Stealing Amy (Disciples 2)

Finally, the priest announces, “You may kiss your bride!”

Andrew sweeps me up into his arms and gives me a very deep, very sinful kiss in front of the congregation.

Cheers erupt around us. I hear Abigail and Evie squealing with joy.

The music starts up and I feel like I’m in daze.

Andrew leads me down the aisle and we step outside the church to shake hands and receive our congratulations.

The sun beams down on us as we stand on top of the steps and the day is so wonderful, so glorious, I foolishly feel like nothing could possibly ruin it.

This is the happiest day of my life.

Lily, my maid of honor, and my other bridesmaids gather around me as Andrew and Lucifer thank the last of the guests for attending. Andrew is shaking hands with the mayor of Garden City and inviting him to the reception when a child suddenly cries out.

Everyone turns to see what happened.

A little boy I don’t recognize, who can’t be more than five or six, sits on the bottom step, crying.

Lily and I rush over to help him. His mother reaches him first and squats down beside him, pulling him into her arms. She rocks and murmurs to her son until he quiets down.

Then she points an accusing finger at Adam.

“That little monster just pushed my Mason down the stairs.”

Lily gasps with indignation. “He wouldn’t.”

Lily and I turn towards the children while Lucifer approaches the woman, soothing her with an apology and a hand up.

Adam stands beside Abigail, his chin up in the air and his young eyes full of defiance. Lily looks at the little boy then back at Adam

“Adam?” Lily starts then thinks better of it. She presses her lips together and watches the woman walk off with her son before saying more.

I dismiss the rest of the bridesmaids, sending them off to the reception without me.

Once the woman and Mason are out of sight and Lucifer returns, Lily asks Adam, “Did you push that little boy down the stairs?”

Adam looks his mother dead in the eye and shows no remorse. “Yes.”

We both gasp and I feel Andrew joining my side. His hand covers my hand and his fingers squeeze mine.

The color draining from her face, Lily shakes her head in disbelief. “Why? Why would you do that?”

“Because he’s protecting what’s his,” Lucifer says as he comes up the steps.

“What do you mean, ‘what’s his’?” Lily asks shrilly, dividing her attention now between her husband and son.

“He was trying to kiss Abigail,” Adam says stiffly and that’s when I notice he and Abigail are holding hands. “I put a stop to it.”

“So you pushed him down the stairs?” Lily repeats in disbelief.

Adam nods his head and his lips begin to turn up with just the hint of a smile. “Yes. It was the most effective way to get rid of him.”

We all stare at him in shocked silence. Well, all of us except for one person…

Lucifer takes one look at us and laughs.

With pride, he walks over to Adam and then gives him a pat on the back.

And I’m filled with the most foreboding sense of dread when he says, “Like father, like son…”

The End