by Laura Durham
Fern spread his arms wide. "And the rest is history."
My phone buzzed and I pulled it out, feeling a flutter of nerves when I saw my boyfriend's name on the screen.
"So?" I asked when I answered. "Did she confess?"
Reese laughed. "No hello?"
"Don't toy with me," I said in my sternest voice. "We're all here dying to know what happened."
"Yes, she confessed. It took a while, but once I outlined all the evidence we had against her and maybe exaggerated a little, she broke down."
I put my hand over the mouthpiece. "Marcie confessed."
Everyone cheered and clapped.
"She said she'd been planning to kill Marcus, but when Richard delivered the box of chocolates, it gave her the perfect fall guy," Reese said. "She already had the liquid nicotine and had been looking for a way to put it in his food, so it didn't take her long to get the decoy box, add poison to all the truffles, and switch out the boxes. Even though the box got soaked, the lab will still be able to test all the truffles and confirm they're all filled with nicotine."
"How many did he eat from the poisoned box?" I asked.
"About half. Plenty to give him a deadly dose."
"And she watched him eat them?" I shuddered. "Talk about coldhearted."
"Not very much in keeping with the Valentine's Day spirit," Reese said.
"Don't worry," I said. "We're making up for it with this wedding. I am officially OD'ed."
"I hope not, babe. The holiday isn't until tomorrow."
My stomach clenched. In all the wedding chaos and murder investigation, I'd gotten nothing but a card for him. I was officially the worst girlfriend ever.
"I'd better go," Reese said. "I still have a mountain of paperwork before I can head home. I'll see you later tonight."
"Is everything okay?" Kate asked, pulling out her schedule. "You have a look on your face like we forgot something big."
"Funny you should say that," I said. "I forgot to get Reese something for tomorrow."
Fern gasped. "You didn't go to The Pleasure Chest like I suggested?"
"I did not," I said. "I don't think a first Valentine's Day calls for leather and chains." I gave a nod to Buster and Mack. "Present company excepted of course."
Both men blushed.
"Don't worry, darling," Richard said with a curt wave of one hand. "I've got the perfect idea."
"This should be good," Kate said under her breath. "If you need backup, call me and I can bring over some leather and chains."
I glanced at the clock on the wall and walked to the boxes of candy we'd lined up against the wall. "Ready to set up the candy station?"
Kate rubbed her hands together. "Perfect timing. I ran out of my stash of gummy bears a half hour ago."
I pulled open the flaps of one of the cardboard boxes and my stomach dropped. It was empty. I ripped open the next one and found the same thing. Kate rushed over and we opened every box to find them all empty.
"It was Brianna," Kate said, pointing to the door in the back of the room used by service staff to come and go without being seen by guests. "I wasn’t losing my mind. I did see her. She must have snuck in through the back corridors connected to the kitchen."
I couldn't believe it. Brianna had taken out the bags of candy inside and refolded the tops of the boxes so they looked untouched.
"She knew you wouldn't open them until later," Richard said.
"When it was too late to do anything," I added, my mouth dry.
"It's never too late," Mack said. "If she came in through the loading dock, she had to exit through it, and our trucks have been down there for hours."
The two florists hurried out of the room as Kate and I stood side by side in shock.
Fern joined us as we stared down at the empty boxes, resting a hand on each of our shoulders. "This means war, ladies."
33
I rubbed my eyes and sat up, taking a few seconds to remember I was in my own bedroom. "What day is it?" I mumbled to myself.
The wedding the day before had seemed to stretch on forever, and I recalled dragging myself home and Reese tucking me into bed. I'd been too tired to hear about his interview with Marcie or to tell him about the rest of the wedding. I glanced at the rumpled sheets next to me. Speaking of my hot-cop boyfriend, where was he?
I flopped back down onto the pillows and draped an arm over my eyes. The way the sun streamed into the room between the slats on the blinds, I knew it had to be midmorning. I rolled my head to one side to look at the alarm clock and did a double take. Almost noon? I'd slept half the day away.
I swung my feet over the side of the bed and groaned as they touched the rug. Everything still hurt from being on my feet for over twelve hours. I spotted my black cocktail dress with pockets--one of my wedding day uniforms--in a heap on the floor and vaguely remembered stepping out of it before collapsing into bed. What I needed was a shower, I told myself as I stood up. And maybe a handful of ibuprofen.
At least the wedding had ended up being a huge success complete with a candy display, I reminded myself. Buster and Mack had been right about the loading dock. Almost all of the bags of candy had been abandoned, and we suspected Brianna had given up trying to haul them all when she couldn't get her car into the loading dock because of the Lush trucks blocking the way. She'd gotten away with some of the candy, but we'd salvaged enough to create an impressive display.
A clattering sound stopped me on the way across my bedroom and told me Reese was still here. I opened the door and paused. More clattering sounds, and with the door open, I could smell the rich aroma of coffee and the savory smells of breakfast. Reese wasn't much of a cook, but whatever he'd whipped up--or ordered in--smelled amazing. The shower would have to wait. I stopped by the bathroom just long enough to swish some toothpaste around in my mouth and down a pair of Advil tablets before continuing down the hall.
Was Reese really singing while he cooked? I'd never known him to do either. I leaned my head into the kitchen and blinked hard, convinced I was seeing double. Not one, but two dark-haired men wearing aprons stood at the stove.
"Well look what the cat dragged in," Richard said, putting one hand on his hip and waving a wooden spoon at me. "What's this look, darling?"
I glanced down at the T-shirt Reese had put me in last night and realized it was one of his navy-blue DC Metropolitan Police T-shirts that only reached mid thigh on me.
Reese came over to me and rested his hands on my hips. "I think it looks good on you, babe."
"What's going on?" I managed to ask as I took in the kitchen counters covered with grocery bags, cutting boards, and bowls.
"Your boyfriend wanted to cook you a special brunch for Valentine's Day," Richard said, waving his spoon more. "But since he doesn't know how to cook, he called in an expert."
"I hope this is okay," Reese whispered, pulling me closer. "I didn't want to make you wake up and get dressed up after your wedding, so I thought I'd do something for you here. I didn't want to get takeout again, and I can't really cook so . . ."
"I think it's incredibly sweet," I said, knowing that for Reese to willingly spend the morning being bossed around by Richard was a sacrifice in and of itself.
Richard poked his head between us. "I'm not just creating brunch, I'm teaching Mr. Biceps here how to cook." He winked at me. "My gift to you, Annabelle. After this at least one of you will be semi-functional in the kitchen."
"I may have bitten off more than I can chew," Reese said, looking over his shoulder at Richard, who'd gone back to his place at the stove. "He's a bit of a taskmaster."
I raised an eyebrow at him. "You're just figuring that out now?"
Richard tapped his spoon on Reese's shoulder. "Back to work, Loverboy. We still have these soufflés to get into the oven."
I inhaled deeply and caught whiffs of cinnamon and sugar. "Are you making The Hay-Adams' oatmeal soufflés?"
When Richard smiled at me, I was surprised not to see canary feathers pee
king out of his mouth. "I sweet-talked the recipe from their head chef with the promise not to use it for my catering." His face clouded for a moment. "Not that I have much of a business left." He gave his head a curt shake. "But none of that today."
I bit back the urge to remind Richard that his business wasn't ruined, especially since the real person who poisoned the chocolates had been caught. I knew that talking about it would only whip him into a frenzy.
"Thank you," I said to Richard, who nodded but didn't look at me.
"Don't mention it, darling. Besides, my significant other is away on another work trip so what else did I have to do?"
I looked around the floor for his tiny dog. "Where's Hermes?"
"He had a sleepover with your downstairs neighbor," Richard said. "They were in the middle of a Matlock marathon last night, so I let him stay."
"How is Leatrice?" I asked, knowing both men had seen her more recently than I had.
"You'd never know anything happened to her," Reese said. "When I came in last night, she met me at the door and had heard all about the call to the harbor already."
"I guess Sidney Allen didn't have any luck hiding her police scanner."
"Enough about the old girl." Richard waved me away with both hands. "You need to get out of the kitchen and let the boys finish up."
Reese rolled his eyes but turned his head so Richard wouldn't see him. "It shouldn't be too much longer. There's champagne in the living room."
I stood on my toes and gave him a quick kiss. "You thought of everything."
Richard coughed.
"You both thought of everything," I corrected, letting go of Reese and heading toward the living room.
I stopped when I saw the setup and blinked away tears. They had thought of everything. The dining room table had been cleared of the usual piles of paper and set with white china and pale-pink stemware. A tall arrangement of sandy-pink blooms I recognized as Sahara roses--my favorite variety of rose--centered the table with a single rose tucked into the blush-pink silk shantung napkins folded on each plate. A silver champagne bucket, chilling a bottle of bubbly, stood beside the table, and a carafe of orange juice sat next to a tray heaped with croissants. At the top of one of the plates, I saw a small box tied with red ribbons and topped with a tiny envelope, my name written in calligraphy on it.
How many favors had Reese, or Richard, pulled in? The flowers had to have come from Buster and Mack--no other florist knew my favorite type of rose. Not only did I owe them big time for finding the stolen candy, I owed them for delivering my favorite flowers on their busiest day of the year. I looked at the box, recognizing the name of the Georgetown jeweler, and my heart began to race. This wasn't a proposal setup, was it? I looked down at the man's T-shirt I wore and put a hand to my messed-up hair. Even if Reese thought proposing to someone half comatose was a good idea, Richard would never allow it. Would he?
I pushed the idea from my mind. It was way too early to be thinking of marriage. We'd just moved in together. The topic hadn't even come up. Only a crazy person would propose before feeling out the situation, right? I reminded myself that even if Reese was impulsive, Richard was not. He would never go along with a scheme that involved me getting engaged in anything less than full makeup and potentially a designer outfit.
I saw two glasses of champagne pre-poured on the coffee table beside a bowl of strawberries and another of whipped cream. I took a sip from one of the glasses and was about to dip a strawberry into the whipped cream when my apartment door flew open.
"Does anyone have triple A batteries?" Fern stood in the doorway wearing a headset and holding a Lucite clipboard. His usually pristine hair was pulled back in a low ponytail, but several dark strands had slipped out and hung in his face.
"Are you okay?" I asked. I'd witnessed Fern juggle the most demanding bridal parties with ease, but at the moment he looked like a hairdresser on the edge.
"Kate's gone off schedule." He waved the clipboard in the air. "Her brunch date was supposed to end at noon so we could do a refresh and change outfits for her late lunch date, but I can't reach her." He tapped the earpiece of his headset. "I think Sidney Allen's equipment is malfunctioning or out of batteries."
"Let me take a look." I walked over to him and eyed the headset.
"You're a lifesaver, sweetie." He took the champagne out of my hand. "Don't mind if I do."
I watched as he downed the bubbly in a single gulp. "I think the headset's working fine. Your problem is probably Kate."
He handed me the empty glass. "What do you mean? She has the schedule. Why won't she respond?"
"Kate is great with schedules for wedding days, but you know how she is when it comes to men. She loses track of time when she's really into someone."
Fern's jaw went slack. "I've made a terrible mistake. I added the new boy--the fireman she met yesterday--in for brunch. I should have put him in the late-night slot instead of the lobbyist. She never would have gone overtime with a lobbyist."
"Don't beat yourself up too much," I said. "I'm sure Kate will turn up soon."
If the fireman was as cute as I remembered him to be, soon was a relative term.
Fern thrust the clipboard at me. "Here. You take over. I can't handle the stress of planning. How do you do this every weekend?"
Richard walked out of the kitchen with two plates. "What are you doing here?" he asked Fern. "This is not a communal brunch."
Fern's face lit up when he spotted the berries and cream. "But you're here."
Richard pulled himself up to his full height as he set the plates down on the dining table. "I am the chef. You need to leave before you spoil the romantic mood I worked so hard to create."
"There you are." Kate walked in behind Fern. "Why did you go AFH?"
"What's AFH?" Fern asked.
"Away from headset," Kate said, shrugging off her pale-pink coat and draping it across my couch to reveal a short red sweater dress that was more formfitting than some of my underwear. "I've been talking to dead air for ten minutes."
Fern pressed the side of the headset and his cheeks flushed. "I must have accidentally turned it off. What happened with the fireman?"
Kate rolled her eyes and picked up the other full glass of champagne from the coffee table. "Turns out he already had a girlfriend, and she texted him during brunch."
"Ouch," Fern said, taking the clipboard back from me. "That does put us back on track for lunch with the lawyer though."
"All’s well that ends well," Richard said, trying to shoo them out with his oven mitts. "You two can discuss your strategy in the hall."
"I'm not so sure about this plan," Kate said, dodging Richard's mitt and swigging the champagne. "I may be going about this love thing all wrong."
"Obviously," Richard mumbled, "but is now really the time to discuss it?"
Reese appeared with a mug and handed it to me as he appraised the scene in the living room. "You might need this."
I wrapped my fingers around the mug and breathed in the scent of coffee and chocolate. By then I was more than awake, but the warmth was welcome, especially since it didn't look like I'd be getting my hands on champagne anytime soon.
Reese looped an arm around my waist. "Maybe brunch at home wasn't the best plan."
"I'm sure Richard will clear them out in a second," I said, leaning into him and taking a sip of the hot mocha.
"Mike?" A deep voice from the hall made everyone turn around.
"What's your brother doing here?" I asked.
My boyfriend cringed. "Dropping off tickets. Part two of the Valentine's Day plan. I forgot to tell him not to interrupt part one." He waved an arm so Daniel could see him. "Over here."
I looked up at him. "Tickets?"
"I was supposed to pick them up yesterday but it got a bit crazy, so Daniel swung by and got them for me. I wanted to have them for you this morning."
Fern wiggled his eyebrows at me. "The show was my idea. You're going to love it."
&nbs
p; Daniel made his way past Richard, who was trying to shuffle everyone toward the door, and handed an envelope to his brother. He gave the apron a second glance but just smirked.
I was always struck by how much my boyfriend's older brother looked like him--only with a touch of gray at the temples. Nice to know Reese men aged well.
"Daniel," Kate said as she ducked by Richard. "Are you here for brunch?"
Daniel smiled at her and shook his head. "I'm on my way out. You're all dressed up for something."
Kate gave him a playful swat. "This old dress? Do you like it?"
"You'd look pretty in a garbage bag," he said.
Kate leaned one hand against his chest. "Aren't you sweet? You sure you don't have any plans for today?"
Another head shake. "A walk by the Potomac and coffee at Baked and Wired."
She hooked her arm through his. "Throw in a cupcake and it sounds like the perfect day."
Daniel grinned at her. "Deal."
Fern gaped as the pair walked out of my apartment arm in arm. "What about the schedule? What about the dates? Who's going to tell the lawyer or the lobbyist?" He threw the clipboard over his head and it landed on the couch. "I need more champagne."
"I hope it's to toast with," Leatrice said from the doorway.
"Oh, for the love of everything holy." Richard slapped an oven mitt to his forehead. "Not her too."
"Leatrice," I said, “what are you doing out of bed?"
She stood next to Sidney Allen and both wore red flannel pajamas covered with hearts. It felt odd to see the entertainment diva in anything but a suit. Luckily, he'd hiked the pajama bottoms up around his armpits, so the look wasn't a complete deviation.
Leatrice held out her hand and fluttered her fingers. "I had to show you this."
Fern staggered back a few steps. "Are you engaged?"
Leatrice bobbed her head up and down as Sidney Allen puffed out his chest. "He proposed this morning."
I felt tears prick the back of my eyes as I watched my elderly neighbor beaming with happiness. "That's wonderful. Congratulations!"
"We don't need to tell you who we'd like to plan our wedding," Leatrice said.