Scarlet Nights (Edilean 3)

When Mike slipped a ring on her finger, Sara looked at him in surprise, and when he handed her a ring for him, there was a smile of gratitude on her face.

Given his background, Mike had thought he’d hesitate over the promises he was to make to Sara. But he didn’t. He answered the questions and made the vows without so much as a pause.

Sara said everything with so much happiness in her voice that he could almost believe what she was saying.

“I now pronounce you—” Ellie began, but dissolved into tears so copious that she couldn’t speak.

“Really, Mother!” Sara said.

Dr. Shaw pronounced them man and wife, and Ellie nodded in agreement. “You may kiss her now, son,” he said to Mike.

Smiling, Mike lifted Sara’s veil and looked at her beautiful face. Gently, he took her in his arms and kissed her—and flashbulbs went off.

Laughing, blinking, they broke apart and smiled for all four cameras that were aimed at them.

“Cake,” Dr. Shaw said. “I demand cake and champagne.”

In the dining room were more flowers and in the center was a three-tiered wedding cake with white icing and about a hundred roses in different shades of pink. It was an extraordinary creation.

Dr. Shaw raised his glass. “To the Whitley-Cooper wedding in gratitude for the flowers and cake that they gave us.” He lowered his voice. “And may the Lord be with us tomorrow when the bride is told that her cake was eaten during the night.”

Luke was the first to laugh, and the others joined him—but they all knew that Ellie would spend the rest of the night remaking the cake. She would never let a bride under her care go without.

They insisted that Mike and Sara feed each other while they snapped more pictures.

Thirty minutes later, Luke told Mike that Joce was exhausted. “And if we’re to keep this wedding a secret, we have to clear all this stuff out before dawn.”

“Yeah, sure,” Mike said and glanced at Sara. She was dancing with her father, her head on his shoulder, and he didn’t want to break them up.

But minutes later, the music stopped and Sara looked at Mike. He nodded. It was time to leave.

As Mike and Sara stood in the doorway, Ellie started crying again as she kissed her daughter and slipped something into her hand.

“She thought I’d never catch a man,” Sara said under her breath to Mike as they kissed everyone good-bye, but Mike knew that Ellie’s tears were from relief that her daughter wasn’t going to marry Greg. She’d always felt there was more wrong with the man than just a bad temper.

Once they were outside, the cool night air felt good. He was glad when the others stayed inside and left them alone. Mike started to go to Tess’s apartment, but Sara turned toward her own and he followed her.

“So what did your mother give you?”

Sara held up a small bottle to the moonlight. “Scarlet Nights perfume. I told her you liked it.”

“Wasted on us,” Mike said as he opened the door to Sara’s apartment.

“What does that mean?” She went in ahead of him, and he shut the door behind them.

“Nothing.” He yawned. “I need to leave as early as possible in the morning.” He looked at his watch, then smiled at Sara. “It’s been a long day.” Bending, he kissed her cheek and turned toward the guest bedroom.

From behind him, Sara said, “I don’t get a wedding night?”

Mike stopped in the hallway, but he didn’t turn around.

“What is it about me that men don’t like?”

Mike turned to look at her. “Men like you too much.”

Sara lifted her hands in frustration as she went into the kitchen.

“Do you know how long I knew Brian before he made love to me? Six months. We dated for four whole years, but he didn’t ask me to marry him. Then Greg came along and he talked about nothing but marriage and our fabulous future together. Today I found out that he was actually plotting my death.