Veiled Threat (22 page)

forty

Sidney and Olivier’s reception
line stretched around the koi pond, under the palm trees, and down the little hall to the bathrooms.

Every time Giulia said the name of the reception hall—The Best-Kept Wedding Secret—she wanted to add the words “and Barbecue Joint.” Then she’d have to stop herself from snickering.

The hall was light years away from being a dive restaurant. Multi-patterned carpets, the hotel type designed to hide dirt, covered the floors of the meet-and-greet room and the main dining room. Gauze curtains covered floor-to-ceiling windows in both rooms, with red velvet drapes for Christmas. Swaths of white miniature lights hung from the ten-foot-tall palm trees in each corner of the huge room. More lights festooned the ceiling, looping around and over themselves, drooping here and there like a shining version of the small fountain in the koi pond.

One of Sidney’s small cousins had already splashed into the pond, calling, “Fishie!” One of her older cousins had improvised a fishing pole from a fork and her hair ribbons, baiting it with a piece of cheese from an hors d’oeuvre tray. She cast from the apex of the footbridge that spanned the wide, shallow pond. One of the orange-splotched white fish opened its mouth for the bait while the other cousins whooped and cheered her on. Parental wrath descended like the Sword of Damocles, the fish lost its meal, and the hair ribbons were rebraided into a much tighter ’do.

Giulia balanced on Frank’s arm as they waited in the reception line, holding herself as upright as possible. The leg injury only throbbed if she kept weight on it for several minutes at a time.

“Sidney’s extended family is as enormous as mine—or yours,” she whispered. “Do you know anyone here besides the bride and groom?”

“Nope. We’re stuck making polite conversation with a boatload of strangers for the next four hours.”

“Since when are you a curmudgeon?”

“Since I have a backlog of paying work because I didn’t realize I’d hired Wonder Woman under her new secret identity.”

Giulia stroked her chin. “Hmm. I like it. I expect my skintight sexy crimefighting outfit to arrive any day now.”

They reached the first of the bridesmaids and introduced themselves six times before they finally stood in front of Sidney and Olivier.

“Sidney, you are one of the most beautiful brides I’ve ever seen,” Giulia said.

“Thank you,” she squeezed Giulia and Frank. “I was so nervous. Thank God we didn’t write our vows or anything like that, because I would’ve forgotten everything the minute I got up in front of Father Pat. He looked so official!”

Giulia kissed Olivier. “You look like James Bond.”

“Thank you. I’ll remind Sidney of that the next time she ogles Daniel Craig.” He kissed his bride’s cheek.

“What, honey?”

“Nothing.” He winked at Giulia. “I’ve merely been informed that I am channeling my inner Bond today.”

Sidney took a step back and looked him over. “Ooh, you kinda do look like James Bond. I like it.”

The older couple behind Giulia cleared their throats.

Sidney looked guilty. “Sorry, Aunt Louise.” She stage-whispered to Giulia, “I’ll come by your table later. I want to know what happened to your leg and where’s the baby? It’s safe, right? Otherwise you’d still be looking all stressed out. Okay, later.”

Frank took Giulia’s arm and steered her to their table at the corner near the parquet dance floor.

“Drink?”

“Yes, please. White wine.” She reread the eco-lecture card on her plate.

Frank returned with two wineglasses while they were still the only ones at their table.

“Thank you. Did you know that we’re drinking low-sulfite wine from local, naturally processed fresh grapes?”

“Don’t tell me everything at this wedding comes with proselytization.” He sipped from his own glass. “It’s pretty good.”

“Did you see this?” She held up a tent card placed in front of the holly-and-mistletoe centerpiece. “Our favors will be on a table near the coat room, because it’s unsanitary to have alpaca fertilizer near the food.”

Frank’s wineglass hit the table. “She went through with it? Only Sidney would give all-natural, odor-free,” he lowered his voice, “excrement as a wedding favor.”

Giulia bit down on a laugh. “Perhaps you should stake out the non-organic food stations early.”

“Already have my game plan worked out. I notice they also have two cakes. Oh, forgot to tell you. When Jimmy’s guys searched the McFarland’s house they found all the ransom money still in the box. Your friends will get it back soon.”

“That’s what their message meant.”

“Huh?”

“Yesterday afternoon, after you left, the phone rang and I couldn’t get to it in time. It was Laurel calling to say that they’re broke right now, but as soon as their bank account gets back to normal they’ll send us a check.”

The recorded music—a mixture of Christmas carols and mellow pieces by classical composers—began an instrumental version of one of the arias from Handel’s
Messiah
. Two couples came to the table and Giulia concentrated on making small talk. Olivier’s brother introduced the wedding party, and the wait staff initiated the march to the food stations.

“Sit,” Frank said to Giulia. “You can’t carry a plate if you’re limping. You want whole-earth, right?”

“Yes, please. I’m adventurous.”

He returned with chicken dumplings, mushroom pâté on bruschetta rounds, and a bowl of corn-and-pumpkin stew. “I’ll grab you some cornbread on my way back. Red meat, here I come.”

_____

They stood together on the footbridge after the traditional bride plus groom plus mother and father dances.

“The fish must think we’re a new kind of two-headed, three-legged human.” Giulia leaned on her elbows, looking down into the clear water at the bubbling fountain.

“I wonder if they’d be good fried in butter and garlic.”

She laughed. “Haven’t you had enough carnivore victuals to satisfy you?”

“Oh, yeah. Food was great. But I’ve always got room for fresh-caught fish.” He reached for her hand. “I’ve been thinking. It’s time we stopped playing around.”

Her chest clenched.
He’s going to dump me at a wedding reception?

“Don’t look like that. What, did you think I was pulling a ‘We have to talk’ on you?”

“Well …”

Two of the cousins raced over the bridge behind them, followed by the would-be swimmer from earlier. The deejay put on the “Cha Cha Slide” to much laughter and calls for everyone to get on the dance floor or be dragged there.

Frank scowled at the speakers. “At least we’ll have privacy. Look, we both know what the elephant in the room is: office romance. We’ve survived it so far, right?”

She nodded.

“We’re adults. We know where to draw the line. Usually. You’re my conscience.”

She looked at him. “That’s not what I intended to be.”

“Exactly what I wanted to talk about.” His hand kneaded hers. “I’m pigheaded and overprotective and I swear too much and I have a short temper. Marry me anyway.”

Zzzt.
Giulia’s brain blanked.

Frank continued to hold her hand. After a moment, he said, “I was hoping for maidenly swoons and a fluttering acceptance.”

“I … um …”

“Don’t tell me you’re surprised. Sean and Pat told me that I was practically telegraphing it at the house party.” He pulled her arm around so she had to look at him. “Do you need me to say it?”

“No. No, I don’t need you to say it.” Her fingers trembled in his.

“Well, then?”

Her voice got very small. “No.”

The look on his face said
zzzt
.

“I think you’re caught up in the baby-wedding-Christmas thing, Frank. I’ve caught you looking at me when I was holding your niece or Katie, or when we were dancing at your parents’ house.” When he didn’t say anything, she continued, “I’m getting the warm fuzzies too. When I picked up Katie in that horror-house church, every maternal hormone in me snapped to attention.”

“I’m not asking you to marry me just to knock you up.” Irritation crept into his voice.

A small smile touched her lips. “I didn’t think you were. I just think we shouldn’t make life-changing decisions while we’re both on a combined high from rescuing Katie and Sidney’s wedding.”

“Fine.” He released her hand.

The noise and laughter from the dance floor covered the sound of his shoes walking away. Giulia stared at a black-and-orange koi swimming in lazy circles around the bubbling fountain below her.

Have I just made the stupidest decision of my entire life?

The dance finished. Applause drowned out the deejay’s voice. When most of the dancers headed for the bar or their tables, he said, “We’re going to take it down a notch and play something just right for a romantic Christmas wedding.”

He started “The Christmas Waltz.”

“May you get a zit on your nose the day before an important date,” she muttered at the deejay. Tears pricked her eyes.
Falcone, you’re an idiot.

Fast, firm steps climbed the bridge toward her. “Hey. This is our song. You’re dancing with me if I have to hold you up for half of it.” Frank took her arm and helped her down the side of the bridge toward the dance floor.

When they were waltzing with care at the edge of the parquet, he said into her ear, “I don’t give up that easy.”

His voice challenged her: she’d heard that tone in it when he coached his recreational basketball team. She looked up. He was smiling. “You haven’t heard the last of this subject.”

She smiled, hoping the earlier tears didn’t show. “I’m open to discussion.”

“How businesslike of you. To hell with business.” He kissed her as they swayed in time to the music.

Sidney and Olivier danced over to them. “Get married in the summer, you two, when all the flowers in our fields will be blooming. No—in my family’s fields.” She giggled. “I’ve got a new home now.” Sidney kissed Olivier and they waltzed away.

Frank gave Giulia a wicked grin. “You can explain it to her when she comes back from her honeymoon. You’re the one who said no.”

“A choice which has received instant punishment.”

“You’re a good Catholic. You know about owning the consequences of your sins.”

She smiled. “You’re lecturing me on dogma?”

“I’m giving you a taste of the next several weeks. You think you’re stubborn? Lady, you’re about to meet your match.”

A weight lifted off her heart. “I accept your challenge.”

the end

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

Every book has an amazing team behind it. Many thanks go to my editors, Terri Bischoff and Brett Fechheimer, who make me look good; Kent D. Wolf, my A
w
esome Agent and indefatigable supporter; Christopher Johnson, M.D., Joe Richardson, Dona Grzybek, and Amy Bai, who kept my facts straight; Alex Harrow, my invaluable beta reader; my husband and sons, who never doubt that I’ll get everything done correctly and on time. And, always and forever, Purgatory and Absolute Write. These books would not have happened without you.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Alice Loweecey is a former nun who went from the convent to playing prostitutes on stage to accepting her husband’s marriage proposal on the second date. A contributor to BuddyHollywood.com, she is a member of Mystery Writers of America and Sisters in Crime. She lives with her family in Western New York.
Force of Habit
was her first novel, followed by
Back in the Habit
.

Please visit Alice’s website, at www.aliceloweecey.net.

Author photo by D. Steven Hodge.