Two Weddings and a Fugitive (The Chanel Series Book 4) (19 page)

‘We may have to take out a page in the newspaper,’ Billy said to me. ‘This is going to get tedious.’

I nodded and adjusted my dress. ‘I’d better get changed.’ Considering what had happened over the last 24 hours, the magic tape was still doing a remarkable job.

He looked down and said, ‘Good idea. If I have to punch every man that admires your cleavage I’m going to end up with a sore fist.’

When I was sure I was decent, I slipped inside to my bedroom. I stared at myself in the mirror. There was no hiding the fact we had been kissing. My cheeks were flushed and my eyes sparkled. I threw on a tank top and pair of shorts and hurried back out into the lounge.

Sal was back. She flashed me a smile before turning her attention to the report she was writing.

‘Tess and Dad are on the way over,’ Billy said.

‘See man, you tell me she’s not your sister and then you say something like that. No wonder I’m confused.’ The FBI agent lifted a hand and waved at me. ‘We’ve never been formerly introduced. I’m Chuck.’

‘Hey Chuck.’ I walked over to the table and pulled the seat next to Sal out.

Nick was perched on the couch with a man I was assuming was the doctor, examining his head. He smiled and wiggled a couple of fingers at me.

There was a knock at the door and Chuck wandered over and opened it. Mum and Harry were standing on the other side of it.

‘You can’t go dressed like that.’ Mum walked over to me and gave me a peck on the cheek.

‘Huh?’ I looked from Mum to Billy.

‘The Hen’s Party,’ Billy said. His eyebrows were raised in the air and he was nodding his head
way
too enthusiastically.

I got it. Somehow he had managed to keep my disappearance from Mum and Harry. ‘Yep, just got to finish a bit of paperwork and then I’ll be able to get ready.’

She peered at me. ‘You look like you’re still wearing last night’s makeup. What
have
you been doing?’ She looked between Billy and me and her facial expression changed. ‘Oh,’ she said.

‘Don’t be silly,’ I said. She wasn’t technically right. That had only been going on for the last thirty minutes or so.

I saw Billy lean in close to Harry and say something. Harry nodded his head and followed Billy out to the balcony.

They were going to have
THE
talk.

Butterflies started circling in my belly. I wasn’t sure if they were for Harry or Billy.

The doctor finished with Nick and moved over to me.

‘Mum,’ I said, ‘how about I meet you there?’

There was another knock at the door and this time, when Chuck opened it, Martine was standing there.

‘Chaneellll,’ she let out a shriek and launched herself across the room. ‘You’re alive.’ She pulled me out of my seat into a hug. ‘You just disappeared. And nobody knew what had happened to you. And I’ve been worried sick all day, and now I find you here, and you didn’t even ring me to let me know you were alive.’

She was like a steamroller, her voice getting shriller and more hysterical even though I was making shushing motions with my hands.

The look on Mum’s face hardened. ‘Chanel.’ It was like a whip cracking. ‘What is Martine talking about?’

I noticed Chuck leaning against the far wall with his arms folded and a smile on his face. It was just like when we were in Las Vegas, but
this
time,
I
was the one with all the secrets.

I pulled a face and said, ‘Turns out Alex wasn’t such a nice guy. He kidnapped me.’

Mum’s mouth opened and closed a few times and then she said, ‘Well, I hope you shot him.’

‘We did.’ I didn’t bother mentioning Billy had done the accurate part of the shooting.

‘Good girl.’ She patted me on the shoulder. ‘Now if you don’t get ready we’re going to be really late.’

The door slid back open and Billy and Harry came back into the room. They both had smiles on their faces. Harry caught my eye and winked at me.

‘Urrrrr, Chanel.’ The doctor had been trying to get to me through Mum and Martine.

‘Mum,’ I said. ‘You and Martine go now, and tell them I’ll be along shortly?’

‘What, and leave you to the mercy of Boris?’ Martine’s tone was full of indignation.

‘Boris isn’t a player any more,’ I said.

Martine’s mouth made a perfect circle. ‘So, we’re safe?’

I nodded at her.

Stress and worry melted off her face. She leant and kissed me on the cheek and said, ‘Come on Tess. I’m sure Chanel will fill us in later.’

The doctor poked and prodded me, took some blood, and finally pronounced me alive. Then Chuck interviewed me, and when he had finished, Detective Jamerson of the Airlie Beach Police Department had all the same questions for me. I would have been grumbly if Nick, Sal and Billy hadn’t been going through the same procedure.

Billy disappeared for ten minutes and re-emerged in black pants and a button up shirt. He looked delicious.

‘Time to get this show on the road,’ he said.

‘Will they still want us there?’ I asked. I mean I know Billy was really a part of the wedding party, but the rest of us had been pretenders.

‘I think,’ he pulled me in and kissed me on the neck, ‘That they’ll be disappointed if we’re
not
all there.’

I looked over at Sal and she cocked her head to the side as if considering his words and then looked at me and nodded. ‘We should go,’ she said. ‘Besides, I think we could all do with a drink.’

She was right about that.

‘You guys,’ I waved a finger between her and Billy, ‘you need to play this thing out.’

‘She’s right.’ Sal pulled a face. ‘I laid it on a bit thick last night for you to be swapping girlfriends now.’

Billy nodded. ‘Yeah. Of course. Don’t want to steal the limelight from Matt and Tara.’ He took a seat at the table with Nick and Sal and I went to get changed.

I threw on a dress, pulled my hair back into a messy bun and tidied up my make-up. It was the best I could do in the short amount of time I had.

Then the four of us jumped into the buggy and headed for the parties.

Nick let out a chuckle. ‘Man you should have seen Chanel whacking Boris with that frying pan. She could play softball for Australia.’

‘I wouldn’t have gotten away with it if you hadn’t skewered him first,’ I said. ‘Have they found the body yet?’

‘Not that I know,’ Sal said. ‘There’s a lot of area to cover though. They may need to wait till it’s light again.’

‘And if the body makes it out of the Marina,’ Billy said, ‘they’ll need to bring in helicopters as well.’

He pulled into a spot in front of a pub and said, ‘Hen’s party is in there. We’re down the road a bit further.’

‘Don’t do anything I wouldn’t,’ Nick yelled as they drove off.

‘That leaves it pretty wide open,’ Sal said.

The party was in full swing when we arrived. I could see Tara, wearing a long bride’s veil, in the middle of the dance floor. Nat, Elaine and Dinah, all holding blow-up penises, danced in a circle around her. ABBA’s Dancing Queens was blaring through the speakers and, as I watched, Martine cha-cha’d onto the dance floor with Mum hanging off her waist as if they were in a Conga line.

‘Excellent,’ Sal said. She threw her hands in the air and headed for the others.

I stood for a moment watching them all. The beat of the music, the girls’ laughter, the energy of their love, all flowed over me. Man, it sure was good to be alive.

I threw my arms in the air, whirled on the spot, and then I followed Sal onto the dance floor.

‘Why did we drink so much?’ The groaned question came from beside me.

I opened my eyes to find I was lying next to Nat. ‘Cause it seemed like the right thing to do at the time.’

‘Damned right.’ Elaine’s voice came from the other side of the room. ‘We’re running out of hen’s parties to go to. We have to make the most of each and every one.’ She crossed the room and pressed a glass of water into Nat’s hand.

I raised my head off the pillow and waited for the nausea. It never came. Whoopee. I’d had a fantastic night and gotten away without a hangover. Turning up a couple of hours late had certainly helped. And then I’d been running on the adrenaline of having made it through the day alive. I hadn’t needed much alcohol to ‘party like it was 1999’.

We had ended up in Elaine’s hotel room after the bar had closed in the wee hours of the morning. A bridesmaid slumber party had seemed like an excellent idea. From the phone call I ‘d overheard her have with Alistair it sounded like the boys were doing the same thing in Nat’s room.

‘Where’s Tara?’ I asked.

‘In the shower.’ Dinah sat up on the other side of me and ruffled her short hair. ‘I wonder how Gloria went at her slumber party. She said she was enjoying the buck’s party, but I bet once they all started snoring and farting she was wishing she was here.’

‘How many hours till show time?’ I sat up in the king-sized bed and looked around. Half-empty glasses and bottles of wine littered the little table.

‘Enough time for a greasy brunch before the hairdresser attacks us,’ Tara said from the doorway to the bathroom. She had a broad I’m-getting-married smile on her face.

‘Hellooooo.’ Martine’s voice accompanied her knock. ‘I brought some things for Chanel,’ she said when Elaine opened the door.

She traipsed in carrying my bag in one hand and my bridesmaid’s dress in the other.

I clambered out of bed and took them from her. ‘Thanks.’ I gave her a hug and gestured at myself. ‘That’s two nights in a row I’ve slept in my clothes.’

‘Getting to be a habit,’ she said.

I was hoping I wasn’t going for a trifecta. Tonight I was planning on sleeping naked. With Billy.

‘Come for brunch,’ Tara said. ‘There’s a great café down at the waterfront.’

‘Are you sure?’ Martine waved a hand at us all. ‘I don’t want to crash the wedding preparations.’

‘Oh please.’ Tara let out a laugh. ‘You’re one of us now. And besides, Chanel still hasn’t told us what went down yesterday.’

That was true. Last night hadn’t seemed like the right time to talk about such serious stuff.

Thirty minutes later we were all seated at a café near where the buggy had blown up.

‘I’ve got a confession,’ I said to Tara. ‘I didn’t wear in my shoes.’

She let out a laugh. ‘I didn’t really think you would. Things have been a bit hot for you.’ She put the menu on the table and looked at me. ‘So it was really you he was after all this time?’

I nodded. ‘I don’t know why. Maybe Mum is right. Maybe I
am
a shit magnet.’

Martine let out a hoot. ‘Either that or it’s payback for when you stuffed that giant spider down his shirt.’

I shrugged. Who knew how Boris’s mind worked? I mean he’d had his teeth filed to points for crying out loud. The man was a maniac.
Had
been a maniac.

‘He’s dead now,’ I said. ‘So it doesn’t really matter. What
is
important is the wedding.’

‘Nah ahhh.’ Tara pushed her shiny brown hair back behind her ears. ‘We spent all yesterday thinking you were dead.’ A tear glistened in the corner of her eye and she wiped at it with her knuckle. ‘We deserve to hear the whole story.’

The others nodded and leant in closer and Martine blew her nose noisily on her hanky. I hadn’t thought about how Nick and my disappearance had affected all of them. That had been pretty selfish. I owed them for that. And besides, I
really
wanted to tell them about Billy.

So I began at the beginning and didn’t stop talking till the end. Our meals showed up as I got to the part about Billy saving us. ‘And then,’ I said, ‘Billy told me that he knew Harry wasn’t his real father, and he kissed me.’

Elaine barked out a laugh. ‘Well, that explains something.’

I cocked my head to the side and looked at her.

‘Why I saw the two of you snogging in the bushes outside the pub last night.’

‘We did?’ Lord. Maybe I had drunk more than I had thought.

‘You don’t remember? He turned up at the pub and said he had some information for you. Then he dragged you outside and kissed you to within an inch of your life.’

‘Oohhh.’ I could feel my cheeks turning red as the memory returned.
That
had been a
really
good kiss. I couldn’t believe I had forgotten it. ‘Don’t worry,’ I said to Tara. ‘We won’t blow the cover today.’

She waved a hand. ‘Cover schmover. People expect a scandal at a wedding. It’ll give them something to talk about. Well, it’ll give
Aunt Esme
something to talk about.’

After we had finished breakfast we headed for the local hairdressers. The next couple of hours were taken up with magazine flicking, idle chatter, and hot rollers. Then it was a slow ride back in the golf buggies to meet the make-up artist at the hotel room. Martine left at that point to begin her own preparations.

‘Here.’ Elaine handed me a glass of bubbly.

I took a sip and watched as the make-up artist applied foundation to Tara ‘s face. My phone let out a burble and I pulled it out of my handbag and looked at it. ‘It’s Mum,’ I said, holding it up to my ear.

‘Darling. I do hope you don’t have a hangover today.’

‘Nothing a couple of hash browns didn’t fix. What about you?’

‘All good at this end. What are you up to?’

‘Getting our faces painted.’ We were pretty much finished except for our lipstick.

‘You’ll never guess who I heard back from?’

‘If I’ll never guess, you’d better just tell me.’

‘Liss and Thor, Darling.’

I sat up straighter. ‘That’s wonderful.’

‘Yes. I was a bit worried because it had been a few days since I’d sent the friend request. Turns out she’s a lousy Facebooker. Anyway your father and I are off to Spain after the wedding. We were wondering if you wanted to come?’

‘Me? Spain? Mum, I have a job.’

‘Mmmmm,’ she said.

‘What?’

‘Well Darling, it does seem a bit of a dangerous occupation.’

‘This isn’t normal,’ I said.

‘So you’re saying that the continued efforts of psychopaths to kill you is more to do with
you
than your job?’

‘Yes.’ Sadly, that was probably true.

‘Perhaps you’re right.’ She let out a sigh. ‘Got to go and do a sound check before we head to the chapel.’ She blew me a kiss and hung up.

I mulled over what she had said while I finished my sparkling wine and put on the bridesmaid’s dress.

Maybe I
should
go back to hairdressing.

The sad part of it all was that until I had become a police officer, I had been totally bored with life. I had thought it was because Hickory had been boring, but I realised now that it was more a sad reflection on my personality. I was an adrenaline junky. Police work satisfied that part of me. Not all the time, I mean being stuck on the front desk was mind-numbingly tedious, but when I was bringing in criminals I was on a high.

Elaine finished zipping up Tara and spun her around so that we could take in the full effect of the gown.

‘Oh.’ I felt tears spring up in my eyes. ‘You look beautiful.’

Nat let out a sniffle and the make-up artist sighed and dug around in her bag for a make-up brush. ‘Get it all out of your system now girls while I am here to fix it up.’

The cream satin of Tara’s gown glowed. It was a simple design, a simple cut, but it was stunning. Sleeveless, with a high neckline at the front, it cascaded down her back, exposing her spine to her waist. From there, it moulded her form perfectly, before flowing to the ground in waves of satin.

Our hairstyles with their French chignons suited all of our dresses perfectly, but it looked particularly good with the simpleness of Tara’s dress.

‘Well,’ she said, holding out her arms, ‘let’s go get me married.’

***

It took us fifteen minutes, at the snail’s pace the men from the hotel drove the buggies, to get to the chapel. It seemed a few brides in the past had berated them for ruined hairstyles. I was sure we could have walked there faster, but it was up hill, and the afternoon was rather warm, so I had behaved myself and stayed in the buggy.

Even with that, we arrived smack bang on time.

‘What are you doing?’ Elaine put her hand on Tara’s shoulder as she started to get out of the buggy.

‘Getting married.’

‘But, you’re not fashionably late.’

Tara raised her eyebrows. ‘How late is fashionable?’

‘Five minutes.’ The look on Elaine’s face said she had been going to suggest longer but had changed her mind at the last second.

‘That’s five minutes less of my life I’d get to spend married to Matt.’ Tara pulled up her skirts and held out her hand to the driver. He steadied her as she climbed out of the buggy.

‘No running,’ Elaine told her as Nat pulled the short veil down over Tara’s eyes.

The music started up and I followed Dinah down the makeshift aisle between the seats. I picked out Mum and Harry and gave them a little wave around my bouquet. Apart from that I only had eyes for the men waiting at the other end.

Their faces glowed as they stared at the women they loved. Matt peered past us, waiting for his first glimpse of Tara. All of them looked so handsome dressed in their tuxedos. But once my eyes found Billy’s, that was all I saw.

I couldn’t believe he was mine. All I knew was that it felt totally right. As if my existence melded perfectly into his. Two pieces of the same puzzle finally clicking together. I felt loved, protected and desired. And I realised I had found what Matt and Tara shared. I had found my soul mate.

I broke our gaze to watch Matt as Tara rounded the bend and started down the aisle. And well, that nearly made me ruin the magnificent job the make-up artist had done.

Pride. Longing. Joy. Love. It was hard to put a finger on just one emotion flitting over his face.

I heard Martine let out a sob as I turned to look at Tara.

She glowed like a beautiful angel as she floated down the aisle on her Dad’s arm. Her eyes were fixed on Matt as she gave him a cheeky wink.

Bert handed Tara’s hand to Matt, took a seat next to Bet in the front row and then the ceremony began. It didn’t take long till we got to the part about being man and wife and the kissing of the bride.

Matt swept Tara up into his arms and pressed his lips to hers. It lasted long enough to be a decent kiss but not so long that people were going to start yelling for them to get a room. Well, for the men to start yelling that. All the women were busy wiping their eyes. I was no exception. Unlike at Suzie’s wedding,
this
time I was crying for the right reason.

Taking Tara’s hand, Matt led her back down the aisle and the after-wedding congratulations began. I watched them for a while and then I felt someone bump me from behind. It was Billy.

‘Nice ceremony.’ He moved so that he was standing next to me.

‘Very nice.’ I looked straight ahead out to sea. ‘Lovely view.’

‘Not as lovely as you.’ He moved his arm against mine. ‘Want to meet me behind that tree in ten minutes?’ He nodded toward the huge pine tree situated about fifty metres down the hill.

The grass looked smooth enough for me to get down there in my heels. ‘Make it five.’ I didn’t know if I could wait ten minutes to kiss him.

‘You go first,’ he murmured.

I tried to make it seem like I was wandering aimlessly, but I was sure I had a flashing, neon-light arrow above my head and a sign that said, ‘Desperate.’

First I walked to the end of the aisle and held my hand up to my eyes as I looked out to sea. Then I walked a little further still pretending to search the ocean. A small dinghy with a flag on it was anchored in the water at the bottom of the hill. I’d been told that meant there were people snorkelling in the water nearby. Probably spear fishing. I searched the water around it, but it was too far away for me to see anybody.

‘Chanel.’ I was almost at the tree when Harry called out to me.

I hadn’t talked to him since Billy and he had had THE conversation last night. I sighed. That was more important than my sneaking off with Billy. I turned and began climbing back up the hill toward him.

Everything happened so fast after that. He pointed and yelled and I turned to see Boris charging out from behind the tree.

He was sopping wet, had a huge bruised egg on the left side of his forehead, and he was holding a spear gun. ‘Now you
die
,’ he yelled.

Harry let out a bellow of rage as he raced down the hill. Boris changed the spear gun’s aim from me to Harry and his finger twitched over the lever.

‘Dad,’ I screamed. ‘No.’

I sprinted towards Boris as fast as I could on those bloody high heels. There was no
way
I was going to let him hurt my Dad.

The thing about a spear gun is that you only get one shot before you have to reload. Boris knew that and he
really
wanted to kill me.

He roared and brought his arc of fire back around, and that was when those high heels saved my life.

The second before Boris fired, the left heel twisted out from underneath me. The noise of the spear gun firing and the pain from my rolling ankle were simultaneous. I let out a scream as I collapsed to the ground and the spear whistled through the space my head had been in, a millisecond before.

‘Chanel.’ Dad’s rage and despair collided and he leapt through the air to crash tackle Boris around the waist. He rode him to the ground, balled up his hand and smacked it into Boris’s face.

Boris roared and threw him off, reaching into his pocket to pull out a switch blade. The spear gun cord lay on top of me. I pulled on it till the spear was in my hand and then I crawled towards Boris. All of a sudden stabbing the bastard didn’t seem like such a bad idea. The problem was that I wasn’t going to make it in time.