The Bride's Curse (15 page)

Thank goodness he’d found out before it was too late. To think he’d been waiting most of the night to see her, just to apologize for his behavior at the retirement home. Brett’s mouth tightened into a hard line as he remembered the scolding he’d received from Mary.

As if it wasn’t bad enough that he couldn’t get Kelly out of his mind—or stop wanting her in his bed—now Mary wouldn’t stop demanding to meet with “that interesting young woman” again. She was insisting he invite Kelly for tea at the Atwell home. Brett sighed. He knew Aunt Mary was eccentric. As kids, he and Sasha believed she was a witch. It wasn’t just a kid thing; it was because she had told them so. Well, as an adult he didn’t believe in that witchy nonsense, and he certainly didn’t believe in curses.

The last thing an emotionally fragile lady recovering from a serious bout of pneumonia needed was to have her weird thoughts solidified, confirmed and played on by someone like Kelly Andrews. It was bad enough that his own sister, Sasha, was taking advantage of their aunt being away to raise a little pocket money.

Although, he’d seen the sales slips from the auction and you certainly couldn’t call it a little money. He’d also seen what Kelly Andrews had paid for his aunt’s wedding dress. It was no wonder she wasn’t willing to give it up after paying all that money to purchase it. What was she charging the bride who had bought it, given the amount she’d already invested in it? He toyed with the idea of trying to find out from her assistant who the bride was, and seeing if he could bargain directly with her to get the wedding dress back for his aunt.

Kelly would probably kill him. The idea of her finding out, her sea-blue eyes sparking and that copper-gold hair glowing like fire …

He shook himself out of these thoughts. He had to protect Aunt Mary from Kelly. And protect himself. Because if she got too near either of them, they might never recover.

• • •

“So you see, Daria. That’s why the dress needs to go back to its original owner. I know that I can find you one every bit as beautiful, probably an even more expensive gown but I won’t charge you any more because this is all a mistake.” Kelly had decided to make one last attempt, short of falling down on her knees and begging, to get Daria Welcome to let her take the dress back.

In the end, the realtor remained unmovable. No amount of pleading, not even the emotional blackmail—somewhat exaggerated—that this was the original owner’s dying request, moved her. Seated in the comfortably appointed lounge at the Captain’s House B & B, where they’d agreed to meet, Daria sipped coffee from a fine china cup and shook her head after every plea Kelly made.

“You know, I wasn’t one of those little girls who dreamed of her wedding day,” she told Kelly. “I was always out competing with the boys at football and hockey and whatever, one of the gang. Then I got into my career and stayed competitive and never gave a thought to the old happily ever after. Thought it was a myth, really.

“Then I met Drake and suddenly I was daydreaming about white lace and flowers and wedding bells and all the trimmings. That’s why it is so important to me that my wedding day and my wedding dress be perfect. I don’t intend to ever do it again!”

So that was that. Kelly trooped dejectedly out, shivering and averting her gaze as she passed by the study where three men had died in a violent confrontation. The last thing she needed right now was another angry restless spirit tagging along with her. The miserably persistent ghost on the street bench was more than enough for her.

• • •

Kelly agreed to meet with Brett for coffee, her feelings somewhat mixed as she remembered the way they had parted after the “kiss-and-ghost” event at her home. Nonetheless, when she saw him waiting for her, her lips tingled with the memory of his mouth. Her cheeks flushed with embarrassment although Brett didn’t seem to react at all as she seated herself across from him. They met at the same diner where they had enjoyed a meal before but this time the relaxed getting-to-know-you feel was missing and the conversation a tense contrast.

“What’s going on, Kelly? This morning your assistant, Noelia, called me and we had the weirdest chat. She claims you see dead people. Ghosts. Restless spirits.” Brett looked shell-shocked and angry. His expression managed to convey the incredulity he was obviously feeling. Kelly’s hackles rose.

“I do.”

“Didn’t the paramedic tell you that you might be having hallucinations from the brain injury? That’s a far cry from calling in Ghost Hunters Anonymous.”

Kelly glared. She didn’t like his sarcasm at all. “I started to tell you after … after that incident when you walked me home and I collapsed. It was shock at seeing an old man who’s been haunting me at the shop. He shouldn’t have been at my home, and every time I see him and try to pretend I don’t, I get this awful pain … ”

Silence, which Kelly filled by imagining all the ways she could wreak revenge on Noelia, gave way to thoughts of how she could wipe the smug expression off Brett’s face as he commented, “Oh, that’s okay then. For a moment, I thought your assistant was crazy. Obviously, it’s not her, it’s you.”

Kelly pulled in a deep breath, trying not to like the way his eyes travelled over her breasts in her low cut t-shirt. She shouldn’t be reacting this way when she should be punching him in the nose. “Noelia had no business talking to you about anything like that.”

“You could have told me yourself.” Brett fiddled with the lobster shaped salt and pepper shakers, his long, strong fingers distracting Kelly from her annoyance.

She reached across the table and moved the condiments out of his reach. When she was sure she had his full attention she replied, “I did try … would you have believed me if I’d told you I see and talk to restless spirits?

“Probably not.”

“Then there’s your answer.” A little worm of disappointment lodged in her chest. She’d hoped when Brett called and asked to get together for coffee that he was looking for more than just to ridicule her. Like maybe friendship, or hot sex, or preferably both. Her hopes were fading fast away.

“I do remember what that medic said, that you were hallucinating because of the head wound. It’s a problem that could maybe be fixed and then you won’t have these weird visions anymore.”

“Sure. I just have something sticking in my brain and all they have to do is saw into my skull, take it out, and abracadabra, I’m normal?”

“Yep. Something like that.”

“Like hell.”

He looked amazed. “You won’t even try?”

“I went to the hospital today and they did the x-ray. I talked to the doc afterwards and he said he could see some scar tissue but no metal or bone fragments. In fact, he thought everything looked just fine and there was no reason for the hallucinations except perhaps post-traumatic stress disorder.”

“Okay, then.”

“That’s all you have to say? Okay, then?”

“No, I’ve lots more to say but it will have to wait. Aunt Mary has asked to see you. After your last visit, I filled her in about the missing gown. She’s back at home now and she is insisting I bring you along to talk to her about it. Against my better judgment, I should add.”

Kelly’s heart beat a little faster. If what she’d read in that book about Aunt Mary being descended from witches was true? There was a scary thought. But if she could get Mary to lift the curse, she’d save Daria Welcome’s wedded bliss and Wedding Bliss’s reputation. And she was getting to spend an afternoon with Brett as a bonus. As an added benefit, she wasn’t going to have to try to think up a way to sneak back into Holywell Home, now that she was an invited guest at the Atwell Mansion. She was pretty sure she would be persona non grata at the nursing home anyway after her last visit. At least with the receptionist in the pink suit.

“Just remember, Aunt Mary is used to being alone and being her own person. She’s still recovering from the pneumonia and I’m afraid she’s a little fragile. She can get a little … difficult … at times. And she’s not at her best at the moment. Being in the nursing home drove her nuts.”

“Would you like to be in there when you’re not an invalid?” she asked.

Brett was silent for a few moments. He avoided her eyes as he went on to say, “There are some things that you should know about Aunt Mary. She has lived alone for a long time and is a bit set in her ways and, well, some would say she has some strange ideas.”

“Oh, sure. I’ve heard she comes from a long line of witches.” Kelly laughed out loud at the surprise on his face. “Come on, Brett—surely you didn’t think I’d wouldn’t do a little research, considering all the trouble that wedding gown has caused me? I also know your Aunt was jilted, left at the altar. I think she cursed the wedding dress and that’s why no other bride has been able to wear it.” Kelly bit her lip.

“Next thing, you’ll be wanting an exorcism on a lump of silk and lace.” Brett’s face darkened. “I don’t want you to encourage her in all this stuff, Kelly. She retreated from society after she was abandoned by that … that … I’m too much of a gentleman to describe the jerk. She never heard from him again, you know, not even an apology or a postcard from some foreign tropical paradise.”

“She was so hurt that she adopted her mother’s claims of being a witch as some sort of protective cloak.” Kelly’s eyes filled with tears as she thought of that lonely bride so long ago, clutching onto the idea that she had supernatural powers in order to feel safe from the world of hurt that had fallen on her. It was a feeling she could relate to herself. “You know, the woman who bought the dress believes that strong emotions leave an imprint on their surroundings, a kind of emotional atmosphere, if you like, that people sense. And there’s no doubt that dress has a sad history woven into it.”

Brett didn’t say anything.

“I was engaged once, years ago. Wayne never liked my military career; he said it stressed him out wondering all the time whether I was safe or not. We’d set a date for our wedding, just after my last tour of duty in Afghanistan was supposed to end. It ended early with me wounded and in the hospital, and then the rehab center. Wayne didn’t visit me often, but he was living so far away from the hospital … ”

Brett surprised her by reaching over and clasping her hand. His fingers felt warm on her chilled skin and his touch was comforting, intimate, as though they were in a private bubble in the middle of the crowded diner. “I was determined to get well so that I could keep our wedding date because all the arrangements were made. The therapists told me it was good to have a goal to aim for, and mine was walking down the aisle. I was so focused on that, I guess, that I missed the warning signs. Until … until the letter came.” Kelly paused, biting her lip. The pain of that memory had faded somewhat, but the humiliation still ate at her. “Wayne wrote a brief letter, saying he could no longer cope with the choices I made and thought it best for both of us if we called it quits.”

“You must have been devastated.” The compassion in Brett’s tone, the softening of the hard line of his mouth, were nearly her undoing.

Determined not to give way to the feelings of inferiority and rejection that had engulfed her from time to time after Wayne had walked away, she gave a grim smile. “Actually, I was too busy trying to get back to normal to dwell on being hurt. Head injuries can cause all kinds of crazy things to happen, and at that moment I was so glad to just be alive that it didn’t hit me hard until I left the rehab center.

“Since then I’ve wondered whether I subconsciously knew that marrying Wayne wasn’t the right thing to do. The rejection hurt at the time, though. A lot. So I think I have some idea of how your aunt must have felt. She must really have loved this guy if she never married. She’s been gun-shy about relationships ever since?”

Brett nodded. “What about you, Kelly?” He held her blue gaze with his dark one. “Are you afraid of relationships and where they might lead?”

She struggled to breathe around the surprise emotions that had suddenly clogged her throat. How would he react if she were to tell him she wouldn’t be afraid of a relationship with him? And was that true? Fear of his reaction and knowing how different they were held her back. Better not to jump without a safety net, she told herself, pulling her hand from his. “I think that is something only time—and the right guy—can answer.”

“Well, I think Wayne must have been crazy to let you go.” And he threw some coins on the table and strode off, looking tall and handsome and leaving Kelly wondering if she’d actually heard his final words right.

• • •

Brett had a meeting with the Chamber of Commerce in Marina Grove to make a pitch for a donation toward the building of a school in Ghana, so Kelly agreed to meet him afterwards at Wedding Bliss for the drive to see Mary Atwell in Derry. That left her just enough time to eat lunch and chew out her assistant.

Noelia must have sensed her boss’s mood when she walked into the store because she made herself look extra busy arranging white elbow length gloves and pearl necklace and bracelet sets in a glass case, looking up only to say, “Whatever it was, I didn’t do it.”

Either extra sensory perception or a guilty conscience,
Kelly thought. “Yes, you did. You blabbed about my little eccentricity. Brett called you, didn’t he?”

“Er, no, actually, I called him. And seeing ghosts isn’t what most people would call a little eccentricity. I told him what was happening with you. He seemed to take it well.”

“Sure he did. He thought a quick poke around inside my brain by a surgeon and the problem would all be solved. But the docs at the hospital say that’s not my problem, so it’s not going to happen. And when I want you to intercede on my behalf, I’ll ask you.”

“So you’re mad at me? Well, let me tell you, girl, I know a lot about romance and I know that sometimes it takes a third party to give people a little push … ”

“I’ll give you a little push under a sixteen wheeler if you don’t stop.”

“That’s the thanks I get for trying to give you a little fun with a guy you’re attracted to like mad?”

“Who said I’m attracted to Brett Atwell?”

“Every hormone in your body announces it. Anyway, he did call you, didn’t he?”