The Ghost of Grey Fox Inn (13 page)

Parker dug his hand into Morgan's jacket pocket and pulled out the little square box. Inside, the two wedding rings sat unharmed in their plush satin cushion, sparkling in the sun. Charlotte gasped. George grinned. Parker clicked the box shut with one hand and turned his attention back to Morgan, whose face was white with agony. “I can explain . . . ,” he sputtered uselessly.

“Consider yourself uninvited,” Parker said, and socked Morgan right in the jaw. The con man dropped like a stone. Parker rubbed his knuckles and turned to Charlotte. “Darling, if you wouldn't mind, call the police. And tell them to make it quick—we don't want to be late to our own wedding.”

Charlotte smiled, her face sparkling even brighter than the diamonds in that little box, and pulled a smartphone from her purse on the vanity. And at that moment, with that smile, I knew it was finally over.

An hour later, after the police had quietly escorted Morgan out of the inn, Bess, George, and I were sitting together in the bridal suite, watching Charlotte adjust her wedding veil in the vanity mirror.

“I can't believe this is finally happening,” Charlotte said to her reflection. “It feels too good to be true.”

Bess smiled. “Parker sure knows how to handle a crowd. He did an amazing job distracting the guests downstairs while the police took Morgan away. I don't think a single person realized anything was amiss!”

“That was pretty amazing,” Charlotte agreed, “but none of this would have been possible if it weren't for you, Nancy.” She turned to me. “I don't know how to thank you for what you did.”

I blushed. “I'm just glad you all went into the bridal suite when you did. You guys saved me.”

George elbowed me playfully. “Oh, don't start changing the subject now, Miss Humility. It's all in a day's work for our resident supersleuth. Do you want another ice pack, Nance?”

I was about to decline, but instead I handed the melted bag of ice back to George and nodded. “That would be great, thanks.” My wrists were still smarting from that fall. Just as George was crossing the room to the mini-fridge for more ice, there was a knock on the door. Bess got up to answer it. Standing in the doorway, looking haggard and ashamed, was Piper.

I had already filled Charlotte and the other girls in on what had transpired in Piper's room—how she'd met Morgan in the airport, how he'd convinced her to play those pranks, how she knew about the theft of the wedding rings but had wanted to confess before everything with Morgan went sour. But after the police arrived, Charlotte hadn't had a chance to talk to Piper before the officers had led her outside for questioning.

The girls and I looked back and forth between
the two sisters, unsure of what was going to happen next.

Piper took a hesitant step into the room, unable to meet her sister's gaze. “I . . . um, the police let me go. They said that Morgan would be going to jail for a long time. Apparently he's done this kind of thing to other people before. He's . . . wanted for theft, fraud, some other stuff.”

Charlotte said nothing. The tension in the room was almost unbearable.

Piper took a steadying breath and went on. “But that's not the point, is it? The point is, I let him convince me to do those things. Convince me to hurt you, Char. And I don't know if you'll ever be able to forgive me for that. I don't know if I deserve to be forgiven. I let my jealousy blind me, and look what happened!” Piper's voice began to falter, but she steadied herself and went on. “Anyway, there's nothing I can say except: I'm so, so sorry. And if you never want to see me again, I'd understand.”

Piper sighed and turned away, about to walk out
of the room. But before she could, Charlotte picked up her dress and dashed forward to stop her. “Piper, wait,” she said, grabbing her sister by the shoulder. “What you did was—” She hesitated. “Mean. And dangerous. And incredibly stupid.” Piper looked like she wanted to disappear into the floor. “But . . . you're still my sister. And it's my wedding day. And despite everything, I need you.”

Piper looked up, a spark of hope in her eyes.

“Will you stand beside me, Piper?” Charlotte asked.

Piper's face crumpled. “Oh, Charlotte!” She wrapped her sister in an embrace, and the two of them cried and hugged and cried until it was time to go to the church.

Bess dabbed at her eyes with a handkerchief. “It's just so beautiful,” she said, sniffling.

George watched the whole scene with a mixture of confusion and amazement. “Weddings!” she muttered, shaking her head. “I'll never understand them.”

“DO YOU, CHARLOTTE GOODWIN, TAKE
Parker Hill to be your lawfully wedded husband? To have and to hold, in good times and bad, in sickness and in health, for as long as you both shall live?” The reverend paused, looking expectantly at Charlotte. His white robes seemed to glow in the rays of the late-afternoon sun, which poured through the stained-glass windows of the church, coloring everything and everyone at the wedding ceremony in a warm, almost magical light.

I sat three rows back from the front pew with
George, who was taking photos with her phone and sniffling. When I stole a look at her, she quickly wiped at her eyes and snapped, “What? It's allergies.”

I chuckled to myself and turned back to the ceremony. Bess was standing at the front with the other bridesmaids, looking perfectly lovely in a peach-colored gown and clutching a bouquet of white roses. Luckily, Charlotte had been able to correct the flower order just in time. All around me, every seat in the entire church was filled, but the whole place was silent as we all waited for Charlotte's answer.

Charlotte glanced back at Piper, who was standing just beside her. Piper reached out and grasped her sister's hand, just for a second, before letting go. Her eyes glistening, Charlotte turned back to face Parker, who looked dashing in his navy-blue tuxedo, and said, “I do.”

A moment later I heard a sob burst forth from someone in the front row. I craned my neck to see Mrs. Hill and Mrs. Goodwin clutching each other and weeping, fistfuls of tissues in their hands. I smiled. It
looked like even those two families could put their differences behind them when true love was at stake.

The reverend waited for the weeping to subside, then continued, “And do you, Parker Hill, take Charlotte Goodwin for your lawfully wedded wife? To have and to hold, in good times and bad, in sickness and in health, for as long as you both shall live?”

Parker grinned his winning TV grin, and from the corner of the church, cameras flashed and clicked to capture the moment. Parker's entire crew from the news station was there—photographers, cameramen, and reporters—covering the wedding. Tucker Matthews had been desperate to tell the station about all that had happened with Morgan: the stolen rings, the attempted kidnapping, the heroic rescue, but Parker had refused to let it go public. “I don't want my wedding to be remembered as a flashy sound bite,” he had said to Tucker. “It isn't about that. It's about me and Charlotte.”

Tucker was disappointed, but he understood. After everything had been cleared up, the two young
men had made amends, promising to share a couple of drinks at the reception. Plus, Parker and Tucker agreed to work together on a special feature about the Grey Fox Inn, highlighting its history and importance to the city—which would certainly help John William's bottom line.

Parker waited until the cameras had stopped flashing, and took a moment to gaze at the face of his bride-to-be. “More than anything in the world, I do,” he finally said.

The reverend placed their hands together and, his voice echoing through the church, announced, “Then by the power vested in me by the great state of South Carolina, I now pronounce you man and wife. You may kiss the bride!”

With that kiss, the whole of the church rose to their feet, applauding the happy couple. As Bess proceeded back with the other bridesmaids and groomsmen, she grabbed our hands and pulled George and me along with her. “C'mon, you two!” she said over the din of music and cheers. “It's time to party!”

Two hours later, in a waterfront ballroom nearby, I was sitting at the wedding reception, watching a crowd of party guests do the electric slide. “Nancy!” Bess shouted over the din. “Come and dance!”

I laughed and waved her away. Line dancing was never really my thing—I always ended up bumping into people or stepping on their toes. Just ask Ned.

I thought I had escaped the pull of the dance floor when I felt someone grab my hand. It was Tucker Matthews! “This party ride needs you on it, Nancy Drew!” he said in my ear.

I shook my head. “Maybe later!”

Tucker regarded me with a mischievous grin. “Earlier today you accused me of being a thief and got me roughed up by a lead anchorman—I think you owe me one!”

Well, he has a point there,
I thought, and allowed Tucker to drag me into the throng of dancers and join in. We snuck in next to Reggie and Alicia, who had been joined at the hip since the ceremony ended. From the look of them, it seemed like this wedding might
mark the beginning of another beautiful relationship!

After twenty minutes of nonstop dancing—during which I managed to avoid crushing any toes—the DJ came over the sound system and announced that it was time to cut the cakes. After the bride and groom sliced into the amazing three-tiered, fondant-sculpted, edible masterpiece that Carla from Sugar & Spice Bakery had concocted, Charlotte called all her bridesmaids over to the next table for the cutting of the charm cake. George and I walked over with Bess to get a better look; from what Carla had said about the tradition, it sounded like a lot of fun.

As the bridesmaids all gathered around the table behind the cake, I felt a hand on my arm. It was Piper. “Nancy, I want to thank you again for everything you did to help Charlotte”—she paused—“and to help me. I don't know what would have happened if you hadn't figured everything out in time. Morgan would have put me in that car, and I could have ended up . . . well, who knows where?” She looked down at her shoes and sighed. “Anyway, I made a really big mistake letting
him get inside my head, and because of you, I had the opportunity to make it right, and to be here today with my sister.”

I squeezed Piper's shoulder. “I'm glad everything worked out the way it did,” I said.

“Anyway,” Piper continued, “I want you to go and pull my ribbon for the charm cake. It's the least I can do. You deserve to be a special part of this wedding—it wouldn't have happened without you!”

Delighted, I let myself be led to the table with the other bridesmaids. Charlotte gave me a hug as I approached. “Piper told me that she wanted you to take her place. Go ahead, Nancy—you pull the first ribbon!”

I looked at the cake. Like the wedding cake, it was covered in white fondant, with a nest of beautifully sculpted peach-colored roses and green leaves crowning it. Sprouting out of the layers of the cake were four silk ribbons, one for each bridesmaid and one for the maid of honor. With every eye on me, and cameras flashing, I reached out, picked one of the ribbons, and
pulled. Out of the thick icing emerged a small silver pendant, about the size of a quarter.