The Bride's Curse (7 page)

“Can you tell me what happened, Red?” A familiar voice. And an annoying name. She tried for a cutting answer, but all that came out was a croak.

“Unless I miss my guess, it would appear to me that Ms. Andrews is experiencing some recurrent pain from a wound she acquired while serving her country.” Abbas Faheem cast another small smile her way. “I communicated with the doctor on duty at the hospital, who checked your records. You have a history of headaches after a serious head wound. How is your vision?”

“I can see perfectly well, now that you’ve turned that darned light off.” Kelly struggled to sit up. “Abbas Faheem—the clever lion. Abbas is a lion, Faheem is intelligent. Funny the things that stick in your mind. I couldn’t remember much of my Arabic, but that came back without even thinking about it. Are you a clever lion, Abbas Faheem?”

“Right now, Ms. Andrews, I’m just a lowly paramedic, once an army medic, who is pleased to see that his patient is well on her way to recovery.”

“Why do you think that’s a shrapnel wound?” That familiar voice again.
Brett!
Yes, it was the man she’d been walking with … wearing his jacket … holding hands…

“Because I’m sad to say I have seen many such wounds, also while serving this country of ours.” The paramedic turned back to Kelly. “Your vital signs are back to normal, but I’d like you to rest, and tomorrow report to your own doctor. He will take blood tests and will likely arrange for you to have x-rays. Sometimes it can happen that a tiny sliver of bone, or maybe metal from the shrapnel, can lodge in the brain and not be easily noticed in the early days following the injury, due to brain swelling. If these fainting events become more frequent, the doctor will get you a referral to a specialist, just to get it all checked out. I wish you both a good day.”

Faheem waved a salute and, with a weary smile, left them.

Kelly was flooded with thankfulness for all the caring people in this small town, people like Abbas Faheem, the medic who had served his country like she had, and for Brett Atwell, who stood beside her wearing a concerned expression and looking as if he would be willing to take on dragons to protect her.

• • •

“I’m not sure what happened, Brett.” It was the truth. After all, she wasn’t sure she really saw a ghost, was she?

They were still in Kelly’s eclectically furnished living room, nursing cups of hot tea.

“You were just about to invite me in for a nightcap after our dinner when you suddenly went white as a sheet, grabbed at your head, and collapsed. Fortunately, you had your door key in your hand, so I carried you inside and called the emergency services.”

“Thank you for being so … kind.”

Brett shrugged as if it were nothing. “I could hardly leave you in a heap on your laneway now, could I? I was brought up better than that. Of course, I’m used to women falling at my feet but … ”

“Don’t flatter yourself, buster. How long … ?”

“How long were you out?” He glanced at the handsome watch he wore on his left wrist. “Looks like at least one of us got her beauty sleep. It was about ten o’clock when I called the paramedics, and it’s two forty-five a.m. right now.”

“So long?” Kelly’s stomach churned. She had lost more than four hours. She’d never been out as long as that before. Oh, God, was the damage to her brain getting worse?

She assured Brett that she was fine, that she intended to rest for a while and he should leave to get some sleep if he could before beginning his own busy day.

“You’re kidding, aren’t you?” The frown between his eyes contradicted his bantering tone. “After that little episode? I’d be worried sick about you.” He raised her hand to his lips and left a gentle kiss there—a kiss that seemed to tingle on her flesh long after it was over. “Honey, there’s no place I want to be right now other than with you.”

Kelly lay back on the pillows and allowed herself to bask in the sense of security his presence brought, a feeling that was rare for her. Brett tucked a colorful vintage quilt around her and sat on the edge of the settee, seeming content to have Kelly snuggle into his side.

The tall grandfather clock on the window wall ticked its lazy song and Kelly thought she had not felt this safe in so very long … not since that fateful day in Afghanistan. But she didn’t want to think about that now, and she relaxed into a gentle doze.

Sometime later, she woke again as Brett’s weight bounced the settee as he settled back down beside her holding two mugs of hot tea. “Drink this, Red. It’s supposed to be good for shock.”

He handed her one of the mugs and grinned when she snapped back, “Keep calling me Red and you’ll be the one getting a shock.”

She stretched languidly, raising an eyebrow when she heard the clock strike seven. “I didn’t even notice you’d got up. I guess the pills really put me out.”

“You needed your rest,” he replied, the twin lines of a frown puckering his forehead under the mop of blond hair. “How are you feeling? Any pain?”

She shook her head, wincing as a sharp throb raced through her temple. Brett gently stroked her forehead, checking for signs of fever as the paramedic had advised. The frown deepened as she stiffened when his fingers found the long, ridged scar that ran from just behind her hairline, over her temple and toward the back of her scalp.

“This is the wound that the paramedic was talking about?” His voice was tight.

Kelly struggled to swallow around the memories that flooded back. Among them one so much more recent—that fleeting glimpse of the ghost of an old man, the old man she’d last seen on the bench in front of Wedding Bliss, standing beckoning to her just seconds before the terrible pain ripped through her skull …

“You know that recently the U.S. government removed the exclusion of women in combat roles? Well, we were already there in some front line jobs. I was attached to a ground crew as a driver. We were in a convoy and there was an armored car before us and another one after us. We felt about as safe as anyone could feel in that situation. It was slow going because the crew ahead of us was checking for roadside bombs. Everything was going fine, we were on time with the supplies we were bringing to camp, and we were starting to relax. We were almost there when … when the truck ahead hit an IED and it was like the whole world blew up in our faces.”

Even now, years later, she could still feel the tension, the sick fear, welling up in her belly at the memory. Brett squeezed her hand and she glanced up at him, grateful for his comforting presence.

“It was just crazy. The Taliban opened fire and our guys raced to positions to return that fire. I grabbed a machine gun from an injured soldier and tried to protect him and me by strafing the area. Then I pulled him—fortunately he wasn’t a big man, although bigger than me. I started to drag him toward the nearest vehicle. Funny how God gives you strength in these life and death situations.

“Anyway, he was wounded real bad but I could hear him moaning so I knew he was still alive. Then another explosive device went off close by and I guess I was hit by the shrapnel. An awful pain ripped through my head and I could hardly see for my own blood running into my eyes, stinging. Still, I got myself and the wounded guy into the shelter of the vehicle. I don’t remember any more after that until I woke up in a transport plane on my way to the armed forces hospital in Germany.”

Brett leaned down and kissed her gently. When he raised his head she could see the pride on his face. “I could only imagine what you went through out there, and what guts it must have taken to put your life on the line to save another soldier’s.”

Tears sprang into her eyes, but she shrugged his praise away. “What I did was nothing compared to the courage and sacrifice of some of the other guys,” she insisted. “Three of my buddies died in that attack—they paid with their lives to keep us from being overrun until help arrived. I owe it to them that I survived and was airlifted out to the military hospital.

“Head wounds are funny things, often unpredictable. I was in and out of consciousness for quite a while and it took some time before my memory came back. I had speech problems, too, but the docs assured me it would all clear up. One thing they couldn’t be certain about was the … hallucinations … I was having.”

“Like post-traumatic stress disorder flashbacks?”

“Something like that.” How could she explain to him that the woman he was caressing actually saw restless spirits?

Suddenly the front door opened and Noelia Russo came rushing in.

In one hand, she had a plastic container of what looked like soup, in the other a bouquet of fresh flowers. She stopped short at the sight of Kelly lying on the sofa with Brett hovering over her like a protective sheepdog, then grinned.

“Here I was, worried sick about my poor friend who I heard collapsed and was at death’s door, and here she is, cuddled up with a gorgeous guy! If I’d known you were in such good hands … ” The head to toe and back again look she gave Brett made her double entendre obvious. “I wouldn’t have worried at all.”

Kelly struggled to sit up while Brett stood, not sure whether to scowl or laugh at Noelia’s suggestive wink.

Noelia shoved the flowers and plastic food container at him. “Make yourself useful, dear, and see to these. The flowers go in a vase filled with water and the soup goes in a casserole dish and into the microwave for four minutes when Kelly is hungry.” She handed them to him and then stood back, looking skeptical. “You will get that right, won’t you?”

Brett was quick to recover. “Yes, of course. Flowers in the microwave, soup in a vase.”

Noelia laughed out loud. “No need for cheek, young man. Get outta here.”

When he was gone, she sat down on the edge of the sofa and gave Kelly a hard look. “All joking apart, I meant what I said, honey—I really was worried. What happened?”

Kelly quickly filled the older woman in, and then asked, “But how did you get to hear of this?”

Noelia gave her an incredulous look. “Surely you’ve lived here long enough to know that news travels faster than the speed of light in Marina Grove? And remember, I live next door to Julie Carlson … ”

The penny dropped. “The police department secretary? And she heard it from the 911 dispatcher.”

“And if Julie knows about it, so does everyone else in town. You’ll probably have a house full of visitors before noon. I guess there’s no point in telling you that you should take the day off and rest?”

Kelly shook her head. “This whole thing with the wedding dress is driving me crazy. Brett is convinced that I bought a wedding dress belonging to his aunt, who wants it back—oh, for a lot of reasons. Apparently it should never have been sold.”

“Ooops, that really puts you down the creek with no paddle. I really doubt you’ll get Ms. Welcome to let you buy the dress back. She doesn’t look the type to give up something she wants gracefully.”

Noelia had hit the problem on the head. “I don’t even want to ask her until I’m sure what’s happening. I need to find out who the dress belonged to and why … well, why it seems to have this weird ability to screw up other brides’ wedding plans. I mean, you’d think a wedding gown would carry happy vibes, wouldn’t you?”

“If Brett thinks it belongs to his aunt, can’t you just outright ask him who she is and why the dress is, well, cursed?”

Kelly chewed her bottom lip, a habit she had when trying to figure something out. Noelia waited patiently for an explanation. “If I ask Brett, first it means I think I might have his dress—and I haven’t told him that for sure yet—but also he’s very protective of his aunt. She’s been ill. More to the point, I think he’d either go ballistic if I asked if she had cursed the gown … ”

“ … or he might think you’re a nut job for even suggesting such a thing.” Noelia smiled triumphantly. “You really do like this guy, don’t you? Not that I can blame you. He’s definitely eye candy.”

“Noelia!”

“What? I might be … of a certain age, but I still know an attractive man when I see one … like now. Anyhow, I think I might have something that could help … ” Noelia paused and then went on. “I was doing a bit of cleaning up at the store, and there’s something I need to show you, back at the shop.”

“I hope it’s a bill from the furnace guy, saying he’s fixed that cold draft.”

“Not exactly. In fact, he couldn’t find anything wrong.”

Kelly struggled to her feet. “Whatever. I need to get into the store. If you’re not there and I’m not there … ”

Noelia gave her a long look. “Maybe you should get more rest. The store is quite safe; it’s only eight-thirty and we don’t open for another hour.”

Kelly gave her a sheepish grin. “It’s just that it’s already been a long day … ” She pushed herself to her feet, half afraid that the searing pain in her head would recur. To her vast relief, there was no trace of a headache and no dizziness. In fact, she felt just fine.

And part of the reason for that feeling fine just walked back into the room. “Where do you think you’re going?” Brett asked, taking the opportunity to drop a quick kiss on her cheek and enjoying the surprised expression on her face.

“To see a man who isn’t there. And a woman about a dress.”

Small wonder Brett looked puzzled as he watched her make her way upstairs to dress for work.

• • •

He didn’t want to let her go alone. How could he explain to her what he’d felt as she’d gone deathly pale, screamed in pain, and crumpled like a puppet with its strings cut? The fear that he was going to lose her before even getting to properly know her had burned in his soul.
Dammit, she’s been through enough.

He wanted to stay by her side and protect her, yet being protected by a man was probably the last thing she needed. Let’s face it, she’d shown herself capable of coping in more dangerous situations than he’d encountered in his own work, although there’d been a few close calls in some of the third world countries where he’d worked for the non-profit organization building schools and wells and whatever else was needed. The idea that this woman, so slender and feminine, had been in such danger had sent adrenaline racing through his system. But the rage quickly faded into admiration that Kelly was strong enough to face down insurgents and save the life of a fellow soldier. He could only imagine the courage that must have taken.