Once Upon a Marriage

In spite of what his instincts were telling him in terms of staying away from Marie, he had to do as he was told.

* * *

THEY GAMBLED A little bit. Penny slots only. They ate. They had one beer apiece because in the casinos they were free, and they were in Vegas. What happened in Vegas stayed in Vegas.

Or so they kept telling each other as they walked from resort to resort with thousands of other people. On every corner men and women flicked cards at passersby. From what Marie could see, the cards depicted women posing with little or no clothing. Neither Liam nor Elliott seemed to notice. Gabi shook her head. Marie grinned and hooked her arm with Elliott’s.

They were in Vegas.

* * *

BY TEN O’CLOCK that night, Marie didn’t feel like anyone she’d ever known. Her skin was alive. Buzzing. She wasn’t the least bit tired. And couldn’t wait to find out what was going to happen next. The city never slept. That meant the day never had to end.

Tomorrow would come. She would enter it when it did.

Gabi, of all people, suggested they go to the salsa nightclub they’d seen advertised in their resort. It had live entertainment. A dance floor. The three of them had learned some salsa in college. They weren’t dressed for a nightclub.

And Liam had them on their way before either Marie or Elliott had had a chance to disagree.

He also had Elliott on the dance floor soon after they got there, though it was obvious that Elliott had had no intention of dancing. Period. But when Liam wanted to dance with Gabi, and Gabi said no because Marie was the one who loved to dance and she couldn’t do salsa the way she liked to without a partner, Elliott had given in to the demands Liam had made of him.

Marie wanted to feel badly for him, but she wasn’t sorry. Most particularly not when she was on the dance floor with Elliott. As big as he was, she hadn’t expected the natural rhythm with which he’d moved.

“You’ve done this before,” she said as they stood, face-to-face, for a brief moment. He swung her out. Pulled her back into him.

“When I started getting so tall...”

With his hand holding hers, she twirled. And rested against him for a beat. “My aunt suggested that I take a dance class to offset the awkwardness.”

Marie missed a step.

And fell head over heels in love.

* * *

AT MIDNIGHT, WHEN the band took a break, Liam suggested that the four of them head back to the casino to see how the tables were doing.

And Elliott was working again. Barbara was paying him to watch over the man. Walter Connelly had a gambling problem. Barbara wanted to know if Liam did, as well.

“I don’t know how to play, but I’d love to watch,” Marie said.

“I don’t know how, either, but since you’re so good at it, I’d like to know what it’s all about,” Gabrielle piped in. She and Marie were still in the jeans and sweaters they’d changed into after the wedding. Elliott followed them to the casino.

The dealer looked up as Liam slid onto a stool at a blackjack table with a ten-dollar minimum bid. He nodded. The other men and one woman at the table all nodded, as well. Making room.

They looked to Elliott. Who shook his head, taking a stance almost directly behind his number-two employer. If the dealer took him for what he was, Liam’s bodyguard, so be it.

Anything and everything happened in Vegas.

* * *

HALF AN HOUR after they’d left the club, Gabi was sitting with Liam at the card table with a pile of her own chips in front of her. She wasn’t betting high. She was just winning.

“She used to get so ticked off at Liam when he gambled,” she said to Elliott. The two of them were in cushy armchairs in a lounge area just behind the card table, sipping diet sodas. A lounge with no live entertainment. Because it was still necessary to rest for a minute or two. Even in Vegas.

Marie had wanted a place to sit. Elliott had followed her. And was watc

hing Liam as she spoke.