the gowns be something the women could use again. The color was a cross between wine and burgundy and it screamed of understated elegance. Gwen and Sam decided on swept up hair and simple diamond pendants for their necklaces. The two of them were stunning. Eliza couldn’t help but smile.

  “You’ll be happy to know that Carter is here and already working the room downstairs.”

  “Is he as nervous as our bride?” Gwen asked.

  Eliza met Samantha’s gaze in the mirror while Tracy applied another layer of shadow on her eyes.

  “He looked good. He asked about Eliza.”

  “Making sure I’m here.”

  “I don’t think he doubted that.”

  There was a knock on the door right as Tracy backed away. “Done.”

  Samantha opened the door and let Carter’s mother enter.

  “I hope it’s okay,” she said as they shut the door behind her.

  “Don’t be silly.” Eliza wanted to stand up to greet her, but Gwen was attaching the tiara and fixing the veil down the back.

  “I thought I’d assure you that everything is ready. Even my stuffy brother managed to make it on time.”

  “And your parents?”

  “They’re here as well. Please don’t worry about them. The last thing they enjoy is a scene. I know weddings can perpetuate family drama, but mine would be horrified to find themselves in the paper for ill behavior in public. Now in private, that might not be the case.”