Wedding Mints and Witnesses

by Kelsey Browning

  “We spoke on the phone. I’m Lillian Summer Fairview.”

  “I see. The Castro wedding.” Honey gulped noticeably and cast a wary glance at her boss. “We really shouldn’t be talking about this now.”

  “I know,” Lil whispered before raising her voice to say, “We were able to get a flock of doves—are they called a flock?—and I thought you might like to see the release for events you plan in the future.”

  “Well…”

  To make it look good for Elisabeth’s benefit, Lil took out a G Team card and scribbled Summer Haven’s address on the back along with the wedding date. “In fact, we’d love for you to come on out early.”

  “The wedding coordinator is always on site early,” Honey explained.

  Lil gave Honey a wink. “The wedding is at four, but you’ll want to get there extra, extra early. You don’t want to miss seeing all of Summer Haven.” That should allow them time to eyeball Honey before any of the guests arrived or festivities began. “I’ll show you around myself.”

  “Thank you. That’s so nice of you.”

  “I’ll see you there, dear.” Pride in setting a trap warming her bones, Lil strolled up to the bakery counter.

  Elisabeth glared at her as she returned to the table where Honey was still seated.

  Oh yes, this would work out perfectly. Lil smiled and ordered three organic chia seed dog treats for Ritter. The lady behind the counter packaged them and rang them up.

  “Seven-fifty, ma’am,” the store clerk said.

  Lil almost choked but handed the woman a ten dollar bill. Goodness, that was more than the bakery in Summer Shoals charged for three delicious toffee crunch cookies. But Ritter deserved a special little something after all. She tucked the goodies in her purse then headed to the door.

  “Ta-ta,” Lil called as she passed Honey on her way out.

  She climbed into Abby Ruth’s truck. “Let’s get a move on.”

  Abby Ruth pulled out of the lot and glared a hole into Lil. “What were you doing in there?”

  “Eyes on the road, please.” Lil let out her breath once Abby Ruth turned her attention back to driving.

  “You stirred up something, didn’t you?”

  “I simply invited Honey to come see the doves before the wedding starts.”

  “I told you—”

  “You’re hoping to catch her at something before anyone arrives. Smart, Lil!” Maggie said.

  “I still don’t like it,” Abby Ruth grumbled.

  “You just do your thing,” Lil said, risking a pat to Abby Ruth’s leg. “Be the mother of the bride and leave this case to us.”

  “You think you can do this without me. Or Sera?”

  Lil was pretty proud of herself for luring Honey to Summer Haven well before the wedding. Wouldn’t Abby Ruth be impressed with Lil when she solved this case without her? “You’re willing to drop the case right now anyway. I guess we’ll see. If not, what have we lost?”

  * * *

  When Teague walked in the door that evening, Jenny had worked herself up into a lather. For days, she’d tried to distract herself from the swirl of conflicting feelings inside her, today by playing outside with Grayson and Bowzer, but every time she looked at her son, all she could think of was seeing him run alongside Red.

  Red Jensen.

  Her dad.

  Teague shrugged out of his weapon harness and went to lock it away in the gun safe they’d installed immediately after buying the place. Then he walked over with that cocky swagger she loved and pulled her into his arms.

  Thank goodness for this man. How would she be handling this whole having-a-father thing if Teague weren’t around? Her ex-husband Daniel wouldn’t have given her an ounce of understanding, even if he’d cared. Cared? Even if he’d listened to her. By the time they’d split, he’d quit hearing her.

  Teague Castro would be an ear for her for the rest of their lives.

  “You okay?” he asked.

  Those two words made the tears well up and close her throat. Just when she’d been doing so well the past couple of days. She blew out a steadying breath and leaned back so she could look up into his face. “Lillian and Maggie came by yesterday.”

  “More wedding details?”

  “You could say that.” When they’d bustled in with those armloads of white dresses, she’d been struck dumb. She’d expected to walk down the aisle in a nice dress or cocktail suit, but she’d never considered a real wedding dress. It was as if she’d convinced herself she didn’t deserve to be a bride again. “They brought over a truckload of wedding dresses.”

  “I’m not surprised. Winnie cornered your mom when we were having a bite to eat at Earlene’s Drinkery.”

  Now she pulled all the way out of his arms. “You saw Mom?”

  “Just because you’re mad at her doesn’t mean I am.”

  Needing to move, she walked around the kitchen island, picked up a dishcloth and began to clean out the sink. She hated cleaning the sink. “She came with Lil and Maggie.”

  “Your mother didn’t mean to hurt you. You know that, right? It’s complicated, but everything with Abby Ruth Cady always is.”

  “She didn’t come to the door, didn’t ask to come inside. At first, I didn’t realize she was with them. They stripped me down and made me try on every dress.”

  “Did you find one you liked?”

  She smiled, but it felt sad on her lips. “I fell in love with the last dress I tried on, and when I had it on, I glanced out the window and Mom was looking in. Maggie told me it was the only dress Mom picked out.”

  “Please tell me you didn’t take it off and send it back just because of that.”

  “No! I knew it was mine the second I slipped it on. What should I do, Teague? I love Mom, but I’m so mad. So hurt.” She slapped her hands against her thighs. “Half of me is desperate to have her at the wedding. And half of me wants to push her away.”

  He came closer and leaned against the bar. He studied her so intently she felt as if he were looking inside her. A man in law enforcement made for a very observant lover. “She’s only ever wanted what was best for you.”

  “How is not telling me about my dad best for me?”

  “Jenny,” he sighed. “Sometimes the people who love you the most keep secrets for a reason. When they know something that will definitely hurt you, they may decide to keep it to themselves.” He glanced down at the floor and back up quickly, but Jenny was pretty observant too and saw the flicker of anxiety rush across his face.

  The man she was about to marry was also keeping something from her. And this wasn’t the first time. His past secrets were the reason she’d married another man, the reason she and Teague had lost a decade together. “What is it? It’s about Melinda, isn’t it?”

  “What? What does my ex-wife have to do with your mom?”

  “Nothing that I know of, but I’m pretty sure she has something to do with that guilty expression you just tried to hide.”

  “I haven’t given her more than a moment’s thought in years.”

  “Then what were you thinking about?” She hated asking the question, but she was electrified with pregnancy hormones, and she was unusually needy these days.

  “That I wish I could’ve kept you from feeling this pain, but I wasn’t surprised you discovered Red is your dad.”

  “What do you mean? Why wouldn’t you have been surprised?”

  He reached out to run a gentle hand down her arm. “Because I’ve suspected it for a long while now.”

  The dullest pain hit her heart. She stepped back so quickly that she caught Bowzer’s tail under her heel, and her feet slipped out from under her. One minute she was stable, and the next, nothing was beneath her.

  But she never hit the floor.

  Somehow Teague got his hands on her and cushioned her against his chest as his back slammed into the kitchen cabinets. As soon as she got her bearings, Jenny scrambled backwards in a dizzy crabwalk and pulled her feet underneath her
on the floor.

  Bowzer came over and climbed into her lap, resting his head on her knee. She stroked his soft yellow fur, taking modest comfort in the silky feel against her fingers.

  Keep breathing. Maybe you heard Teague wrong.

  She looked up at the man she loved. His eyes were shadowed, misery and worry etching his face in a way that told her she’d heard exactly what he’d said. “How? How could you have known? And not told me?”

  He hunkered down next to her, and Bowzer whined. The pup was smart and sensed the tension between them. “Does it really matter? What matters now is that you have two people who love you, Jenny. They love you, and they both live right here in Summer Shoals. You have every right to be surprised. Shocked, even. But I’m not sure you have the right to act like a child.”

  He couldn’t have hurt her more if he’d reared back and punched her in the heart. “You think I’m being silly? Petty? That I’m throwing a tantrum just because I enjoy it? Let me assure you that I’m not enjoying a damn thing about any of this. How could you have kept this from me? You knew I still had questions about my dad.”

  “It wasn’t my story to tell. It was a suspicion. Call it an occupational hazard. Believe me, I have to dig around in a lot of stuff I’d rather not. I don’t want to do that with my own family.”

  “Really?” she said sweetly, but inside she was withering, turning into a crumbling black mess she didn’t recognize. “If that’s the case, then I guess you’d be better off without a family.”

  Teague went still, so still he looked as if he wasn’t breathing. “What are you saying?”

  “That I can’t marry a man I can’t trust to share everything with me—the good, the bad, the pretty, the ugly.”

  “Jenny—” he reached for her, but she shied away from him, “—you can’t be serious—”

  “I wish it could’ve been different—” she scrambled to her feet and turned away from him so she wouldn’t cave, “—but the wedding is off.”

  Chapter Nineteen

  The ride home yesterday from the Everything Elegant Bakery & Gifts shop had been a long one for Lil with all the tension in Abby Ruth’s truck. She was still refusing to move forward with their investigation, and Lil hadn’t been this riled up since Angelina Broussard wielded her Bartell County Historical Society powers to try to have the bronze marker removed from Summer Haven.

  Lil would not allow Abby Ruth to dictate what the G Team worked on. No, ma’am. After all, Lil had been the one to turn their criminal chasing into a business. Maybe they hadn’t made any real money yet, but they’d righted wrongs, which gave them all purpose.

  Disagreements between Abby Ruth and her weren’t new. Heck, Abby Ruth sparked a competitive spirit that Lil hadn’t felt since her days on the intramural badminton team at William and Mary. Was it that sense of competition that had driven her to start sneaking Ritter into the house? At first, she’d agreed to letting him stay because his presence had nagged at Abby Ruth so much. But then that rascally dog had stolen Lil’s heart. Besides, he could help them with G Team jobs. A good bloodhound could track trails a week old. Call it a business decision.

  Lil glanced at the bracelet that Sera had given her, the symbol of the G Team’s unity. Sera would be in town tonight, thank goodness. If Abby Ruth wanted to give up the case, Lil, Maggie, and Sera would take it totally undercover.

  Wasn’t as if they hadn’t worked on cases behind Abby Ruth’s back before. Lil felt a spark of empowerment. She went into the dining room to find Maggie staring at the wall of clues they’d brainstormed so far. “You’re thinking what I’m thinking, aren’t you?”

  Maggie turned and smiled. “Probably. That pesky thief needs to learn a thing or two.”

  “Do you think that sweet girl Honey has something to do with all these thefts?” Lil asked. “After all, she’s not a man, and she doesn’t have red hair.”

  “Something about her tattoo reminded me of how you described the one on the man’s arm who took your rings. And we need to get those back.”

  Yes, her heart pinged every time she held her bare left hand out in front of her, but she forced a smile and said, “That’s not what’s important. It’s the principle of the thing now.”

  “But Abby Ruth does have a point.” Maggie flopped down into one of the fruitwood chairs. “If we mess up this wedding, Jenny may never forgive her.”

  “That won’t happen.” Lil paced by the columns of paper stuck to the wall that Maggie had written their case notes on. “We’ll work carefully. Keep things quiet. Besides, there’s so much going on at a wedding that no one will ever know we’re multi-tasking. It’s the perfect setting for our bad guy hunt to go unnoticed.”

  “I’m not sure. It’s awfully risky,” Maggie mused. “What if something goes wrong?”

  “It’s not like this thief has been violent or anything. Besides, with you, Sera, and me in the know, we’ll have everything under control. I’ll wear jewels as bait. I have a few left. I might be able to get Rick down at the pawnshop to loan me something extra special this greedy person won’t be able to resist.”

  “And if it’s cash the thief is after, we could set up a box for donations at the wedding.”

  “Now you’re thinking.” Lil smiled. Darn, the G Team was a group of smart, shrewd women. “Jenny didn’t want one of those, but how can she refuse if it’s already there?”

  “It’ll be my gift to Jenny and Teague,” Maggie said. “I’ll design something special.” Maggie picked up a piece of paper and pencil and began sketching. “I’ll work on it tonight. I can router some little dollar signs and scrolled hearts into the wood. I’ll paint it white with silver accents. It’ll be so pretty she won’t think of refusing it.”

  “No thief could resist that.”

  “For sure.” Maggie got up and crossed the room. “I have another idea. Wait one second.”

  Lil went through her list of last minute to-do’s while Maggie slammed and bammed upstairs, then clomped back down.

  Maggie came back in the room carrying a big Lego box under one arm and Scrabble under the other.

  “There’s no time for games,” Lil said.

  Maggie placed the Scrabble board face down on the coffee table. “I agree.” She pulled out a handful of Grayson’s brightly colored Lego bricks and popped a few together in the shape of a house. “This is Summer Haven.”

  “A war board?”

  “Exactly!” She plucked out a dozen mini-figures and lined them up in rows. “Guests. Bride’s side, and the groom’s side.”

  Lil snapped four white blocks together and positioned it to the side of Summer Haven. “The carriage house.”

  Maggie put more blocks around the board. “The garage. The gazebo. Where the wedding chairs will be. The table for gifts and the cash box will be over here.” She dropped a few green blocks in that corner.

  “We can put Sera on watch over the gifts to be sure none of them gets nabbed,” Lil said.

  “We’ll bait two handbags and leave them in plain sight.” Maggie rubbed her hands together. “And we’ll have surveillance covering everything. Bruce and I talked about it. It’s totally doable. He could monitor the activities from upstairs. There’s a perfect view from up there, and if anything looks suspicious he’ll communicate to me through a tiny earpiece.”

  “You’re not serious,” Abby Ruth said from the doorway, making Lil jump in surprise.

  “This will work, and we won’t interrupt the wedding at all. Since there’s only one way in and out of the property, if the thief takes the bait during the wedding, we nab him…or her…and hold him until after the ceremony. Then we turn the bad guy over to Deputy Winston after the wedding.”

  “Perfect.” Lil rubbed her hands together. “I think this is a solid plan.”

  Abby Ruth shook her head. “I’m having second thoughts about all this.”

  “You agreed,” Lil protested.

  “Not really,” Abby Ruth shot back, taking four long strides to the wall an
d ripping down the paper and list of suspects. “I decided we will not ruin this wedding just so we can have a little fun solving a mystery. This sting can wait until the next wedding the crashers attend.”

  Maggie took a breath, pushed back her chair, and stood taller than Lil had ever seen her. “First of all, you started this. You invited our entire list of potential perps when you made that deal with the couple at the bridal show.”

  Abby Ruth started to speak, but Maggie lifted a finger and barreled on. “Secondly, we don’t do this for fun, Abby Ruth. You know these cases are more than that. We’re helping people, and we’re a team.” She raised her arm into the air, letting her bracelet jangle. “You are still wearing your bracelet, aren’t you?”

  “Of course,” Abby Ruth bit out.

  Lil braced herself for the explosion sure to come.

  “Then I know you would feel awful for the rest of your life if we didn’t try everything we can to find Lil’s rings.”

  Abby Ruth swallowed hard and looked away. “If Honey is our culprit—which I don’t think she is—y’all better corner her or the real thief before either Jenny or Teague gets wind of what you’re up to.”

  “What do you mean, y’all?” Maggie asked. “You know you won’t be able to resist taking this woman down.”

  “Honestly, I don’t know if I’m even on the wedding guest list.”

  Maggie quickly rounded the dining room table and folded Abby Ruth into her arms, which was awkward since the Texan was a head taller. “Don’t you worry about that. She may be upset now, but she’ll want her momma there to see her walk down the aisle.”

  Taking a shuddering breath, Abby Ruth finally relented. “Fine, but no drama. None.”

  “We won’t need drama because Honey won’t be able to resist the bait. All we need is to give her the opportunity.”

  “We’re on it. Nothing will go wrong,” Maggie said. “I’ll make sure of it. I’ve been online looking up new surveillance techniques. Bruce is helping me with the equipment that we’ll need.”

  “That’ll cost a fortune,” Abby Ruth said.