For His Name's Sake (Psalm 23 Mysteries) (5 page)

“It will be the world’s first million dollar trash bag,” he said.

“I’d pay to see that,” she gasped. “Not a million dollars, but I’d still pay.”

“And then Geanie’s mother will demand to know how come the trash bag is wearing more diamonds than her daughter.”

“Stop, please,” Cindy said, clutching her side. “It hurts to laugh.”

And just like that she had lifted his dark mood and destroyed his resolve to keep his distance. That was the magic of Cindy. It was also the danger.

“Okay, how about I start hauling some of this stuff out to the car.”

“That’s a good idea,” she said, slowly getting up from the floor. “I’ve only got a few more things to pack...I hope.”

“You know there will be something Geanie will have to come back here for,” he said.

“That’s what I’m afraid of, and trying so hard to avoid. Oh!” she said, suddenly startled. She darted into the dining room and returned with an enormous box. “I nearly forgot the supplies for the wedding favors. We were supposed to assemble these tonight. I don’t know when we’re going to have time now, but it’s got to be done.”

“Is that all of it?” Jeremiah asked.

“No, there’s five more boxes like this and then two giant boxes.”

“That’s a lot of wedding favors.”

“Have you seen the size of the guest list?” she asked.

“I confess I haven’t.”

“I have. I had to go with Geanie to the post office the day she mailed out all the invitations. All fifteen hundred of them.”

He stared, amazed. “And presumably a lot of those were going to homes with more than one person.”

“Yup.”

“So, how many people RSVPd to say they were coming?”

“So far? All of them.”

“That’s not possible.”

“That’s what Geanie said after the first two hundred all came back yes.”

“For the first time I understand people who choose to elope,” he said with a shake of his head.

“I know, right?” Cindy asked as she went to get another box.

It turned out to be the world’s biggest puzzle trying to fit everything into Jeremiah’s car so they wouldn’t have to make more than one trip. Jeremiah finally accomplished it even though it meant Cindy had to carry one of the larger boxes on her lap. The box was so large she couldn’t see over it or around it and by the time they made it to Joseph’s she was a bit carsick.

Joseph opened her door and took the box from her. “I thought Geanie wasn’t moving all of her stuff here until after the honeymoon,” he said, sounding bewildered.

Cindy got out of the car and took a deep breath of the cold air which made her feel better. “Dear, sweet, delusional Joseph. That’s going to take an army to move
that stuff. This is just the wedding stuff. And no peeking at any of it or she’ll have my hide.”

“She’s serious about that,” Jeremiah said as he got out of the car and popped the trunk.

“Understood. So, let’s find a place where we can put all of this.”

It took about an hour but they finally got everything sorted into the appropriate rooms. Cindy and Geanie were sharing guest rooms next to each other while Jeremiah was in a room across the hall. A formal sitting room Joseph never used became the repository for the boxes of wedding favor supplies and a few other things.

It was all Cindy could do not to laugh when Joseph was carrying the trash bag into the house. Jeremiah didn’t help by miming putting little sparkling diamonds on the bag. Fortunately Joseph was too distracted to notice.

When everything was done Cindy stood in the sitting room surveying the boxes. She and Geanie were going to have to work on assembling the favors tomorrow, but they were running out of time and she wasn’t sure how much Geanie would actually be able to do. It was time to call in reinforcements, even if they didn’t want to help.

Neither Melissa nor Veronica wanted to help assemble all the favors and were pretty blunt about it on the phone when Cindy called each of them. She in turn was blunt with them and gave them a raking over the coals for abandoning Geanie in her hour of need and disgracing the name “bridesmaid”. In the end she had guilted both of them into promising to be there the next day to help.

With that taken care of she said goodnight to the guys, went to her room, and promptly fell asleep.

Cindy waited in Geanie’s hospital room the next morning and found herself chafing at the delay as much as the other woman was. It was ten o’clock and she still hadn’t been released. Cindy felt a bit guilty thinking of how she should have just gone in to work and waited for the call. For that matter, Joseph could have picked Geanie up.

Finally she called Sylvia. “Geanie hasn’t been released yet. I’m not going to be there before lunch at this rate.”

“You know what? Don’t worry about it. I had a feeling something like this was going to happen. I got Dave to draft one of the high school girls into helping design and print Sunday’s bulletin. He’s covering the phones for you and seems to be enjoying himself a little too much. I think people keep thinking it’s April Fools around here. Monday is Martin Luther King Day and the office is closed so why don’t you just take the rest of today and tomorrow.”

“Are you sure? I don’t know how much sick time I have left.”

“Don’t worry about it. The Royal Wedding needs you. We’ve got things more than covered here.”

“I feel bad-”

“Look, you’re taking care of another staff member and a church member who just happens to be our biggest financial supporter. As far as I’m concerned this is work adjacent. Besides, talking to grownups for a while is good for Dave. He forgets how you know.”

“Thank you,” Cindy said.

Half an hour later they finally released Geanie. Once they were in the car and on their way she launched into a
laundry list of the things that had to be done. She ended with “I don’t know how we’re going to get all those favors assembled.”

“Don’t worry,” Cindy said. “Melissa and Veronica will be over today after work to help with all of that.”

Geanie leaned her head back with a sigh. “I don’t know how you pulled that off but I have five words for you. Best. Maid. Of. Honor. Ever.”

“I’ll take it,” Cindy said with a grin.

Mark’s day had not been nearly as productive as he would have liked. The car that had nearly run down Geanie and Cindy the day before turned out to have been stolen before the incident. He wasn’t sure if that made it more or less likely that they were being targeted. It was possible the driver had just spooked and they happened to be at the wrong place at the wrong time.

The thief had abandoned the car a few blocks from the minimart and had left behind no fingerprints to help them. Bomb squad and arson investigation officers were still going over the scene at the bridal shop to determine the cause of the explosion. Unfortunately, the bodies of the two ladies who had been helping Geanie had been recovered inside.

All-in-all he felt like nothing was accomplished by the time five o’clock rolled around. With nothing left to do but wait for some word on the cause of the explosion he called Traci and let her know he’d be home on time for once. She sounded thrilled and he had a flash of guilt. There’d been a lot of late nights lately.

As he drove home his thoughts returned to Paul and the mysterious note he’d received the day before. He had forensics testing the note and the envelope but he didn’t anticipate that they would actually find anything.

When he finally pulled up outside the house he shook himself mentally. He needed to learn to leave this kind of stuff at work. His wife deserved more of his undivided attention than she’d gotten in a long time.

He was halfway to the front door when it opened and Traci emerged, locking it behind her. She was wearing a long, red dress that he hadn’t seen her wear in a long time. It hugged her curves in a very attention-getting way.

Traci looked beautiful, more beautiful than he could ever remember seeing her, and he stared, transfixed. She smiled at him and he was reminded again of how much he didn’t deserve her.

“What’s the occasion?” he finally managed to stammer. He knew it wasn’t a birthday or anniversary.

“It isn’t everyday my husband’s actually home for dinner,” she said, smiling slyly. “I thought we’d celebrate.”

“I can’t argue with that,” he said.

“Nor should you even try.”

They got into the car and he glanced at her again. “So, where are we going?”

“Rue de Main.”

He whistled. It was a French restaurant and one of the nicest places in town. When Traci wanted to celebrate something, she went all out.

Twenty minutes later they were being seated at a table for two that was adorned with a white tablecloth and candles. After they had ordered their food Mark picked up her hand and kissed the back of it.

“Now, how about you tell me what’s really going on Mrs. Walters.”

“Always the detective, aren’t you?” she teased.

“Always.”

“Okay, Mr. Detective. Why are we here?”

He blinked, taken slightly aback by her challenge. He stared at her and she simply smiled at him and cocked her head to the side as if she was waiting.

“Okay,” he said at last. “Let’s see. It’s not already a special occasion so that implies that you have something you want to talk about, something more than just normal day-to-day stuff.”

“And what might that be?” she asked.

“You wouldn’t be smiling this much or have taken me someplace this nice if you were planning on leaving me.”

“Very good.”

“You’re also smiling too much for this to be bad news which implies that whatever you want to discuss has to be important, but not bad. In fact, given how much you’re smiling, you’re excited about this news.”

She didn’t say anything but her eyes sparkled as she looked at him.

“The choice of a romantic restaurant is symbolic. This can’t be news like someone’s coming for a visit. It can’t be job related either. I’d say you were planning on springing a surprise vacation to Paris on me, but you would have done that at Christmas or waited for Valentine’s Day. No, whatever this is, you didn’t know at Christmas and it can’t wait to be told until Valentine’s Day, the obvious, romantic choice.”

Suddenly the truth hit him so hard he actually froze, unable to speak. He stared at her, barely breathing.

“I think you just figured it out,” she said softly.

“You mean?”

“Yes, Mark. We’re going to have a baby.”

At six o’clock on the dot Melissa and Veronica both showed up as promised. Melissa, a tall strawberry-blonde who looked like she’d stepped out of the pages of a magazine Cindy had met once before. She was part of a theater group that Geanie occasionally did volunteer work for. She was an aspiring actress and to Cindy’s way of thinking was one of the snootiest people she’d ever met.

Veronica, on the other hand, was a complete Goth. Geanie was wild, eccentric, with crazy taste in clothing and occasionally leaned toward the Goth look but Veronica was the whole package. Her face was pale, her hair black to match her nail polish. She was wearing a long, black velvet skirt and a black leather bustier. She had multiple ear piercings and even a nose ring. Cindy knew that Veronica and Geanie had been college roommates but she had never actually met her.

“So, you’re the new roommate,” Veronica said slowly, as though it would kill her to speak at a normal pace.

“And you’re the old one,” Cindy said, cringing and hoping that it hadn’t come out sounding catty.

If it had Veronica either didn’t notice or didn’t mind. She lifted her eyes and looked around. “Wow, this place is killer. Throw up some cobwebs, a coffin in the basement, and you’d have a fit lair for Dracula.”

“What do you think we plan to do for next Halloween?” Geanie asked brightly as she hugged Veronica. Veronica clearly wasn’t the hugging type but she seemed to tolerate it alright.

“One day, I’m going to have a place like this. Only bigger,” Melissa said.

Cindy was taken aback. It was quite possibly one of the rudest things the other girl could have said.

“Good luck with that,” Geanie said, her voice teasing as she hugged Veronica.

Cindy bit her tongue before she could say something snide. It was not her place to defend Geanie, or Joseph, or his house. It wasn’t her place to judge Geanie’s choice of bridesmaids either.

“Let’s adjourn to the study where we’ve got some work to do,” she said instead. “Joseph was kind enough to have Togo’s send some deli platters.”

Togo’s was by far the best sandwich shop in the area and Cindy had been thrilled with Joseph’s choice. She’d been even more thrilled with the fact that he’d come up with the idea on his own. She’d always known the man had great taste. After all, he was marrying Geanie.

“You’re the one that keeps finding dead bodies, aren’t you?” Veronica asked as Cindy lead the way to the study.

“Yeah, that would be me,” Cindy said, taken aback by the question.

“That must be so...killer.”

“It’s downright terrible, a nightmare, in fact,” Cindy said. “I wouldn’t wish the experience on anyone,” she added fervently.

“Chill. I’m just trying to put the name with the face. And I think it’s cool that you like solve mysteries and stuff.”

Cindy took a deep breath, regretting the fact that she’d strong-armed both women into coming over to help. She was starting to think she would have been a lot happier not
having to deal with either of them until the bachelorette party.

“Thanks. I will admit that solving puzzles and riddles can be...exciting.” She hated to admit it, especially to Veronica, but it was true. Suddenly she was even more eager to get Gerald called back as she thought about it. Even though she had a lot to deal with in the here and now, solving the mystery of Paul was going to be satisfying, especially since there was no way it could get her killed.

They made it into the study. The deli platters were set up on one table. There were some mini sandwiches along with cold cuts and fresh bread to build their own. There was also a couple dozen cans of soda chilling in a large cooler and a tray of chocolate chip cookies and brownies.

“I’ve made a sign for the occasion,” Geanie said with a smirk. She showed it to them. It read No Boys Allowed.

Cindy laughed. “Well, that’s rather specific.”

“Just wanted to make sure everyone was clear on this point,” Geanie said with a laugh. She affixed it to the outside of the heavy wooden door before closing it. “There, now we won’t be disturbed and we can work in freedom and peace.”

They loaded up paper plates with food and sat down on the plush velvet couches to eat.

“I could get used to this,” Veronica said at one point, stroking the red velvet.

“Very old school. Classic. I like it,” Melissa said.

“I just think it’s comfy,” Geanie said around a mouthful of salami and cheese sandwich.

“And just think, in a few days, this will all be yours,” Veronica said.

“Must be nice to marry rich,” Melissa joked.

Cindy cringed inwardly as Geanie went completely still. She finished chewing and then very carefully said, “I would love Joseph and marry him even if he didn’t have a cent to his name.”

“Sure you would, but all this can’t hurt,” Veronica said.

Geanie turned pale. That was her angry look and Cindy was doubly regretting setting up this evening. “All of this,” Geanie said, waving her hand around the room, “doesn’t matter. It’s about how a man treats you, who he is as a person, what’s in his heart. Joseph loves me, he loves God, and he is the most compassionate, witty man I have ever met. I would fight for him and he for me. I always know exactly where I stand with him and I always know I can trust him. Love is about mutual respect and admiration, commitment, friendship, and a meeting of the heart, mind, and soul. It has nothing to do with stuff.”

It was beautifully and eloquently put and Cindy surreptitiously wiped a tear from her eye. She knew there had been some people who had given Geanie crap, intimated the same thing her so-called friends just had. But Cindy had seen the relationship between Geanie and Joseph from the very beginning and she knew that what the two of them had was real and special. It was the kind of relationship that every woman should strive for.

“Sorry,” Veronica muttered.

“Yeah,” Melissa said.

Cindy doubted very much whether either of them were sincere, but Geanie seemed more than willing to let it go. The other woman took a deep breath. Color returned to her cheeks and she picked her sandwich back up.

“Besides, Joseph is smoking hot,” she said.

They all laughed at that and just like that the tension was broken for which Cindy was immeasurably grateful.

“I do have to say,” she commented as she picked up her own sandwich, “that if you guys ever do any remodeling, I have dibs on these couches.”

“No fair!” Veronica and Melissa echoed in chorus. That just led to more laughter and they chatted about the wedding and guys as they finished eating.

When they were all stuffed and lounging on the couches Melissa finally spoke up. “Okay, so what are these wedding favors and what do we have to do with them?”

“So glad you asked,” Geanie said, perking up. “There is some assembly required, obviously, and there are...quite a number of them.”

She stood up and led the way over to the massive table that housed the supplies. Geanie opened one of the smaller boxes and then one of the larger boxes and began to pull things out.

“You have got to be kidding me!” Veronica said, eyes bulging.

“That is certainly...unique,” Melissa said, clearly struggling for words.

Cindy smirked at the other women’s reactions. She, too, had been surprised when Geanie first laid out her idea to her. Fortunately now she could just look cool and calm in front of the others.

“Perfect, aren’t they?” Geanie gushed.

Melissa shook her head. “You really are taking this wedding to a whole other level. I don’t think in my wildest dreams I could ever come up with something like this.”

“It’s you, very you,” Veronica said with a shake of her head. She looked admiringly at Geanie.

“And the best part?” Geanie said. “Joseph has no idea.”

“Wow. How long do you think you’re going to be able to keep it a surprise?” Melissa asked.

“All the way until we get to the reception. I’m going to need some help getting all these placed when we set up the reception area.”

“At least that will probably take less time than it’s going to take to put all this together,” Melissa said.

“Don’t count on it,” Cindy said with a smirk. “You haven’t seen her plans for the table layouts.”

“What have we gotten ourselves into?” Veronica asked.

“A wedding. A glorious, perfect wedding and the only one I will ever have,” Geanie said with a glowing smile.

Seeing the joy on her face made Cindy’s own heart flood with warmth. She was so happy for her and she was growing more excited to see how this whole wedding was going to come off.

“Royal Wedding,” Cindy said.

“Isn’t it just,” Melissa agreed, with the slightest tinge of jealousy in her voice.

Cindy couldn’t blame her. Underneath all the joy and love and pride, she was feeling a bit of that herself.

It was midnight and Mark couldn’t sleep. He kept glancing over at Traci who was sleeping peacefully, an angelic smile on her face. They were having a baby. The reality of that was still sinking in. Even still he marveled at all the changes that just that knowledge was bringing about.

He had always been protective of Traci but now he felt like he wanted to put her in a bubble where nothing could ever touch her let alone harm her. Something told him it was going to be even more intense when the baby arrived. He had to do everything in his power to protect them. Be eternally vigilant. Stop making stupid choices that could endanger any of them.

He sighed and flipped over on his side, wishing for a brief moment that he was religious. He would have appreciated being able to talk through and sort out the complicated feelings he was having with some supreme being who cared and listened. Perhaps for the first time in his life he truly understood those who embraced religion. He had always respected people like Cindy and Jeremiah, but deep down he’d never gotten it, thinking of religion as a crutch for those who needed it.

Now he realized he would give just about anything for something like that. He thought back over the past year and wondered how things might have been different if he had believed in something other than himself.

One thing Cindy and Jeremiah had done for him was to help open his eyes and show him just how complex faith and a relationship with God could be. Jeremiah killed bad people, Mark knew that. Until meeting Jeremiah he wouldn’t have thought someone like him could do that and then go right back to the synagogue and carry on with his rabbinical duties.

Cindy lived her faith as a real, living, breathing part of her life. It wasn’t just being in church on Sundays, singing some songs and reciting some prayers. She acted as though God played an active, integral part of her life. She was the walking epitome of the whole “work like everything
depends on you and pray like everything depends on God” thing. He believed absolutely that her faith had gotten her through situations that would have made other people crumble. He also wondered sometimes if she lived a seemingly charmed life, escaping death repeatedly, because of her relationship with God. Maybe God wanted Cindy alive and therefore nothing could touch her.

It was a lot to think about. Now that he was going to be a father and responsible for a tiny life he couldn’t help but think about it though. Maybe the meaning of life was realizing that you were responsible not just to someone else but for someone else.

That was him. A father-to-be. Responsible. He needed to start acting like it.

He got up and Buster lifted his head from where he was laying on the foot of the bed. The beagle wagged his tail twice before dropping his head back down. It seemed Mark was the only one having trouble sleeping.

He paced out into the living room, trying to clear his head. There was just so much to think about and so much to do. They were going to need to set up a nursery. Bye-bye guest room. Not that anyone visited much. Occasionally one of Traci’s relatives would come to visit. Although with her sister getting more and more involved with the coven she had joined she came around a lot less than she used to. He knew Traci was worried about her and felt like her sister was changing, slipping away from her.

It happened in families all the time. Maybe not as dramatically, but still. He took a deep breath and vowed that he’d never let that happen with their child. They would always be close.

His own father hadn’t been the warmest of men and Mark was determined to break that cycle. He wanted to be there for his kid, go to soccer games or ballet recitals or whatever it was they were into. He wanted to laugh and play together, take them to their first baseball game.