by Raven Snow
Rowen watched as Eric confronted the people approaching. “Is this your kid?” he demanded. “Did you see what he did?”
“I’m not his dad, but I saw what happened!” snapped a man from the group. “It’s not his fault you decided to parade a murderer around in front of the entire town!” He pointed at Norman, who was seated next to his daughter.
Margo heard. “He’s not a murderer, you ignorant hicks!” she shouted, rising to her feet. She probably would have gone over to them had Norman not caught her by the arm.
Everything devolved into shouting. Ben went over to Eric and the teenager in an official capacity. He tried to calm everyone down, but it didn’t seem like he was having much luck.
Aunt Lydia swept an arm around Rowen. “Let’s get you out of here,” she said, gently turning Rowen away from the chaos.
Rowen dragged her feet a bit. Part of her felt like she needed to stay and try to defuse the situation.
“Don’t you threaten to arrest me!” snapped a woman’s voice. “My tax dollars pay for your police department! Don’t think I don’t know you’re playing favorites here! You’ve always been friendly with those sinners!”
Rowen let Aunt Lydia lead her away. The will to try and defend herself to Lainswich was gone. Why had she ever thought she and her family could fit in here by just being themselves?
The walk was a long one. Rowen was no longer as worried about her dress. She slipped off her heels halfway across the lawn and just left them where they fell. What was the point?
Aunt Lydia was oddly silent. She kept her arm around Rowen. She didn’t try to pacify her with assurances that it would be all right or that they could try to have the wedding again. She didn’t tell her how to feel. Instead, she just kept an arm around her, giving her shoulder a gentle squeeze on occasion.
It wasn’t until they were back in the house that Rowen began to cry. She was glad no one else had followed them back yet. She broke down, and it couldn’t have been anything but ugly. She wailed and gave big shuddering sobs while Aunt Lydia hugged her.
The worst part was just how stupid Rowen felt. She had let herself get into the wedding. She had felt glamorous and important. She had ignored all the doubts she had had before now and let herself be happy. Now, she felt like a fool.
It didn’t take long for Rowen to cry herself out. She had never really been one for tears. All it normally took was getting it out of her system. Rowen got the crying out, but the miserable feeling remained. She wasn’t sure what to do about that. “I’m going up to my room to change.”
“Are you coming back down?” asked Aunt Lydia, her brows drawn together in concern.
“I just need some time to myself,” said Rowen. “I’ll be all right. Thanks.”
Rowen headed upstairs. She got out of her dress. Normally, it was a two person ordeal to get out of. Rowen might have broken the fastenings just a bit, but she wasn’t sure she cared. She stepped out of the thing and left it in the closet. There was still food on it. She couldn’t leave it there. Right now, she didn’t want to look at it, though. She closed the closest door on it and found some sweatpants and a t-shirt. This wasn’t what she had planned on wearing today, but it was what she felt right in at the moment.
With a sigh, Rowen flopped down on her bed. She waited for Eric. He would have to show his face soon enough.
After a while, there was a knock on the door. Rowen hadn’t expected that. If it was Eric, he would have come right in. “Who is it?” she called.
“Rose,” said a muffled voice on the other side.
Rowen decided that she could stand being around Rose right now. “Come in,” she called.
Rose came in, closing the door behind her. “I’m sorry about… everything,” she said with a sigh. “This really sucks.”
Rowen sat up in bed. She patted the mattress, inviting Rose to join her. “That’s putting it lightly… Where’s Eric?”
Rose cringed, like she had been dreading that question. “Ben took him down to the station to avoid causing a riot.”
“He what?!” Rowen demanded, sitting up a little straighter.
“He took in the guy who was trying to egg on the crowd for being drunk and disorderly,” she explained, speaking quickly. “The crowd started making a fuss that Eric laid his hands on that kid and needed to be brought in too. Ben did it to avoid trouble, but he assured me Eric wouldn’t be charged with anything. It’s just for appearances.”
Rowen relaxed a bit. She couldn’t be mad at Ben. She couldn’t imagine what this was going to do for his reputation. She had already heard people accusing him of misusing his station to keep the Greensmiths out of trouble. “That makes sense, I guess.” She would rather have Eric here, but she could understand why Ben had done what he did.
Rose relaxed a bit. “Yeah, your mother wanted to come up and break the news to you, but I managed to convince her I should do it. I think she’s more hysterical than anyone.”
“I appreciate that,” said Rowen, managing a weak smile. “I don’t think I could deal with my mother right now.”
Rose reached out hesitantly. She put an arm around Rowen and gave her a squeeze. “Before everything went downhill really fast, it was a pretty wedding.”
Rowen’s halfhearted smile widened just a bit. “It was, wasn’t it?” She gave a sigh, her smile falling. “This is a mess. I thought something bad might happen, but I didn’t expect this.”
Rose nodded. “Neither did I,” she admitted. “I can’t believe someone threw something at you, and−” She stopped talking. She looked down at the floor.
“And what?” Rowen pressed, sensing that there was something else.
Rose didn’t even try to keep the truth from Rowen. “Someone trashed the stand.”
“The one Lydia and Nadine were running?” asked Rowen. She shouldn’t have been surprised but hearing it still stung.
Rose nodded. “The whole thing was a mess. The table was flipped, and the herbs were scattered.”
“Did the booths beside them see who did it?” asked Rowen.
Rose frowned. “Either they didn’t or they’re lying about it. I would believe either.”
Rowen nodded. “You know last night Eric and I were having a talk about Lainswich.”
“Yeah?”
“Yeah. He suggested I move away.” Rowen looked at Rose, trying to gauge her response to that. “He said I didn’t do well in this town. I think he’s right.”
“What about the Inquirer?” asked Rose. She seemed concerned. She really liked that job. Everyone who knew her could tell. She was great at it like it was her calling or something.
“I’d probably hand it over to you,” said Rowen. She hadn’t actually given the matter any serious thought, but that seemed like the most obvious thing to do. “You practically run it already. You might have to hire on one more person unless the others actually start pulling their weight, but I think you’d be all right.”
“It wouldn’t be the same,” said Rose, not looking the least bit excited about possibly running the paper. “I love that job because I love working with you guys. If you ran off, it wouldn’t be nearly as fun. I’d be here, one Greensmith down, dealing with a town that hates us.”
“I wouldn’t just abandon you,” Rowen said, offended Rose thought she would just rush off without setting things right. “I may leave Lainswich, but I have something I have to do before I can.”
“What?” asked Rose.
“I have to set this right,” said Rowen. “I have to solve this thing and figure out what happened to Jeana.”
Chapter Ten
It was late before Eric got home, and Rowen was already in bed. She had spent the entire evening up in her room. Rose had brought her up some dinner, but Rowen hadn’t been very hungry. She especially hadn’t been very keen to eat the food from their canceled reception.
Rowen stirred when Eric climbed into bed beside her. They didn’t launch into conversation. He just gave her a kiss and a hug and told h
er to go back to sleep. She did.
Eric slept in the next morning, and Rowen didn’t wake him. She headed downstairs to plan out her day. It sounded like most of her family was in the kitchen having a hushed conversation about the events of yesterday. Rowen could hear them talking about her like she was a fragile piece of china.
“So, when do we finish the wedding?” asked Willow.
“We can’t just ‘finish’ it,” said Margo, sounding disgusted. “She has to have a new one.”
“I’m not planning another wedding,” said Tiffany. “This was so much work. Can’t we just… I don’t know… Use the stuff we already have for this wedding?”
“You say that like you actually planned this one,” said Aunt Lydia, sounding a bit annoyed with her sister. “Nadine and I did all the work.”
“I helped with food,” Tiffany insisted. “She’s my daughter.”
“Right,” said Lydia. “So you think you would have helped more.”
“I’m with Tiffany on this one, actually,” said Nadine. “We shouldn’t let all of our planning go to waste.”
“See?” said Tiffany.
Lydia sighed. “Look, I think we can all agree that Rowen has the final say in all of this. She gets to decide how we proceed, and if she needs time, she can have it.”
“Eric should be part of the decision-making too, shouldn’t he?” asked Peony.
“Well, sure,” said Lydia. “I guess. Whatever.”
Rowen picked that moment to head into the kitchen. She wasn’t going to stand in the hallway listening in like a weirdo forever. She had a full day ahead of her.
“Rowen,” said Tiffany, standing. “Good morning, Sweetheart. How did you sleep?”
“Not great,” said Rowen, thinking that much should be obvious. Her mother had a knack for asking pointless questions at inopportune times. Granted, right now, there was a real chance that she was just more high-strung than normal.
“What are you feeling like today?” asked Aunt Lydia.
“I don’t know yet. I’m thinking about it.” Rowen finished pouring herself some coffee. She added some milk and sugar then turned to find a table full of family members all looking straight at her, waiting. It was incredibly awkward. They didn’t seem to know how to act around her. “I’m fine,” said Rowen, trying to reassure them. “I mean, yeah, I’m upset. I had hoped to be on a plane for Paris by now.”
“You can still go,” Aunt Lydia said quickly. “That might be nice. Have yourself a little vacation. Jet off with Eric and relax. By the time you two get back, we can have another wedding.”
“This one should be better than the first,” Margo added. “Lydia got all warmed up planning the first one.”
“I’m not sure I want another wedding in Lainswich,” said Rowen, sipping at her coffee.
Aunt Lydia gasped. “You don’t mean that.”
Tiffany shoved Lydia’s arm. “Hush. She can have the wedding wherever she wants it… Assuming Eric is paying for most of it and, you know, our transportation there and all.”
“Whatever you want,” said Nadine. “Within reason,” she added.
“Take all the time you need,” said Lydia, stepping in again. “Go take some time if you want to.”
“It’s tempting,” Rowen admitted. Paris sounded like a fun adventure right now. Unfortunately, her mind would be elsewhere the entire time. That sort of defeated the purpose. “But there’s some business I need to take care of first.”
“Is it anything we can help with?” asked Willow.
“I don’t know,” said Rowen. She wasn’t even quite sure where she wanted to start yet. “I’ll have to get back to you on that.” Before more questions could be asked, she left the kitchen, coffee in hand.
Rowen went looking for Norman first. She found him in the den, which was no surprise. He was seated on the sofa with the weather station open, but he wasn’t paying any attention to it.
“Let’s have a chat,” said Rowen, walking past him to take a seat on the chair adjacent to the sofa.
Norman looked up. He had a weary look about him. There were bags under his eyes and his shoulders were slumped a bit. “Listen, Rowen,” he began, struggling with the words a bit as he tried to sort out what to say. “I’m sorry about your wedding. I really, really am.”
Rowen shook her head. Of all the things that annoyed her about Norman, she wasn’t mad at him over that. “It’s not your fault,” she said.
“Really?” Norman raised an eyebrow. “Because it seems like most, if not all, of this is because of me.”
“It’s because Lainswich has always been distrustful of our family,” said Rowen, correcting him. “You didn’t actually do anything wrong this time. I mean, maybe you should have gone straight to the police about maybe being one of the last people to have seen her, given your connection. But, it’s not your fault some little jerk ruined my wedding.”
“So, what, then?” asked Norman, correctly deducing that there was something Rowen wanted from him.
“I want you to stop feeling sorry for yourself,” said Rowen.
Norman snorted at that. “I’m not feeling sorry for myself.”
Rowen looked him up and down. He was normally so sharply dressed. Lately, he had been spending most of his days on the couch. He didn’t go out. He just sat around the house and watched television. Rowen made a vague motion toward him.
Norman seemed to get the point. “Fine,” he said. “Maybe I’ve been a little down in the dumps.”
“Because the whole town hates you,” said Rowen.
“Well, you don’t have to say it so bluntly,” muttered Norman, “but, yeah, I don’t exactly feel welcome out there. It’s not the most welcoming environment.”
“Then you know what we have to do,” Rowen prompted.
“What?”
“We solve this thing,” said Rowen. “We figure out where Jeana is, alive or dead. We’ve solved stuff like this before. I’m sure that we can do it again… And by that, I mean I’ve solved stuff like this before. I guess it’s not much of a ‘we.’ You can help, though. Especially this time.”
Norman looked skeptical. “What do you need me to do?” he asked.
“What the Greensmiths are known for,” Rowen said with a smile. “We’re going to do a little magic.”
___
Fortunately, Eric woke up before Rowen was ready to leave. He headed straight for her but didn’t really say much of anything except, “I’m sorry.”
“What is it with everyone apologizing to me today?” Rowen gave him a hug and a kiss.
“I should have handled that better,” said Eric, shaking his head. He seemed a little stiff around her like recent events had made their relationship awkward.
Rowen rolled her eyes, shrugging off the things he was worried about. “I wouldn’t have been mad at you even if you had punched the kid,” she told him honestly. “Can you believe his nerve?”
“Yeah,” said Eric, his gaze going distant like he was having some sort of traumatizing flashback. “I met his parents at the police station. Let’s just say, I think I know where the overall horribleness came from.”
Rowen winced. “I’m sorry you had to go through that,” she said. She couldn’t imagine. Had she been forced to head down to the police station rather than just retreat to her room for the night, she would have had a much rougher time.
“I’m sorry you got hit with a chili dog.” Eric pinched the bridge of his nose between his thumb and forefinger. “On our wedding night. Can you believe this?”
That got a smile from Rowen. The whole thing was still depressing, but sometimes you just had to laugh at ridiculous misfortune like that. “How did things go at the station?”
“Fine,” Eric assured her. “Ben was really understanding and really reluctant to actually arrest me or anything. I think that just annoyed the locals more, unfortunately.”
“Poor Ben,” Rowen said with a sigh. “I hope he doesn’t get into any trouble on our account.
>
Eric nodded then looked Rowen over. He must have noted that she was dressed to leave. Her shoes were on and everything. “Where are you going?”
“To the office,” she said.
“Really?” Eric looked surprised to hear that. “You know, after what just happened, I think you can stand to take a day off… Or a couple of weeks. I assumed that’s what you planned ahead for what with our honeymoon already planned out and all.”
