Going to the Chapel: A Novella (15 page)

Pain ricocheted through her heart. She’d been such a fool. And soon everyone in town would know it.

Caroline crossed her arms like a guard and stepped into the center of the doorway, creating a barrier between her and Levi.

Levi’s troubled dark eyes latched on to Izzy’s. “I’ll tell them you had nothing to do with this, Izzy.”

Izzy swiped at tears. “I can’t believe you ever thought I did.”

“I’m sorry. I . . . it was my job. When I heard you telling your sisters that you were happily married, I knew you were lying.”

Humiliation burned her cheeks as she glanced at her sisters. “I didn’t want them to know what a mess I’d made of my life.” She glared at him, though, as realization dawned. “How did you hear that, anyway?”

Levi shifted onto the balls of his feet. “I . . . uh—”

Izzy suddenly had a terrible thought. “You bugged my house?”

“No,” Levi said quickly.

“The shop?” Izzy’s gaze shot across the interior. “Where is it, Levi?”

He reached out as if to calm her, but a raging anger fueled her temper. “Where is it?”

Levi walked over and plucked a tiny hearing device from the side of the dessert case. “I’m sorry. I had to know the truth.”

Steam oozed from Izzy. “You got what you wanted. Just leave.”

A muscle ticked in his jaw, but he didn’t reply.

He’d come here thinking she was a crook and used her to get the goods on Ray.

And like an idiot, she’d fallen for his lies just as she had Ray’s.

She’d also put her aunt’s and sisters’ lives at risk because of it.

Izzy wanted to run away as far as she could. At the same time, she wanted to stay here with her sisters and aunt and go back home with them tonight.

“I say we close up shop and go get some ice cream,” Daisy said.

Caroline tugged at Izzy’s arm. “A sundae sounds good right about now.”

Izzy turned to her aunt. “But I promised I’d make you proud, that people in town would look up to us.” Her voice cracked. “Now they’ll be talking about us again.”

Aunt Dottie straightened her hat and her spine. “Haven’t I taught you anything? Rule number two:
A lady always holds her head up high
—”

“
Even if she has dog poo on her shoes
,” Caroline and Daisy said with a grin.

Izzy couldn’t help but laugh as they locked the doors to One Stop Weddings and headed to the Triple D together, her aunt leading the troop.

For some reason, the manager of the Triple D had closed early. Izzy could have sworn that Nosy Nellie and Uner Pinkerton had warned her they were coming.

Ruby and Faye met them at the door, frantic over the shootout. “Dottie, are you all right?”

“Of course,” Aunt Dottie said, her shoulders stiff.

Ruby fanned her face. “But we heard there was a shootout.”

“It’s true,” Izzy said, determined not to let her aunt or sisters take the fall for this disaster. “It was my fault. My husband . . . he was a crook.”

“Oh, dear,” Ruby said.

“Does that mean you’re closing the shop?” Faye asked, her face pale.

“No,” Aunt Dottie said. “We just need some time to recover.”

“Aunt Dottie, why don’t you go with Ruby and Faye,” Caroline suggested.

Their aunt’s friends flanked her sides. “Yes, come on, Dottie. If we run into that Nosy Nellie or Uner, we’ll deck them with that crutch of yours.”

The sisters urged her to go with her friends, and their aunt left reluctantly. Izzy figured Aunt Dottie needed time to nurse her humiliation, and she needed time to figure out what to do now.

Caroline ordered the sisters into her minivan and drove them back to their aunt’s. Daisy raced into the kitchen and whipped up a pitcher of margaritas.

“Tell us about Ray, Izzy,” Daisy said as she passed out the drinks and they settled in the sunroom.

Izzy thought about the horrible way she and her sisters had left things, then the way she’d snuck out of Ray’s life and the fact that he’d hired Levi to find her, and for the first time in days, she let the flood of tears fall. “He was a liar and a cheat. I knew that, but I didn’t realize he’d stoop to murder.” She sniffed, licked salt from the rim of her glass, and took a gulp, hoping for liquid courage.

“I’m sorry your marriage didn’t work out,” Caroline said softly.

“And I’m sorry I messed things up here,” Izzy murmured. “At first I came back to hide out and decide what to do with my life. When Aunt Dottie asked me to clean out the shop, and I saw those dresses, and found the dolls we played with as kids, I thought it was a sign.” She heaved a breath. “I really did think the wedding business was a good idea. But I guess it’s hard to sell something you don’t believe in.”

Daisy sipped her drink. “But you did believe in it. You just married the wrong man.”

“Let’s face it,” Izzy said. “I’m always screwing up.” She turned to Caroline, her heart in her eyes. “I’m so sorry I ruined things for you and Blake.” She swallowed back a sob. “But I didn’t sleep with him, Caroline. Not that I didn’t try,” she admitted. “I did sneak into his hotel room and climb in bed to wait on him, but when he came in, he threw me out.”

Daisy squeezed Izzy’s hand. “Since we’re confessing here, I never slept with him either. He just liked my chocolate pie.”

Caroline’s expression softened. “It’s not your fault it didn’t work out with me and Blake. Blake wasn’t the settling-down type.”

“He might have come back for you, except that I didn’t give up. I chased after him when I left town,” Izzy admitted in a pained whisper.

Caroline traced her finger over the Christmas pillow Aunt Dottie had embroidered. “What happened?”

Shame filled Izzy, but she
was determined to come clean now with the entire story, sordid details and all. Her conscience couldn’t handle any more deceit.

“I chased him to Texas and threw myself at him again, but Blake told me to go home, that I was just a kid and not his type at all. Of course, dozens of rodeo groupies were hanging on to the fence waiting on him to sign autographs—and their boobs—after his ride.”

Caroline nodded. “Those girls are still all over him.”

Izzy frowned. “So you’ve kept up with him?”

Caroline looked away. “It’s hard to miss his picture in the papers,” Caroline said. “He’s still a party animal. And that’s not my life.”

“I should have come back and apologized to you before now,” Izzy said. “But I was so embarrassed that I just couldn’t face you.” She had gotten this far; she might as well finish. “And I’m sorry I sent your diary pages to Nellie.”

“That was pretty awful,” Caroline said.

“I know. You should have beat me for it.”

Caroline laughed. “I did give you a black eye at the Triple D.”

Izzy shrugged. “I deserved it.” She turned to Daisy. “And I’m so sorry I sent that picture of you at fat camp to Blake.”

Daisy’s cheeks reddened. “I was fat when I was young.”

“No you weren’t, and you’re not now. You have a beautiful hourglass figure,” Izzy said. “And I shouldn’t have done that to you. I just . . . thought you both had things going on for you, and I was a loser and I wanted Blake.”

Another silence descended while they each sipped their drinks.

Finally Daisy cleared her throat. “I messed up, too.”

“What do mean?” Izzy asked.

“I can’t go back to Tennessee. I think I killed Donny.”

“What?” Izzy and Caroline both said at once.

Daisy’s lower lip trembled, tears slipping out. “I married this guy named Donny, but a couple weeks ago, we were fighting ’cause I wanted to have sex and he didn’t. He said he was too tired from working in the field all day, except I think he was doing the mattress mambo with the neighbor Josie instead of working, ’cause the field hadn’t been plowed. So I called him a liar, and he said I had a big mouth. Then he stormed outside and slammed the door so hard the screen door fell off.” She heaved a breath, then continued on without missing a beat in true Daisy style. “I chased him onto the porch, but he was already stalking toward the barn across the road, and I was so mad I wished he was dead, then . . . then . . . then he got run over by a fertilizer truck right there in front of our house.”

Daisy dropped her head into her hands and began to wail.

And just like that, the bitterness of the past fell away as Izzy and Caroline wrapped her in their arms for a big sisterly hug.

“Men suck,” Izzy muttered.

Daisy dried her eyes on the napkin Caroline handed her. “Well, mine didn’t,” Daisy admitted wryly. “That was part of the problem. Selfish bastard didn’t want to go down on me.”

Izzy sympathized immediately. “Don’t feel bad. I had to teach Ray how to use his tongue for something besides talking, too.”

Daisy giggled, then reached for a handful of pretzels. Apparently she still ate when she was upset. “What about you, Caroline? Didn’t you get married a while back?”

Caroline traced a finger around the rim of her glass, then licked off salt. Their sister was the queen of stalling.

“Tell us,” Daisy said. “After all, look how bad our marriages turned out. I hope you were luckier than us.”

“Me, too,” Izzy said. “I heard you talking on the phone, sounds like you really love your guy.”

An odd look flashed in Caroline’s eyes. “I’m afraid my marriage was a disaster, too.”

Daisy straightened. “What happened?”

Who had Caroline been talking to?

Caroline chewed on her bottom lip. “Hugh left me four years ago.”

Izzy was stunned. Caroline was the perfect one. What man wouldn’t stay with her?

“Tell us about it,” Daisy encouraged.

Caroline twisted her fingers in her lap. “It was a few months after Sally was born.”

“Sally?” Izzy and Daisy both said at once.

Caroline nodded. “She’s five now.”

Izzy’s heart thumped with shock. “You have a daughter?”

“We have a niece?” Daisy asked.

Caroline smiled for the first time since the girls had returned to Matrimony.

Izzy swallowed a big swig of her margarita. “Where is she?”

“She’s staying with a friend.” Caroline fidgeted. “That’s the reason I have to get back before Christmas.” She looked at Izzy. “And that’s who you heard me talking to.”

“Does she know about us?” Daisy asked.

Caroline nodded. “Yes, I told her all about you.”

Izzy winced. “Oh, that can’t be good.”

A devilish look glinted in Caroline’s eyes. “I promised we’d take her to the Dairy & Donut Delite for a sundae.”

The three of them exchanged looks, then suddenly burst into laughter. For the next half hour, they retold the scandal story, laughing as they remembered the hot fudge in Izzy’s eyes, the ice-cream sandwiches flying and their aunt chastising them in jail.

But Izzy’s heart swelled with love and longing as Caroline showed them a photo of her daughter.

The sisters grew quiet, Izzy and Daisy soaking in Sally’s features.

She had Caroline’s brown hair, and the spark of sass in her eyes was pure Sassafras.

Caroline was going to need help raising that girl.

Daisy’s husband’s death and Caroline’s little girl—those must have been the secrets her aunt said she was tired of keeping.

Daisy made another pitcher of margaritas, and they spent the next hour bashing men and talking about trashing their wedding dresses.

A light snow started falling, but Izzy raced to her car and brought in her box of memorabilia. Her sisters toasted her as she tossed the pictures and corsage into the fire.

“Let’s make another toast,” Daisy said.

Caroline lifted her glass. “To never letting anything tear us apart again.”

Izzy clinked glasses, but a noise sounded from the doorway. Izzy looked up and saw the kitten scratching at the box of ornaments.

“All right, kitty,” she said as she scooped him up. “We should decorate Aunt Dottie’s tree.” It was the least she could do since she’d shamed her aunt again. Maybe that was the reason Aunt Dottie wore hats—to hide her face.

She set the kitten down with a ball of yarn from her aunt’s knitting basket, then dragged the box of ornaments to the tree. Daisy and Caroline smiled as they joined her, and together they hung their keepsake ornaments on the tree for Aunt Dottie to find when she came home.

Levi couldn’t leave town without saying good-bye and apologizing to Izzy. He’d spent half the night at the jail questioning Loudon and Ray, and the rest of the night thinking about Izzy and the look of betrayal and hurt on her face when she’d discovered his deception.

Maybe she felt better this morning. Maybe she’d forgive him.

Trepidation filled him though as he walked to the door. Through the window, he saw Christmas lights twinkling and noted the Santas and other decorations.

He rang the doorbell, tapping his foot as he waited. A minute later, he heard footsteps, and the door swung open. Izzy’s aunt stood on the other side, her expression hostile. “What do you want?”

“To talk to Izzy.”

Caroline and Daisy appeared behind her like soldiers guarding a fortress. The kitten that had nipped at him at the shop clawed at his leg.

“She doesn’t want to talk to you,” Caroline said.