Secret North: Book 4 of The Wishes Series (45 page)

“Can I come out now?” asked Bridget, rounding the doorway.

“Of course.” I forced a smile. “Where’s your mama?”

“Getting changed,” replied Adam, appearing behind her.

“I’m keeping my dress on,” announced Bridget, grabbing the hem of her skirt and flipping it over her shoulders. “It’s like big wings, but I won’t fly with them, Ry,” she promised.

“I’m pleased to hear it,” I replied.

Adam picked Bridget up. “So, what’s the plan from here?”

“We’re going to head down to the marriage bureau,” I explained, looking at Bente. “I have to marry this girl before she changes her mind again.”

“I won’t,” she said quietly. “As long as I don’t have to do it in a church or in this dress.”

I stared at Adam feeling a woeful expression creep across my face. “I have to call Mom.”

“No, you don’t.”

“Of course I do,” I insisted. “She’ll be beside herself. You smashed her wedding dream to bits years ago. I’m about to do the same thing.”

Adam shrugged as if it was no big deal. I wanted to smack him, or at least shake sense into him. I only held off because he had my niece in his arms. “It’s the right thing to do, Adam.”

“Maybe,” he agreed. “Or maybe you could just come up with a way of keeping her happy.”

Impossible
, I thought. There was no way around it, and for a man who claimed to be smarter than me, he should’ve realised it too. “I hope you’ve got a plan, genius, because I haven’t,” I snapped.

“I have, as it happens.” He was way too smug to be bluffing. “Three words for you. Mitigate. Your. Damages.”

Lawyer-speak. I understood it better than the fairy nonsense he usually came out with.

“How?”

“What does Mom want most out of this day?” he asked.

“Power and glory,” I muttered.

“No she doesn’t,” Bente corrected. “She wants to see her son get married. She’s been telling me that from the beginning. She has photos of the family on her dresser. It kills her that she doesn’t have wedding pictures.” She turned to Adam. “Charli is a photographer and you didn’t get a single picture of your wedding day.”

“I know.” He grinned. “We forgot.”

“That’s all she wants, Ryan,” Bente told me.

I threw my hands up in exasperation. “So how do we fix that?”

No one needed to say a word. Charli appeared, solving every single problem we had without speaking.

The long ivory gown she was wearing looked vaguely familiar. When she slowly twirled to show it off, the bow on the back jogged my memory. It was her wedding dress.

“What do you reckon?” she asked, smoothing her hands down the front. “Still fits, right?”

Adam answered by hauling her in close and crushing her with a kiss.

“You’re a bride girl, Mum,” chimed Bridget, trying to wriggle out from between her parents.

“I am,” she confirmed, making space for her.

“Get married to my daddy, okay?” came the demand.

“Yeah,” she agreed, smiling at her daughter. “I haven’t had a better offer.”

“What are you doing, Charlotte?” Overwhelmed, I choked out the question. Bente wasn’t faring much better. She’d started sniffling again.

“We’ll be your ring-ins,” Charli offered. “That way, the queen will still get to see one of her precious princes get hitched. Hopefully she won’t mind the unscheduled change to the programme.”

“You’re okay with this?” I asked Adam.

“Of course.” He laughed blackly and gestured at his wife. “Look at her, Ryan. Tell me I’m wrong.”

I shook my head. “Not today.”

Not any day. I wasn’t too much of a jerk to admit that my younger, smarter brother had had it right from the beginning. Tinker Bell and her crazy ways were perfect for him. I just wasn’t going to admit it out loud.

I lurched forward, catching all three of them in a hug. “Thank you,” I mumbled inadequately.

“Thank us later,” replied Charli, shrugging free. “You’re going to make us late for our wedding.”

“Can I come?” asked Bridget, grabbing Adam’s attention by taking his face in her hands.

“You have to come.” He turned his head and kissed her palm. “You’re my best girl.”

78. LOW KEY

Bente

I’d selfishly pushed us dangerously close to the edge of disaster that day. I wasn’t sure that I deserved a second chance, but was eternally grateful for the one offered to me by the people who’d soon become my family. I had no hope of properly expressing it at that moment so chose to stay quiet and concentrate on pulling myself together instead.

Ryan seemed a little shell shocked too, and it lasted a long time. He hardly said a word to me on the cab ride back to our apartment, which could only mean he had a lot on his mind.

I reached for his hand. He squeezed my fingers in reply, silently assuring me that we were okay. The tiny gesture brought me hope. My inability to follow through might’ve smashed the day to pieces, but I hadn’t damaged us.

***

Getting undressed brought instant relief. I demanded that Ryan stay in the living room while I changed. “We have a chance at a do-over,” I reasoned, bundling up my sparkly dress and throwing it in the corner. “We’re going to do it right. No seeing the bride before the wedding.”

“That might be difficult,” he called through the closed door. “I only called for one car.”

“No seeing the bride before she’s ready then,” I amended. He followed up with a wonderful low laugh that I’d given up hope of hearing again that day.

“I love you, Ryan,” I declared for no particular reason.

“Can you love me from this side of the door, please?” he asked. “It’s lonely out here.” His pitiful tone made me giggle. He sounded as if I’d locked him in a cupboard.

“Two minutes,” I promised.

I pored through the rack of clothes in the closet, trying to find something to wear. Only one outfit stood out. I slipped into Ryan’s favourite red dress and moved onto phase two of operation low-key bride.

Washing my face worked wonders, although I would’ve spent more time redoing my makeup if not for the impatient demands coming from the other side of the door. It wasn’t perfect by any means, but looking at my reflection made me realise I’d achieved something far more important than flawless makeup. I looked happy. And for the first time in weeks, I looked relaxed.

I unpinned my hair and brushed it out. “What do you think?” I asked, swinging the door open.

A slow smile crept across his perfect face. “I think I’m the luckiest guy in the world right now.”

Once in a while, right in the middle of mayhem, life throws us a moment of clarity. I’d completely screwed up our wedding day, burdening him with unimaginable drama in the process and he still felt lucky. “You must really love me,” I concluded, thinking out loud.

“At Black Plague level, sweetheart.”

I refused to give into the urge to get him naked. We had a wedding to go to. “Do you have everything?”

Ryan patted his pocket. “I’ve got the rings and I’ve got the licence.”

“We need ID,” I added.

“I think we need a couple of witnesses too,” he said.

“Who?” Every person we knew was sitting in church waiting for us to arrive.

“What about Tiger and Earl?” Ryan suggested. “We could swing by the club and pick them up.”

I couldn’t help smiling. “You want a couple of grizzly old gangsters to bear witness for us?”

“Yeah. Do you have any objections?”

I shook my head. I’d objected enough for one day. As far as I was concerned, it was a perfect idea.

79. DEAD ENDS

Ryan

It took longer to round up Tiger and Earl than Bente. Fifteen minutes after being told to wait, I stood at the base of the stairs and called up to them. “Nearly ready, Earl?”

No reply.

“Now what?” Bente asked.

I shrugged. “Just give them another minute.”

I’d expected to have to talk the old men round when it came to bearing witness. I’d done a lot of pleading that day and was becoming embarrassingly good at it. But they hadn’t needed convincing. They just needed time to get spruced up.

Earl and Tiger finally made their way down, both clinging to the balustrade to steady themselves.

It wasn’t hard to see why it had taken them so long. They were dressed to the nines, making me wonder where they thought they were going.

“Vintage threads, Tiger?” I had to ask. No reputable tailor in the last forty years would’ve been caught dead working with olive plaid tweed.

“I’ve had it a while,” he confirmed, brushing his knuckles across his chest.

Earl went for the vintage look too, opting for a brown pinstriped blazer. It would’ve been a great cut on someone a foot taller, like his friend Tiger who’d lent it to him.

Tiger donned a black trilby, Earl grabbed his cane, and we were good to go. “You ready?” grumbled Tiger. “I’m tired of waiting.”

I frowned at his audacity. “Yeah, of course.”

“So why do you look like a long tailed dog in a room full of rocking chairs?” He thumped me on the back. “It’s your wedding day. You might as well be happy. I’ve heard it’s all downhill from here.”

“Tiger Malone, you take that back,” demanded Bente. My blushing bride stood with her hands on her hips and a scowl on her face. “You believe in this just as much as we do,” she told him. “I know you do.”

Tiger tipped his hat, silently apologising for being his usual bolshie self. “He’ll do alright, Ginger,” he told her. “You just keep him in line.”

I didn’t need to be kept in line – I just needed to get married, and at that point it was proving difficult. I bundled the motley wedding party out the front door and steered them in the direction of our waiting car.

“Holy smokes!” Earl whistled in approval at the long black car parked on the street. The driver held the door open, impressing the old men no end.

Tiger nudged his friend. “It’s going to be a good afternoon, Earl. I can feel it in my bones.”

***

Tiger’s bones were wrong. As it turned out, the marriage bureau isn’t open for business on the weekends.

Bente and I were at the top of the steps to trying to come to grips with the latest dead end before the old men were even out of the car.

“We just can’t catch a break,” I growled.

“What now?” Bente asked.

The irony was laughable. I’d spent my whole adult life running from commitment. Today I was desperately trying to do the opposite and being shut down at every turn.

Bente didn’t look too distraught. She just looked freezing. Her thin red dress was no match for the October air. I shrugged off my jacket and draped it around her shoulders.

“I’m out of ideas, sweetheart,” I said, defeated.

She smiled brighter than she had all day. “We’ll come back on Monday,” she said. “No big deal.”

She was right. There was no urgency. If we waited until Monday, Ivy and the squealers might be better, and Adam, Charli and Bridget could be there – Mom and Dad too, if they were still talking to us.

She hugged me, probably seeking warmth more than comfort. I held her closely, rubbing her back to warm her.

Tiger appeared at the base of the steps. “There’s a big poker game in Queens tonight, kid.”

I turned to face him. “So?”

“So we need transportation.” He motioned to the car behind him with an upward nod. “One good turn deserves another.”

Tiger’s reasoning was shady at the best of times. I didn’t bother pointing out that he hadn’t actually got as far as doing us a good turn.

“Unbelievable,” I muttered. Bente buried her face in my chest, laughing between shivers. I held her tighter. “Take the car, Tiger,” I called. “We’ll make our own way home.”

He grabbed a cigar from his top pocket, gritted it between his teeth and grinned at me. “You’re alright, kid.”

80. DÉJÀ VU

Bente

Mercifully we managed to pick up a cab before hypothermia set in. I interrupted as Ryan gave the driver directions to our apartment and asked him to take us to Nellie’s instead.

“You’re sure?” asked Ryan.

I didn’t feel like going home, and hanging out at Nellie’s for the evening would be perfect. “Yeah. It’s closed. All your staff are at the wedding.”

He frowned, looking like he was hearing about it for the first time. “She really did invite everyone, didn’t she?”

“They’ll all be having a blast,” I reasoned. “Half of them don’t even know us so they won’t even notice the imposter bride and groom.”

Ryan chuckled darkly as his thoughts turned to Charli and Adam. “I’m going to owe those two hugely for this. They took a bullet for us.”

I had to agree. I grabbed his wrist and checked his watch. It was just after five. The ceremony would be over and done with and the happy couple would be gearing up for phase two, the five-course reception dinner. I didn’t regret bailing, and sincerely hoped they didn’t regret their decision to stand in for us either.