Casting Shadows (The Ash Grove Chronicles)

by Amanda DeWees

  “I don’t see how I can go with you without endangering you,” he said slowly. “People still recognize me whenever I go out in public.” He tilted his head toward the end of the counter, where the two waitresses in yellow-and-brown uniforms were standing together, staring at him and whispering. When they saw him looking they giggled and turned away. He resumed wearily, “When I’m with you it means publicity, attention—exactly what we can’t afford. If the thief knows where you are, you’re not safe.”

  They were making their way around to the only conclusion it was possible to reach. It loomed over them, impossible to avoid, but heartbreaking. Joy felt a bleak chill settle over her as she put it into words. “We have to split up,” she said. “At least for the duration.”

  He shook his head. “There’s got to be another way. It’s too dangerous for you to be alone, with the baby on the way. It’s too big a risk.”

  “You could be disguised—” But she rejected the idea as soon as it came to her. Escaped criminals were always trying to disguise themselves, and were always being caught. And Tanner’s looks were so distinctive that it would be difficult, to say the least, to make him blend into a crowd. “What if I can get Donna to come with me? We could tell her I’m going away because of the stress of having reporters around.”

  “That might work. I’d feel a lot easier in my mind if she was with you.”

  So would she, but she didn’t want to admit it.

  “Still, she won’t be able to take care of everything that might come up.” He was fidgeting with the paper wrapper from his drinking straw, smoothing it flat and winding it around one finger as he thought. “I’ve been thinking about what you said that time. That until we’re married or you turn eighteen, your father is the one who has the final say in things.”

  He was too kind to say why that was on his mind, but they both knew. They could no longer put their trust in Joy’s father. It was agonizing, but they had to face up to it.

  “If anything should happen,” he continued, “like you going into labor, I want to be the one they call.”

  “Surely everything will be wrapped up by the time I have the baby. Mo and Dr. Aysgarth will be on top of things.”

  “But in case they haven’t found it by then.” He looked so serious that what he did next came as a complete surprise. He suddenly slid out of the booth and got down on one knee on the tile floor. As Joy stared at him, he took her hand and held it in both of his.

  “I was going to do this the right way on date night, with music and a romantic setting and everything,” he said, “but I think I’d better move it up.”

  In the sudden silence as the other diners put down their cutlery to watch and listen, the only sound was the jukebox playing “The Devil Went Down to Georgia.” Tan sent a persuasive look to the waitresses, who stood agog at the end of the counter. “Would you mind—?”

  “I got it, sugar.” The older of the waitresses bustled over to the jukebox and silenced it, then returned to her post. Everybody was watching Joy and Tan. Even the cook had left the grill to lean on the counter and watch.

  Joy tried to dismiss them all from her mind and focus on Tan. He knelt by the restaurant booth with as much composure as if they were the only two people there, gazing at her steadily with those extraordinary grey eyes.

  “Joy,” he said gravely, “when we met, you changed everything for me. You didn’t just save my life, you made me want to live. I owe you everything.”

  He had to pause to clear his throat, and she exclaimed, distressed, “Tan, you don’t owe me anything. There aren’t any debts between us.”

  “Shh.” He placed a finger on her lips and smiled into her eyes. “I’m not done.”

  She fell silent, her heart beating as quickly as on the night they met. She would never have imagined that night that less than a year later he’d be proposing to her… and in a Waffle House. From now on, the smell of hash browns and waffles would always make her think of Tan and how happy he made her.

  He said, “I want to spend the rest of my life showing you what you mean to me. I want to protect you from harm, comfort you when you’re sad, and celebrate every happiness with you. I want us to raise our daughter to be as wonderful a woman as you are.” He paused, and in his eyes she almost thought she could see the memory of all they’d been through together. “I love you, Joy,” he said softly. “Will you marry me?”

  She hoped she would always remember what he said, but she knew she’d never forget the way he looked at that moment.

  “Yes,” she whispered. “I will.”

  She leaned over to kiss him, but he spoke again.

  “How about tomorrow?”

  “Tomorrow! But we’ve already put a deposit on—” She caught herself. “You’re right. You’re absolutely right.” The way everything was going, they couldn’t wait. Yet in spite of the reason for the rush, her heart was light. “I’d better start calling around if we want anyone to stand up with us. But what about rings? And I don’t know if Donna’s finished my dress. There are a million things to do.”

  “We’d better get started, then,” he said calmly, and the one syllable we meant almost more than the proposal itself. Then he slipped something onto her finger, and she saw that he’d improvised a ring out of the straw wrapper he had been fidgeting with. “A placeholder,” he explained. “Until I get you the real ring.”

  “It doesn’t matter,” Joy told him. “I like this one just fine.”

  Their audience wasn’t satisfied, though. “For heaven’s sake, child, kiss him!” called the older waitress, and Joy decided that was good advice. To the sound of applause and whistles, they sealed their unconventional engagement with a kiss.

  * * *

  “I really appreciate you two talking to me,” said Maddie. “I know I must have sounded kind of weird when I called.”

  “Kind of, yeah,” said Tasha. “But also worried.”

  “So what’s this about William?” asked Jeremiah.

  The three of them were gathered in the coffee bar. Maddie had begged them to meet with her after her talk with William had tanked so badly.

  As far as putting William on his guard, she might as well have arrived wearing a colander hat and burbling about space aliens, she had come off looking so crazy. She was also angry at herself for letting Sheila bulldoze over her like that. Why had she frozen up instead of standing up to her and calmly telling her she was a liar?

  Because Sheila had surprised her with the truth. Maddie did want William for herself. Now that he was over her, now that he was happy with someone else, she realized that she was crazy about him. Her timing sucked on a truly spectacular level.

  But that wasn’t the important thing. Since she hadn’t been able to convince William that he was in danger, someone had to.

  “I know this will sound stalkery,” she said. “You just have to believe that this isn’t about William dating Sheila. Ordinarily I wouldn’t have a problem with that.” Yeah, right. “It’s just that I know she means him harm.” Maddie looked from Tasha, polite but neutral, to Jeremiah, whose face was guarded. “She’s going to hurt him. Physically, I mean. Maybe even try to kill him.”

  Jeremiah made a disbelieving sound, and Tasha shook her head at him. “Hear the girl out,” she said. “I’m sure she has her reasons for believing that. Why would Sheila want to hurt him, Maddie?”

  “That’s the thing: I don’t know,” she said, miserably aware of Jeremiah’s skepticism. The only reason he was still there was because of Tasha. And he was her best bet when it came to protecting William. Jeremiah had the most common sense of any of the guys she and William hung out with, and therefore the most credibility. If he told William Sheila was out to get him, William would have to pay attention.

  The catch was that Maddie had to convince Jeremiah that she wasn’t making it up. And Jeremiah, as an ex, might not have the highest opinion of her credibility—or her motives.

  “Have you ever had a prophetic dream?” she asked de
sperately. “This was like that, but really real. I saw William. Sheila had tied him up and was holding a knife like she was about to cut his heart out. I know it sounds insane. I don’t know why she’d do it. I just know that someone has got to warn him so that he’ll be on his guard.”

  “Against his girlfriend. Who’s completely crazy about him.” Jeremiah gave her a hard look. “Seriously, Maddie. What’s your angle?”

  “I don’t have an angle! I’m not trying to break them up, even though Sheila thinks I am.”

  “But you wouldn’t mind if they broke up,” said Jeremiah, and she couldn’t deny it. “Listen, Maddie, I know you don’t like them being together, but this psychic crap is the wrong way to get William back.”

  Tasha shook her head again. “Maddie’s not stupid. She wouldn’t make up such a dumb story. She’d make up something that was at least plausible.”

  “Thanks,” said Maddie. At this point, even backhanded compliments were welcome. “The thing is, I know you can’t keep William from being with Sheila. I’m not asking you to try to do that. I just want you to warn him, in a way that he’ll listen to, to be careful around her. And not under any circumstances to go underground with her.”

  Jeremiah looked confused. “Is that a sex thing?”

  “God, don’t guys ever get their minds out of their pants? I mean the actual underground, the rooms underneath the theater building. Tasha, tell him.”

  “She’s right,” said Tasha. “Mr. Dudley took us down there the day of the storm. They’re kind of creepy. And if someone got you down there against your will, you’d be pretty much screwed as far as anyone finding you.”

  “Exactly,” said Maddie. “With the trap door shut, you could probably scream your head off and no one would hear you.” Then her phone rang, and she almost dropped it in her haste to answer.

  “William?” she blurted.

  A pause. “It’s Joy,” came the eventual reply. “I was wondering, if you aren’t doing anything special tomorrow, if you’d be my maid of honor.”

  Damn. Now she felt like an idiot. She really needed to set different ringtones for—

  Wait. “Tomorrow?”

  “Yep.” Now she could hear the excitement in Joy’s voice. “Tanner and I are getting married tomorrow.”

  Chapter 21

  It was funny about weddings.

  All the time Joy was growing up, whenever she and her girl friends talked about how they pictured their weddings, they would describe the dress, the veil, the flowers, the bridesmaids’ dresses, the jewelry; maybe even the setting—someplace grand, with a huge staircase to come trailing down, they all agreed. As Joy got older, she devoted thought to the music: classical, contemporary, or a mixture? Harpist or pianist? Singer? And so on. The groom, if she gave any thought to him, was a blur in a dark suit. Her wedding would be well in the future, so she’d have plenty of time to meet a suit filler down the line. (Unless, of course, Jude Law became available, because he was her go-to.)

  Everything was the opposite now that she was really getting married. Her bridegroom was the only really important part of the whole affair. All the other stuff? Just set dressing.

  So it didn’t matter that she didn’t have a veil or a long gown with a train. She had done her own makeup, and Maddie, not a salon, had arranged her hair in a coronet braid. Her shoes were ballet flats she’d worn through two springs already. And her bouquet—

  “He says he’s on his way,” Tanner told her, putting his phone away. “I promise I didn’t forget the flowers, babe. I just had to get William to pick them up.”

  He was handsome even when he was nervous. In his custom tuxedo, his wavy hair not quite subdued by the product he’d used to smooth it back, he could have been a movie star. In the austere bureaucratic setting of the Clay County Government Center, he looked spectacularly out of place.

  They were standing in the waiting area of the license department. Across the counter was a labyrinth of cubicles. A woman behind the counter was conferring with Joy’s father over the paperwork he needed to fill out to grant permission for Joy, still a minor, to marry. He was dressed in his best suit, wearing a new tie that looked as if it was strangling him, and had polished up his decade-old brogues until they shone. When he saw Joy watching him, he gave her a big smile. If he had any last-minute worries or doubts, he was hiding them well.

  Affection for him welled up in her. Today she couldn’t believe he was up to anything shady. He was her dad, and no doubt he had good reasons for whatever he did. She almost wanted to change her mind about sneaking off without warning him. But she’d promised Tanner, and it wouldn’t be for terribly long, anyway. Probably.

  “Hold on, hon, you’ve got a thread,” said Donna, and plucked at the skirt of Joy’s dress. In high heels and a smart royal blue dress that she’d made herself, Donna looked almost like a stranger; Joy was so accustomed to seeing her in khakis or jeans. Donna extracted a pair of pointed embroidery scissors from her handbag and snipped the thread from Joy’s dress. Then she gasped. “Oh, I didn’t think. That’s bad luck, isn’t it? Or is cutting a thread good luck?”

  “I think it’s supposed to mean the marriage will produce children,” said Maddie. “In which case you’re on pretty safe footing.” She was chic in a taffeta cocktail dress that shifted from gold to lavender when she moved. She had even abandoned her usual ink-black hair color for a more celebratory burgundy. Joy thought she looked a little wan, but maybe it was just that she wasn’t used to seeing Maddie wear any color other than black or jewel tones.

  She herself was wearing a light sunshine yellow instead of the traditional white. It wasn’t appropriate for the season, but she didn’t care. She had wanted something bright and happy, and the dress Donna had produced for her was perfect: simply cut, skimming gently over her belly, with beaded trim at the halter neckline for a tiny bit of sparkle. It wasn’t remotely like the princessy wedding dresses she’d sighed over as a child, and she loved it.

  An arm went around her, and she looked up into Tanner’s eyes. “Are you sure the rings are okay?” he asked. “Larry said he could make any changes you want.”

  “Don’t you dare let him change them,” she said. “I love them.”

  Last night Tan had gone on an errand to fetch their wedding bands and Joy’s engagement ring. “Awfully late, I know,” he’d said in apology when he returned. “But I think you’ll like how they came out.”

  Their wedding bands were gold, with an intricate engraved pattern of roses, leaves, and vines. Joy’s engagement ring was made to match, and had a slimmer band with tiny leaves of gold clasping a round diamond. She gasped. “Tan, how on earth—these must have cost a fortune.”

  “Larry from work made them for us. He melted down some of my gold jewelry and reset the diamond from one of my rings. I wanted them to be a surprise; that’s why I couldn’t tell you the reason I didn’t want to sell those things.”

  She touched the delicate engraving. “Who designed them? Larry?”

  “I told him what I had in mind. And one of your old fairy-tale books from when you were a kid had this really nice border of roses, so I showed it to him and—Joy. Are you okay?”

  She merely nodded, afraid that if she spoke she’d cry. The thought that Tanner had been secretly planning this beautiful surprise for her while she was worried that his heart was in the past and not their future—the tears came anyway. “They’re perfect. You’re perfect,” and she hugged him damply, not trying to find words for her relief at this answer to the question that had troubled her.

  Now the band she would give Tanner was safely tucked away in Maddie’s purse, and the ring she would wear was secure in Bobby’s handkerchief pocket. He patted his pocket to assure her that it had not gone astray. “Don’t worry, it’s not going anywhere,” he said. “But neither are we, unless young Russell gets a move on—ah. Finally,” as the glass door swung open and William strode in.

  But he carried no florist boxes. All he held was a couple of s
mall white flowers with the stems wrapped in a damp paper towel.

  White wild roses.

  “I’m sorry, Tanner, it took me ages to find the right grave,” he said. “That old cemetery is in a hell of a mess. I probably look like I’ve been pulled backward through a hedge. Maybe I should get cleaned up before…” He trailed off as he realized no one was paying him any attention.

  Tanner took the roses and held one out to Joy. “I thought maybe in your hair?” he said softly, and seeing assent in her eyes he gently tucked the stem into the braid encircling her head.

  Maddie started forward. “Don’t cry, Joy, your makeup—”

  But Donna shushed her and caught her back. Joy took the remaining rose from Tanner and tucked the stem into the buttonhole of his lapel. She let her hands rest on his chest, feeling the beat of his heart, seeing in his eyes the mirror of her own feelings. A joy so pure it felt bigger than her body could hold. A promise to be their best selves for each other, and to stand side by side against anything the world might throw at them.

  When the woman behind the counter told them that the magistrate was ready for them in his chambers, there was a second when Joy wondered what she was talking about. Then, as Tanner caught her hand and drew her toward the elevator, she came to herself.

  But the actual ceremony would be just a formality now. She and Tan were already pledged to each other.

  * * *

  I’m at my wedding, thought Tanner. He had to keep telling himself that, because he still couldn’t believe it was true. He’d never expected to get married. Never expected to want to. Even now, it almost didn’t seem real: standing in front of the magistrate holding Joy’s hands in his, hearing her repeat the words that he had said just moments ago. Her voice sounded far away and yet close, as if in a dream.

  He had never felt like this before, so fearless and buoyant and free. So confident that he was exactly where he ought to be. He’d never experienced this in his old life—not even when he was surrounded by photographers and fans, soaking up applause.