“Wedding!” screeched Kiwi followed by a cackle.
I knew what the annoying bird was implying but I wouldn’t be playing that game, not today.
“Great. I’ll look forward to it. I’ll see you on the big day, then. It looks like you’ve still got a lot of preparations to do,” he said with a nod to the table.
“Yep. Thanks for stopping by.”
“Oh! One more thing! Wait here,” he said.
Before I could ask what it was or how long I’d have to wait, he’d hurried out of the shop.
“Wedding! Wedding!” screeched Kiwi again.
“Shut it, you,” I said.
“Wedding?” said Sarah, popping her head out of the door.
“Ignore the bird,” I said.
Ding!
As one door opened, another closed. Sarah shut the stockroom door behind her as Jack entered the shop again, a brown parcel under his arm.
With an inquisitive look, I walked over and met him in the middle of the shop.
“What’s that?” I asked him.
“I don’t know for certain, but I can take a pretty good guess. And I bet you can too.”
He handed over the large package. It was a fairly hefty size and required two hands to hold it properly, though it didn’t weigh all that much. It was wrapped in brown paper and then tied up with string. In large but shaky handwriting on the front, it read:
Dear Aria,
I hope what’s contained within brings you and your customers even a modicum of the joy that it brought us.
Yours,
Fletcher Davenport
.
I said, “Is this...”
“Open it and find out,” said Jack with a grin. “When we went through the house again to collect evidence I found it in the living room.”
“In the living room? But I went in there and I didn’t see it,” I said.
“Me too, the first time. I suppose we must both have overlooked it.”
I gave him with a wry smile. “I guess so.”
I tugged at the twine and released the knot, and then ever-so carefully I undid the brown parcel paper.
“Wedding!” screeched Kiwi when Fletcher Davenport’s wife’s dress was finally revealed.
I lifted it up by the hem, letting most of it rest on the paper on the counter.
“That dress really is quite pretty,” said Jack, actually sounding as if he appreciated it. Not many men really seem to care.
“It’s one of a kind,” I said. “A real masterpiece. Fletcher was going to give it to me to put it on display in the shop. And I guess now he has.”
“I’m glad it got to you. It’s been a tough few weeks, Aria, and I’m sure this is no real consolation, but I hope it brings you happiness.”
“Thanks, Jack,” I said and before I knew what I was doing I leaned in and gave him a kiss on the cheek.
He immediately blushed.
“I’ll leave you to it,” he said. “See you at the wedding.”
Unable to wipe the grin off my face, I was holding the wedding dress up when Sarah emerged from the back room.
“Wedding! Wedding!” screeched Kiwi again.
“Goodness!” said Sarah, “You did move fast while I was away! And he’s got great taste in dresses!”
Glaring at her, I laid the dress back down on the counter.
“This was the Davenport wedding dress. It’s going on display over there,” I said, pointing to the corner where I intended to place a mannequin atop a small wooden platform.
“I’m sure that’s why he brought it to you,” said Sarah with a wicked grin.
“Wedding!” screeched Kiwi again.
“Looks like it!” said Sarah with a laugh.
Before I could gather the words for a suitable response, the bell on the door announced yet another arrival.
Ding!
“It’s nonstop today,” I said to Sarah as I looked to see who it was.
“Cheese puffs!” screeched Kiwi.
“Can I come in?” asked Priscilla.
“Of course! We’re open!” I said.
I felt bad about having believed Mrs. Honeywell’s lies about Priscilla.
While Priscilla was a gossip, she wasn’t a mean gossip. I should have known that she wouldn’t have been going around telling everyone I was a murderer.
“I was wondering, Aria...” she said, voice hesitating all the while.
“Yes?” I asked.
“That order. The one we made before. That we canceled. Is it too late to have it reinstated? We’d need it by next week...”
“I thought you ordered some different party favors online?” I asked.
“We did. But they’re, in a word, horrible,” she said.
I stifled a giggle. Of course they were horrible. I’d tested just about every supplier out there and I could have told her that most of the photos she saw online were, at the least, highly misleading if not downright fraudulent.
No, if you wanted something decent, you needed to find the right suppliers, and that’s just what I had done.
“You’re in luck,” I said.
“Oh?”
“With all that was going on, I forgot to cancel your order. I have it sitting in the stock room right now! And your timing is perfect. I was going to send it back this afternoon.”
“Oh! That’s great news!” said Priscilla with a beaming smile. “Not that you were going to send it back—that my timing’s perfect.”
After confirming that her daughter would be in to pick up the order the following day, she left the shop to get back to her café.
“So what exactly have you been up to while I was away?” asked Sarah.
“It’s a long story,” I told her.
“That’s good, because we’ve still got a couple of hundred of these suckers to wrap,” she said with a grin.
“Murder! Murder!” screeched Kiwi.
Sarah gave me a funny look.
“It all started with a murder...”
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A Wedding to Die For- Wedding Bells and Magic Spells Page 20