“Whew! I just made it!” She appeared flushed, like she’d been running, but she had on a beautiful dress we’d picked out together. She was holding a large box.
“Are you okay?” I asked, completely confused.
Practically panting, she replied, “I’m great. I need you to come with me for a minute though.”
“It’s almost time for the ceremony, can it wait?” I asked. I didn’t want to be spotted roaming around in my second wedding dress, and truthfully, I also wanted to avoid any chance of incident, so staying put was best in my opinion.
“I think we should see what the young lady wants to show us,” Lydia said.
“Okay... if you insist,” I replied and followed her out the door.
We went down the hallway toward the ballroom where the reception was to be held. There were only about ten tables of people, as we’d wanted to keep it relatively small. It looked like she was leading me to the room when I halted. “I really don’t want to go to the ballroom, it’s just going to remind me that the beautiful centerpieces we did aren’t there.”
“Just trust me, Jackie,” Ella replied, tugging on my arm with her free hand.
I followed her into the room, and when I saw the tables, my jaw dropped open. In the center of each round table was a beautiful arrangement of flowers on a large pedestal. Greenery flowing down toward the table, the champagne roses were all perfect in shape and color, and offset with burgundy, almost identical to the ones that had been in my bouquet.
“But… how?” I managed to squeak out.
Ella beamed and grinned at Lydia before answering. “Well, it took a village, and we owe some favors to the other florists in town, but we made it happen. Jacob helped too. It was all his idea.”
I felt tears welling up and Lydia quickly pulled out a tissue. “Now, don’t cry, dear. You don’t want to ruin your makeup or that fabulous dress.” She chuckled, and I couldn’t help but giggle.
“I’m so lucky to have you in my life. All of you. This is magnificent, Ella, you did such a wonderful job.” I hugged her, almost squishing the box she was holding before she gently pushed me away.
“Hey, easy there. You’re gonna ruin my big surprise.”
“You mean, there’s more?” I asked.
She handed me the box. Just when I didn’t think it was possible to be more grateful, I lifted out the bouquet that was almost an exact replica of the one I had created for myself. Right down to the perfect shade of burgundy ribbon wrapped around the stems.
“Did you do this?” I asked her, my voice shaking.
“I sure did. I learned a lot watching you, Jackie. And I knew that you needed these flowers today. They’re who you are, and there was no way any of us was letting you walk down the aisle without the perfect bouquet of roses.”
I hugged her again, making sure not to crush the flowers, then gathered my composure. “What time is it? We must be getting close.” I glanced around the room, looking for a clock but couldn’t find one. “We should get back, I’m sure it’s almost time to walk down the aisle.”
As our trio of giddy ladies gathered ourselves to leave, Jacob walked in with someone I didn’t recognize right away. My heart immediately sank and I tried to hold back the tears. He wasn’t supposed to see me in the dress until the ceremony. Stopping dead in his tracks, he stared at me, frozen.
“Jacob! What are you doing? You know you’re not supposed to see me yet!” I knew this would happen. There was no denying it now -- we really were cursed.
He seemed to shake his thoughts back to the moment and chuckled. “Jackie, who cares? And holy shit, do you look beautiful!”
I couldn’t help but blush and shake my head. We were never going to be a traditional run-of-the-mill couple, that’s for sure. “Thank you, but why are you roaming around?”
“I’m looking for you!” he exclaimed.
“Well, let’s hope it’s important and you don’t jinx us even further than we already are.”
“It’s over. It’s all over. There’s nothing else to worry about.”
“What are you talking about?” I asked, confused.
Then, Officer Anderson, who I realized was the man with Jacob, but dressed in plain clothes, spoke up. “We caught the person responsible for the vandalism and thefts, Ms. Snow. They’re in custody now, and all of the items have been recovered.”
“You’re kidding me, you caught them? Who was it?” I couldn’t believe my ears.
“It seems that you did the flowers for a young lady—a nurse, actually—who was supposed to get married a little over a year ago. Well, she got left at the altar. Stood up. And it looks like she didn’t take it too well. She was the one who stole your dress, and your rings. We believe she may also be responsible for your poisoning as well as the vandalism at your flower shop. Her name is Grimhelde. Victoria Grimhelde.”