Four Weddings and a Fiasco: The Wedding Caper (3 page)

That gave Anne an opportunity to size up K.D. Literally, since Anne, he’d been told was the wedding dress expert of the group. She was also the would-be hugger who’d inadvertently set up the contact that still had his hand tingling for more.

Phoebe Davis handled the flowers for the Rose Chalet’s weddings. Eric had been almost as interested to meet her as Rose Martin, since Phoebe was now with Patrick, RJ’s brother, and another childhood friend of Eric’s. Patrick, an architect, was out of town today to meet with a client, but Eric had seen him and Phoebe together, and there was no mistaking that glow.

From their comments and questions, Julie Delgado and Andrew Kyle were planning to prepare food for the sham reception that apparently was being planned to follow a sham wedding they all felt was necessary.

“But there won’t be anyone to eat it,” K.D. protested. “Even if there has to be a wedding dress and some flowers for pictures, there won’t be guests, so we don’t need food.”

“Of course we do,” said Julie, sounding horrified. “To show in the photographs that there was a great menu — and the cake, of course. Nothing too frivolous, not for you two, yet a bit unexpected. And fun. Definitely fun.”

That drew syncopated nods from around the table.

“Gotta have music for the video,” added Tyce Smith.

You’d think pairing up was contagious or something the way it had spread through the Rose Chalet staff. Tyce and Whitney Banning had reunited at her aunt’s wedding here.

Not that Eric needed to worry. Divorce had pumped all the pairing-up vaccine he needed into his veins.

The young woman named Ella who appeared to be operating more cameras than she had hands also might be immune, since he hadn’t heard anything about the new videographer having a guy. Maybe no guy could get past that phalanx of cameras. She’d been shooting or videoing K.D. and him every second, as they sat side-by-side in the dining room.

The Rose Chalet employees engaged in an animated discussion full of the shortcuts used by people who knew each other well. It centered on putting together a mock wedding by Thursday. At least that was the core of the conversation. It darted now and then to other topics, including what sounded like a cooking TV show, deliveries of flowers, house-building, concerns about “those people” at Marriage-Save, promotion plans for the Rose Chalet, a woman Rose’s mother knew from the bowling alley who’d worked at Marriage-Save, and, oddly, the growing season for tomatoes.

He heard the snatches of conversation from K.D. Hamilton’s point of view, and knew it had to be confusing. It confused him, and he’d been around all these people.

Too bad, K.D
. He didn’t want her here. He had absolutely no obligation to clear things up for her.

“Rose owns the Rose Chalet,” he heard himself say. He’d leaned sideways in his chair, bringing his mouth close to her ear, close enough so she could hear him over the general chatter. Close enough, too, that wispy ends of her hair brushed against his cheek. “She’s built up a great business. Most of these folks have been with her for years.”

She turned her face at that. “And you?”

They were close. Too close. He eased back with a shrug. “Newcomer. Known RJ for years, though. That’s why he called me when Rose found out about Marriage-Save.”

“What did she find out?”

The woman in question might have heard their low-voiced conversation, because at that moment, she spoke up.

“Do you all have enough ideas to get started on the dress, flowers, music, and food for Thursday?” she asked, looking around the table.

Affirmative murmurs rose. “Makes it a lot easier when the couple leaves it all to us,” Phoebe said with a grin.

“I’ll need measurements before K.D. leaves,” Anne said.

“Of course. But let’s divide the wedding—” She gestured to her employees, then nodded toward the group that had been in Ken’s office. “—from the possible divorce.”

With the exception of RJ, the Rose Chalet employees and their significant others stood. “Let’s reconvene in the kitchen,” Julie suggested, and they all agreed.

“Ms. Martin,” K.D. said, as the door closed, “I’d like to know your role in this.”

“Please, call me Rose, K.D. And my role is accidental,” she said with a quick smile. “A friend of my mother’s worked there as a maid for nearly a year. I’d heard through my mother that this friend kept saying something was
hinky
.”

“Nothing more specific than that?” K.D. asked.

“No. However, I then encountered one of the first clients ever to be married at the Rose Chalet. She and her groom had been so happy . . . . But she told me they’d hit a rough spot after he changed jobs. They went to Marriage-Save for the same weekend program you and Eric are going to attend, and before she knew it, they were embroiled in a contentious divorce.

“Shortly after that, two of our weddings involved second marriages for people whose first marriages had similar results from a stay at Marriage-Sale. I began to ask more directly, rather than waiting for someone to volunteer their experience. In all, I have a list of fourteen divorced couples with similar experiences — not all former clients of the Rose Chalet. However, they do have one thing in common.”

Rose looked at Eric, inviting him to explain. K.D. followed the direction of the look, so she, too, looked at him.

“The same divorce lawyer is involved every time. Not me,” he added, amusement emerging despite himself. “I did some quiet checking around about her, her track record. Interesting thing is, it went from so-so to darned impressive starting when Marriage-Save moved in. Marriage-Save is a few blocks down this same street and this divorce lawyer’s office is a couple more blocks past that.”

“We’ll keep looking into her from the outside, while you two are at Marriage-Save,” Captain Hadley told K.D.

“You think she has someone inside Marriage-Save.” She made it a statement not a question.

“Let’s say it’s our hypothesis,” Ken said. “People who’ve been to Marriage-Save aren’t her only clients, but they sure are her most lucrative ones. She’s gotten an impressively large settlement for her client — sometimes the women, sometimes the man — every time the couple has stayed at Marriage-Save.”

“So, we—” Her head-tip added him to the
we
. Barely. “—are your hypothesis checkers.”

“Exactly. If you can find a link between this lawyer and someone at Marriage-Save — even better, gives us tangible proof of a link. Or if someone touts this lawyer . . . .”

“That’s something we haven’t gone over with you, K.D.,” Hadley said. “Afterward, we’ll want you to monitor the email and phone we’re setting up for you as Mrs. Eric Larkin in case the lawyer contacts you directly.”

“What’s the name of this lawyer?”

Eric said, “Gail Bledsoe.”

“Everything we’ve gathered was put into a report that should have been delivered to Eric’s office by now. Any luck with the floor plans?” His question was directed at RJ.

RJ nodded, then went to a sideboard and took out a long cardboard tube. “Patrick called in some favors and got the floor plan for the building Marriage-Save is using. These are from a renovation in the seventies, and we know work’s been done since, so no guarantees, but this should give you an idea of how things are laid out, Eric. And K.D.,” he added, almost quickly enough.

He spread them over the table, everyone helping to hold down the sheets that wanted to re-roll.

“Patrick’s contact says this—” One strong finger jabbed at a room jutting out from the central cluster of offices. “—is where they’ve installed a lot of fancy electronic equipment.”

“These must be guest rooms,” said Ken, pointing to notations of a bathroom attached to each bedroom.

“I’ve been told these are counseling rooms,” added Rose, indicating a one-story wing of offices that opened onto a courtyard.

Eric spotted four tiny letters written in a corner of a tiny square at the end of the row of offices/counseling rooms.

Safe
.

Had K.D. noticed it? He looked her direction without moving his head, but couldn’t tell what part of the diagram she was focusing on.

That could be a good starting spot for searching for a paper trail connecting Marriage-Save and Gail Bledsoe.

“. . . and take a walk together once a day outside the grounds.”

He realized abruptly that Hadley had been talking about the Marriage-Save schedule, and he hadn’t been listening. He hoped whatever he’d missed was in the materials Ken had mentioned.

“Stopping by here at the Rose Chalet during their daily walk would be natural with Eric’s friendship with RJ,” Rose said.

“Good idea. And we can pass on news from or to Eric and K.D.,” RJ added.

“Good. If we can pin down a time, I’ll swing by,” Ken said.

“So that leaves you two needing a problem,” Hadley reminded them, as if checking items off a mental list. “The closer you stick to reality with this and everything else the better — makes it easier to remember, and gives what you say the ring of truth, since neither of you is going to win an Oscar anytime soon.”

Ken turned to Eric, giving him the kind of look dentists give patients when they’re about to do something that’s good for them, but hurts like hell.

“How about different views on whether or not you’re going to have children?”

When Eric decided to leave Chicago, settling here in San Francisco, where his best friends from childhood and college had both landed, had seemed like a good idea. He’d also been deeply grateful that Myrna chose to make the move as his assistant. Over the past couple months, however, he’d gradually recognized that being around people who knew all your secrets might not be the best place to hide out while you put Humpty-Dumpty together again.

The relief from the heavy silence that followed Ken’s comment came from an unexpected source.

“That works if you want kids, Eric. Because I don’t want children,” K.D. said. “Or a husband, for that matter.”

Eric didn’t meet her gaze, even though he appreciated her business-like and matter-of-fact tone.

“Then you’ve got the right idea, K.D.” he said. “Go straight for the divorce and skip the messy marriage part.”

“L
et me take you to the bridal room now, so Anne can get your measurements, K.D. Eric, why don’t you join the group in the kitchen.”

Rose’s suggestion had nearly as much authority as one of Captain Hadley’s orders.

With the meeting wrapped up, Hadley and Yount were leaving.

However, they had one more surprise for her, K.D. discovered.

“We have a reservation for you at a hotel,” Captain Hadley said.

“But driving over here, we decided that you should spend these days at Eric’s house. Like you said, you need to know each other. He’s got plenty of room at his place, and Myrna already knows, so it’s not spreading the circle any wider.” Not looking in Eric’s direction, Ken seemed to warm to his theme. “And it wouldn’t hurt if you get out in the neighborhood and get seen together. It’ll let you get more used to being around each other. After all, you’re supposed to have been married for four years.”

“Ken —” Eric’s protest coincided with Captain Hadley’s pronouncement of “Good.”

K.D. was not surprised that was the end of the discussion. She would be taking her suitcase to Eric Larkin’s house.

This was getting more and more surreal.

Ken Yount and Captain Hadley would check in by phone over the next couple days, then Yount would be on hand for the wedding charade, before a final meeting the morning before she and Eric checked in at Marriage-Save.

In the meantime, they’d left the rest of the preparations in her hands. Well, hers and Eric Larkin’s.

“The bridal room is right here,” Rose said as they walked down a short hallway. “Some brides prefer to dress here. And all want a place to touch up their hair and makeup. Anne puts it to good use at other times.” She opened the door to a room that included a makeup counter, comfortable chairs, a discreet hanging rack and elegant mirrors. Lots of elegant mirrors. “Anne? K.D. is here for measurements.”

Anne smiled broadly. “Perfect timing. I zipped home and picked up three dresses I thought were the most likely. So if one of them works, we’ll have a head start with the fittings, and won’t need measurements at all.”

In less time than K.D. would have believed, they had her out of her serviceable blazer, shirt and slacks, and stepping into a dress.

Before K.D. could even focus on her image in the mirror, Anne frowned. “No. It’s not you. It’s fashionable, and you’re stunning in it, but this isn’t what you’d wear on your wedding.”

“This isn’t my wedding, so if it fits—”

“No.” Anne unfastened the dress. “Step out and we’ll try this one.”

Rose laughed. “Don’t argue with Anne. Not about a wedding dress.”

Anne didn’t like the second one, either. On to the third. As soon as she stepped in front of K.D. — preventing K.D. from seeing her image in the mirror except for edges around Anne’s reflected back — the other two women said, “Yes.”

“Now, close your eyes,” Anne ordered.

“What?”

“Close your eyes. I want you to be surprised by the dress when it’s all done.”

“Isn’t the superstition that the groom shouldn’t see the dress beforehand? Never heard anything about the bride being surprised.”

“It is the tradition that the groom not see the dress.” Rose’s slight emphasis on the word
tradition
gently reproved K.D. for calling it
superstition
. “But I think Anne’s right this time.”

“Most times,” Anne said with a smile so sweet it wiped out any bragging from that statement. “Now face this way, and let me start pinning.”

K.D. realized
this way
was probably the only angle in the room where she couldn’t see her image.

“Why are you doing this?” she asked abruptly.

“To make it more fun,” Anne said.

“I think K.D. was asking about putting on the wedding, rather than making the dress a surprise for her. Or, perhaps, looking into Marriage-Save.”

She’d surprised herself by asking the question. But once it was out, she wanted to know the answer. “Both.”