by Debbie Mason
Chapter Five
How are you going to break the news to Chase?” Mallory said from between her teeth, her face frozen in a strained smile that Sadie imagined mirrored her own. As the audience filed out of the bakery loaded down with boxed cakes, cookies, and cupcakes, shouting their congratulations as they left, they took their contagious excitement with them, leaving Mallory and Sadie to brood over the situation they found themselves in.
“I have no idea. I’m still trying to figure out when I agreed to it. I’m positive I said I’d think about it,” Sadie said.
“It might have been how you reacted not only to the cake but the wedding talk. You looked like you were into it, even more than Abby.”
“I guess I got caught up in the moment. Everyone was happy and having fun…It was contagious.”
“You can’t back out. You’re the reason I agreed to do it. Well, you and Abby. All for one, and one for all, right?”
Sadie laughed despite the nervous jitters in her stomach at the thought of telling Chase what she’d done. “So we’re the Three Musketeers now?”
Mallory grinned. “The boys were watching the movie with Gabe when I left.”
“I wondered where Teddy was.”
“Nothing interferes with father and sons’ movie day.”
“At least you know Teddy will be thrilled you and Gabe are renewing your vows.”
She nodded and then made a face. “I’m pretty sure Gabe won’t be.”
“How are you going to break the news to him?” Sadie asked. She could use some inspiration.
“I’m not sure, but I think I’d better figure it out fast,” Mallory said, giving a finger-wave to someone in the bakery window. “Same goes for you.”
Sadie turned, groaning at the crowd outside that included a reporter and photographer for the Highland Falls Herald. “I knew the news would go viral as soon as Babs got out her phone, but I thought we might have at least a few hours’ reprieve.” She pulled her cell phone from the back pocket of her jeans. “I’d better give Chase a heads-up.” She needed to let her family know too, but it wasn’t their reactions she was worried about. They’d all be thrilled, especially her grandmother.
Abby hugged Bliss and then came over to join them, waving at the crowd. “Oh my gosh, look at how excited everyone is.” She frowned. “Everyone but you guys. What’s wrong?”
“What’s wrong? We’ve just agreed to get married—in Mallory’s case, remarried—and our grooms have no idea that we’ll be dragging them to the altar in a few weeks’ time.”
“Right.” Abby grimaced and nodded at the door. “It looks like they might have some idea what’s going on.”
Chase held the door open for Sadie’s grandmother, who pushed the stroller into the bakery, followed by Teddy and Gabe.
“Is it true?” Teddy asked. “Are we getting married again?”
Sadie didn’t hear Mallory’s answer. Her grandmother had given her a hug while declaring it was the best news she’d heard since Sadie and Chase had gotten engaged. Michaela, picking up on the excitement, squealed and clapped her hands.
Chase and Gabe, who’d become good friends while working on Sadie’s brother’s case last summer, stood shoulder to shoulder at the door—their arms crossed, heads cocked, and eyebrows raised.
“Aww, look at how gorgeous you guys are. My subscribers are going to love—” Abby began before Sadie and Mallory cut her off, saying at almost the same time, “I can explain.”
“You go first,” Sadie said to Mallory.
“Thanks a lot,” Mallory murmured.
“Coffee and cake are on the house,” Bliss said, casting a nervous glance at the silent and serious men blocking her door.
“Bring me a piece when you’re done. I have to get back to the store,” Agnes said. She patted Sadie’s cheek with a fond smile and then kissed Michaela goodbye. She said something to Chase and Gabe on her way out the door that made both men sigh.
“That’s a great idea. You guys can try your wedding ca…” Abby glanced from Sadie and Mallory to Gabe and Chase. “Okay, so maybe I’ll just—” She groaned when Hunter opened the door, nudging Chase and Gabe to either side so he could stand between them. The three men shared noncommittal grunts she assumed were their version of hey, as well as similar what the hell is going on? expressions on their faces. Hunter had also bonded with Chase last summer, and Gabe the summer before.
“It’s Abby’s fault,” Sadie blurted under Chase’s penetrating stare.
Mallory nodded. “She made us do it.”
“Hey, what happened to all for one and one for all?” Abby protested. She must have overheard Sadie and Mallory’s earlier conversation, which wasn’t a surprise. Abby had a severe case of FOMO—fear of missing out.
“It’s true, Dad. Abby’s real nervous about her wedding, and it’d make her feel better if she had her friends getting married with her.” Teddy looked around at the adults. “Did I say something wrong?”
“No, of course you didn’t,” Abby said with a strained smile.
Hunter moved to his fiancée’s side, lifting her chin with his knuckle to get her to look at him. “Is that why you’ve been acting weird these past few weeks? You don’t want to get married?”
“I never said I don’t want to get married. I just…” She lifted a shoulder. “It’s been a lot, that’s all.”
“You didn’t say you wanted to get married either.” Hunter rubbed his head. “Neither did I, for that matter. I guess we just let Aunt Elsa ride roughshod over us and gave in.”
Abby’s eyes welled with tears. “You don’t want to marry me?”
Hunter held up his hands. “No, that’s not what I said. I’m good with whatever you want, babe. It’s not a big deal.”
Sadie winced, glancing at Mallory who did the same. This was going downhill fast.
Abby wiped at her eyes with angry swipes. “A wedding isn’t a big deal or marrying me isn’t a big deal?”
Hunter glanced at Chase and Gabe as if looking for guidance.
Good luck with that, Sadie thought. “I think we should all sit down and have some cake,” she suggested.
Hunter pulled out a chair for Abby, who took a seat and crossed her arms. Hunter sighed and took the chair beside her. Teddy dragged Michaela’s stroller beside his chair, leaning in to say in an overloud whisper, “I don’t know what all the fuss is about. Weddings are fun.”
“Unless the groom doesn’t want to marry you,” Abby muttered.
Hunter said, “I didn’t say that.”
Taking a seat beside his wife, Gabe said, “Don’t look at me. I already did the deed.”
Mallory raised an eyebrow. “Really? You already did the deed?”
Gabe scooped up a forkful of cake and shoved it in his mouth.
“I didn’t say anything,” Chase said when Sadie shot him a look. “I didn’t even know you wanted to get married.”
Sadie held up her hand, the gorgeous diamond engagement ring he’d given her sparkling in the sunlight shining through the bakery window. “I said yes, didn’t I?”
“Well, yeah, but every time I brought it up, you said we had lots of time.” He cocked his head. “This doesn’t have anything to do with Gwen, does it?”
“Of course not. Why would you even think that?”
“Maybe because she’s all you wanted to talk about this morning.”
“Who’s Gwen?” Hunter and Gabe asked at almost the same time.
“Chase’s ex-fiancée, who I knew nothing about until his grandfather brought her up last night.” She glanced at the time on her phone. “Aren’t you supposed to be bringing him to the airport?”
“He heard that we were getting married and decided not to leave.”
So instead of the wedding thwarting the judge’s plan as Abby had suggested, it sounded like it might have had the opposite effect, and he was going to up his game. Abby grimaced and mouthed, Sorry, while Mallory reached across the table and patted Sadie’s hand.
“So was he happy about the news? I imagine he must be. He certainly was all about us setting a date last night,” Sadie said.
Chase ran a finger under the collar of his white dress shirt. “I’m sure he will be. He was just a little surprised.”
“And what about you? How do you feel about us getting married on the twenty-third?”
He hesitated, glancing from Hunter to Gabe. “Ah, good.” He must have read something on her face because he added, “Really good?”
She wondered if he heard the question in his own voice. From Gabe’s and Hunter’s pained grimaces, they certainly had. A call coming in on her cell phone saved her from responding. It was her cousin.
“Hey, Ellie. I’m guessing you heard our happy news.” She shot Chase a pointed glance. Obviously he got her meaning because he rubbed the back of his neck.
“I did, but that’s not why I’m calling. The judge just booked a room for someone named Gwen. I got the feeling she and Chase shared a past. I hate to tell you this, but I think he’s trying to stop your wedding.”
“He’ll have to get in line. His grandson is doing a good job of that all by himself.”
“Okay, that doesn’t sound good. Listen, I’ll spend some time with the judge. Maybe then I’ll have a better idea what’s really behind this. I’ll call you once I do, and we can take it from there.”
As soon as Sadie disconnected, she pulled up WhatsApp and shared Ellie’s news with Mallory and Abby. Seconds later, both women stared at her, their mouths hanging open.
“Is something wrong?” Chase asked.
“Other than the men we love not wanting to marry us, you mean?” Abby said, pushing back her chair. “But don’t worry, we can have perfectly wonderful weddings without you guys. We’ll just marry ourselves, if we have to. Come on, ladies, we need to pick out your dresses asap or they won’t be in on time.”
Chapter Six
Chase stared out the bakery window at the three women and his daughter heading down Main Street. “What just happened?”
“You messed up,” Teddy said around a mouthful of cake.
“He’s right,” Hunter said. “What were you thinking not telling Sadie about your ex-fiancée?”
“It was years ago. Long before Sadie and I ever met,” he said defensively, at a loss as to why everyone was making an issue of it. To his way of thinking, what Hunter said was worse than an old girlfriend slipping Chase’s mind. “At least I didn’t say getting married wasn’t a big deal.”
Teddy nodded. “Yeah, that was pretty dumb.”
Gabe grimaced. “I’m not crazy about you using the word dumb, son. But in this instance, you have a point. He’s right, Hunter. Pregnant women are extremely sensitive. You have to choose your words carefully.”
“Whoa, you’re really lucky Abby and Mom aren’t here, Dad. You’d be in bigger trouble than you already are.”
“Okay, would someone like to tell me what I said that was so wrong?”
Hunter and Chase pointed at Teddy. “He’ll tell you.”
“Before or just now?” Gabe’s son asked.
“All right, I get your point. I was being insensitive to Mom’s feelings when I said I’d done the deed. But the whole renewing-the-vows thing caught me by surprise. I can see it if we’ve been married for years but—”
“It’s not like it was a real wedding. You only did it because you found out about the baby,” Teddy said.
Gabe looked stunned. “Is that what your mom thinks?”
Teddy shrugged. “I don’t know. That’s what some of the boys at school said to Dylan,” he said, referring to his eleven-year-old brother.
“Is that so, and who would those boys be?”
“It’s okay, Dad. Oliver took care of them.” Oliver was Mallory’s sixteen-year-old stepson.
“But you guys know that the only reason I married Mallory is because I love her, right?”
“Sure. But love is a verb, Dad. Without action it doesn’t mean anything.”
Gabe narrowed his eyes at his son. “Have you been reading your mother’s romance novels?”
“Maybe.” Teddy grinned and then said, “We did a class project on love in February. That’s where I learned about love being a verb and stuff.”
“Okay. So, Teddy, what do you think we should do to make this right?” Chase asked.
“You’re asking a six-year-old for relationship advice?” Hunter said, then winced. “No offense, Teddy.”
“None taken,” Teddy said amicably.
“Teddy might be six but he seems to have more insights into Abby, Mallory, and Sadie than we do. I don’t know about you two, but I’m open to any help I can get,” Chase said.
“I’m almost seven but I don’t really know much about kissing-and-making-up stuff. I don’t have a girlfriend. If me and my friends hurt each other’s feelings, we just say sorry and then we go and play. Maybe you should read my mom’s romance books.”
Gabe ruffled his son’s hair. “Maybe we should.”
Or talk to Teddy’s teacher, Chase thought. But surely between the three of them they could figure this out. After all, Hunter was former special forces, Gabe was chief of police, and Chase was an FBI agent. They’d worked a high-profile case together last summer and had a successful outcome. This was really no different.
“We need to approach this like we would any other case. First, let’s identify the crime and the players.” Chase was used to having a board and photographic evidence when presenting a case, so he moved the three cake slices to the center of the table to represent the unhappy women in their lives. “Because of our ineptitude”—he gathered up three coffee cups and lined them up to the side of the plates—“we’ve given Sadie, Mallory, and Abby the impression that we don’t want to get married on the twenty-third.”
The laughter Hunter was obviously trying to hold back came out in his voice. “I’m beginning to understand why you didn’t think it was necessary to tell Sadie about your ex-fiancée.”
Chase wasn’t sure what Hunter meant by that, but at least Hunter now understood where Chase had been coming from. However, it wasn’t Hunter he needed to convince. But if they could solve this problem, Chase was positive everything else would fall into place. “We need to stay focused. It all comes down to convincing Sadie, Mallory, and Abby that we’re on board with their wedding plans. Now we just have to figure—”
“But are we on board with all of us getting married on the twenty-third?” Gabe said, moving one of the coffee cups out of line. “Mallory, Abby, and Sadie are smart. If we’re just going through the motions to make them happy, they’ll see right through us, and we could wind up making things worse.”
“You have a point.” Chase nudged the coffee cup Gabe had moved back in line with the others. “So I guess the question is: Do our reasons for not getting married on the twenty-third outweigh our objective to make the women we love happy? I can only speak for myself, but I don’t have an issue with it. If Sadie wanted to get married today, I would.”
“I guess my only issue is that Mallory and I are already married,” Gabe said. “I thought it was a nice wedding, private and kind of romantic. But after what Teddy said, maybe I was wrong. So yeah, I’m good with whatever makes Mallory happy.”
“Honestly, since all this wedding crap began, Abby hasn’t been happy. She hasn’t been acting like herself. But if the three of them getting married on the same day makes her happy, I’m game,” Hunter said.
“Good, so we’re all agreed.” Except Chase felt like he was missing something. He went back over each of their responses to his question, and then his gaze went to the slices of cake. He picked up his fork, using it like a pointer. “Cake is beautiful. It smells amazing, tastes even better. Eating cake is an emotional experience.” He moved his pointer. “Coffee cups are solid, stoic, and—”
“Are you going somewhere with this?” Hunter asked.
Chase looked up to see the two men and Teddy watching him with their brows furrowed.
“Sorry, I tend to talk through a case.”
“You were talking about cake and coffee cups,” Gabe pointed out.
“Yes, and now I know what’s wrong with our plan.”
Hunter scratched his head. “I didn’t know we had one.”
“That’s true too. But now we do. When I went over our responses, I realized we were making the same mistake. We were willing to go through with the wedding, not because we necessarily want to but because Sadie, Mallory, and Abby do. We want to make them happy, which is a noble reason. Except they’re the cake and we’re the coffee cups. We need to become the cake. We need to become as invested in the wedding as they are. If they sense a lack of enthusiasm on our part, they’ll assume we don’t want to get married, and we’ll be back to square one. And, as we’ve seen, square one is not a good place to be.”
“So how do you propose we become invested in the wedding?” Gabe asked.
“We need to learn everything we can about weddings.” Chase Googled wedding planning, scanned through several links, found what he was looking for, and sent the page to Gabe and Hunter.
They went line by line through the list together. “Already have the venue,” Hunter said. “We’re having it outside at the farm so we don’t need to decorate.”
“I’m not sure that’s true,” Gabe said. “Mal loves to decorate.”
Chase pulled up Abby’s social media and checked out her upcoming events. “They’re voting on the decor next week so we should probably put together a few ideas.”
“Pumpkins,” Teddy said. “You have to have pumpkins.”
“Okay, sounds good,” Chase said, and checked the box.
“Music is taken care of. My brother’s band, Culloden, will be playing,” Hunter said.
“Would that be the same brother that had me chasing a nonexistent moose down Main Street?” Chase asked. Hunter’s brother was with the forestry service, and Chase had done a stint as a park ranger when he was undercover last summer.