Page 21

21

J ack

Friday: Wedding minus 1 day

N obody told me I’d be scared to death.

It was just past dusk, and I was hiding around the side of the church like a coward.

I’ve faced entire vampire nests with less trepidation than I felt right now, waiting for my wedding rehearsal to start.

Wedding rehearsal.

I thought back to the day I’d proposed, in the pawnshop parking lot, with half of Dead End watching. I’ll never forget the words I used that day:

Tess, you have brought love and light and joy to a heart I thought was long dead and crumbled into dust, and you gave hope to a war-hardened soldier who’d found very little of that. You’re the center of my life and the warmth inside my soul. You are compassionate, warm, funny, and brilliant. I can’t imagine living a single day of the rest of my life without you in it. You taught me how to laugh and how to be part of a family. You and all of Dead End taught me how to be part of a community, no matter how hard I tried to fight it.

So, I knew they needed to be here and be part of this moment. Tess, I love you with everything I am and everything I will ever be. Will you please marry me and make me the luckiest man who ever lived?

I still meant every one of those words.

“Why am I so scared?”

I didn’t realize I’d spoken out loud until Carlos appeared, walking out from the shadows in the memorial garden. “You’re scared because she matters. This matters. And you’re afraid you can never be good enough for her. You’re afraid your darkness and your history will somehow bring her harm.”

I scowled at him. “It’s bad enough you’re in my wedding, vampire. Stay out of my head.”

His smile held no amusement. “I only know what you’re thinking because I once had a Tess of my own, and I was stupid enough to listen to my fears instead of my heart. Don’t lose her, Jack. Protect her and love her. Life is endlessly empty, with nobody to care about.”

I studied his bleak expression and nodded.

Then I punched him in the shoulder.

“Hey! No sad memories this weekend. Maybe you’ll meet someone at the reception. Even somebody as ugly as you might have a chance with the amount of champagne that will be floating around.”

He returned my grin. “You only wish you were as pretty as me.”

“Yeah, yeah, yeah. Let’s go do this thing.”

We turned to go to the church, but I stopped him before we got to the spill of light at the entrance. “Thanks, man. I needed to hear that.”

“Well, if Tess can’t have me, you’re her second-best choice, I guess.” He sighed dramatically. “Did you ever meet that dentist?”

I laughed. Poor Owen.

Once I’d set my sights on Tess, he’d never had a chance.

Considerably cheered up, I led the way into the church.

That’s when everything went horribly, horribly wrong.

First, we heard Mike’s voice boom across the church. “What in the name of all things horticultural happened here?”

I wanted to know that, too. The church was filled with a blizzard of flowers, and I wasn’t exaggerating for effect. The flowers literally swarmed through the air all around us, and there must have been thousands of them.

“What’s mmphm —” I had to spit out a mouthful of flying carnations before I could finish my sentence. “Shelley!”

“Not me, Jack!” She popped up near us from where she’d been crouched behind a pew. “I didn’t do any magic at all. But the troll came by earlier.”

“The troll?” Carlos fought to keep from laughing, but I could tell it was tough. Especially since he was using both hands to bat flowers away from his head.

“I think so,” she said, waving a hand to stop a rosebush that had been heading for my face. “He’s the new Dead End High science teacher, did you hear? And he turned the chemistry lab into a hothouse filled with flowers on his first day. Mr. Peabody was so mad he said a very bad word.”

“I have some sympathy for Mr. Peabody,” I muttered. “Shelley, I hate to ask, but is there anything you can do about this?”

She frowned. “Aunt Ruby told me not to use my magic in church.”

“Aunt Ruby is making an exception in this case,” Ruby shouted from somewhere in the front by the altar.

Shelley perked up. “Oh! Yay!”

She stood, flicked her braid off her shoulder, and waved her hands in the air like a model on a TV game show. The flower shower immediately aligned itself into a smooth rainbow of scent and color aimed for a side wall, where the flowers dropped to a table in overflowing heaps.

“Wow,” Carlos said. “Never a dull moment around you, my friend.”

I sighed. He wasn’t wrong.

Tess peeked her head around the corner, grinned at me, and then stepped out into the aisle. She was so pretty she took my breath away in her green dress. She was wearing the pendant I gave her, too. A warm glow started in my chest and worked its way through my entire body.

She was perfect, and tomorrow she’d be mine.

“You are a very lucky man,” Carlos said.

“Truer words,” Dave said, walking into the church behind us. “Hey Carlos. How have you been?”

“Better, now that I’m not in danger of being brained by a bush,” Carlos said. They shook hands, and I was relieved to see that there wasn’t tension between them.

“Hey, gorgeous,” Tess said, and she ran up to me, threw her arms around my neck, and kissed me right there in front of everyone.

“I think that’s my line,” I murmured. “Love you in that dress.”

“I still can’t believe you bought it! I only said I’d like a dress like this one.” She brushed one hand down the silk, looking slightly scandalized. “I’ve never owned a designer dress in my life, and now I’ll be wearing two in one weekend!”

“Three,” I admitted. “I bought you the blue one, too. It was a surprise, in case you wanted to change at the reception.”

“I don’t know. I love my wedding dress so much I’ll probably wear it all night. But there’s always the honeymoon!” She turned to Dave and Carlos. “Hello, you two! I’m so glad you’ll be part of our day!”

“Where’s Molly?”

Tess pointed to the hallway that led to the bathrooms and the room for parents to feed their babies. “She had to take a call about the band. They’re getting interest from Europe. Can you believe it?”

That was one of the many things I loved about Tess: her genuine joy in her loved ones’ accomplishments. Life with Tess wouldn’t be perfect, but perfect was boring.

We’d argue and make up and disagree and compromise.

And I’d love her forever.

Even if she had the scariest morning bed-head hair I’d ever seen. I grinned just thinking about it, and she gave me a side-eyed look.

“I can hear you thinking, Jack Shepherd. If you think you’re getting out of this now, forget about it.”

“No, but you can escape, honey,” Mike said, following Ruby down the aisle toward us. “It’s never too late.”

I gave him a look . “Oh, it’s far too late for you, old man. Prepare to share your desserts with me from now until forever. ”

He grinned and shook my hand. “A few hours premature, but welcome to the family, Jack.”

Suddenly, my eyes burned.

Must be allergies from all those flowers.

Pastor Nash came out of the hall behind the altar and clapped his hands, smiling at all of us. “Now that the gardening emergency has been dealt with—thank you, Shelley—shall we begin?”

Tess only tripped once during our practice runs, and Shelley made a very minimalist amount of flowers dance down the aisle in front of the “flower girls.” Eleanor, Ruby, and Lorraine loved it.

Mrs. Nash gently got us back on track when her husband got carried away with one of his stories, and we were well in hand and ready to go within an hour and a half, just in time for dinner. Mike had offered to host the rehearsal dinner, since my granddad couldn’t make it into town until tomorrow morning, but Tess and I had invited everyone to her place for steaks and whatever else we felt like grilling.

Now that the troll had moved on, I felt better about having them over.

I felt a tug at my sleeve and looked down to see Shelley’s worried face.

“What’s up, bug?”

“Jack? The troll? He’s back. And he has company.”

I whirled around to see Braumsh lurking just outside the doorway, holding one end of a rope that led to Twyla Tharsin’s tied wrists. She was obviously trying to scream, but the duct tape over her mouth prevented it.

“Tess and Jack,” the troll rumbled. “I would not have interrupted, but I found this one and her friend scuttling around outside with dangerous metal objects. Jack, I know you were a soldier. Will you come look?”

I was running down the aisle, shouting at everyone to get out, by the time he got to the word “dangerous.” “Tess, call Susan and get everybody out of there!”

The metal objects were bombs, and Tharsin and her zealots had planted them on the outside walls of the church. Braumsh handed her into Mike’s custody and sniffed out every one of the bombs for us.

“Nasty, metallic smell,” he growled, pointing to the last one.

Carlos and I defused all six of them before the sheriff even arrived.

“I didn’t know you could handle yourself with explosives,” I told Carlos, after we were sure we’d gotten them all.

“I can handle myself with a lot of things,” he said grimly. “Maybe I’ll tell you about it after a whiskey or three.”

“You are an honorable friend,” I said to Braumsh, bowing.

His eyes widened slightly, but he returned my bow. “I would not have Tess harmed,” he said gruffly. “Be sure this woman and her three friends I left tied to the children’s slide are given to the mortal law woman’s custody. It might … go badly for them if I find them again this night.”

“It will go badly for them if I find them again, ever,” I growled. “We were already on the lookout for them, since they’d threatened the queen and her people.”

“Tess warned me,” the troll said quietly. “She is an unusual mortal.”

The unusual mortal came flying toward us. “Did you get them all? Braumsh, are you okay? Did they hurt you?”

The troll looked stunned. After a few long moments, he shook his head. “No. I am unharmed.”

“Oh, and thank you for the flowers. They were quite … decorative,” she said brightly.

B raumsh took a few steps back. “Yes. I must go.”

Then he turned and ran away faster than I would ever have imagined somebody that bulky could run.

“What did I say?” Tess asked, dismayed. “I just wanted to thank him!”

“He’s a troll, Tess,” Carlos said gently. “You may have overwhelmed him with kindness.”

She sighed. “Well, I hope he still comes to the wedding, or at least the reception tomorrow. I promise not to be too nice to him.”

Like that would ever happen.

She hugged me and then leaned back, looking much more tired than I liked. “Would you mind taking care of the prisoner handoff? It’s so late now. Let’s skip the dinner. Everybody understands. Molly and I are going back to the house to do our girly prep for tomorrow.”

Even though we’d been basically living with each other for a while now, Tess had asked that we stay apart tonight. Something about not seeing her in her wedding dress.

“Go. Give Molly a hug for me. I’ll see you tomorrow.”

“Thanks!” She turned to go but then looked back at me and flashed an enormous smile. “This is the last night ever that you won’t be my husband.”

“Lucky, lucky man,” Dave said softly after she’d gone. “Now. Are we going to stand around and talk about our feelings , or are we going to go get drunk like men are supposed to do the night before one of them ties the knot?”

“Definitely get drunk,” I said firmly. “Andy, the commandos, and at least a dozen other guys are meeting us at my house.”

I had friends. Lots of friends. Not just fellow soldiers or people sharing a mission. Actual friends. The thought staggered me.

“Tess told me I have to keep you sober enough that you won’t end up at her house in the middle of the night singing sea shanties,” Dave said, looking intrigued. “That’s a very specific request. Is there anything you want to sing for us?”

After we handed the outraged criminals off to Susan, and after a few large glasses of whiskey, I may have taught a few sea shanties to some of the fine, upstanding men of Dead End.

But I admit nothing.