Hell's Bells

by Lesli Richardson

  Kal couldn’t help it. Part of that she could believe, because her mother had taught English, probably subconsciously remembered the name from a book or something. But the rest? “White robe? Halo? Heavenly choir back-up singers?”

  “No, that’s the odd thing. He was dressed like a normal man. Even though he spoke very softly, I’ll never forget that he had a British accent.” She smiled and blushed, a little self-conscious now that her confession was out. “Your father always said I was most likely daydreaming, or had dozed off over my cookbook and dreamed it. It doesn’t matter, really, does it? You’re here, just like he said you would be.”

  * * * *

  Reverend Martin hung in there, determined to fulfill his promise to his daughter. Two days before the wedding, Will, Aidan, and Jeff checked into a nearby hotel. Not that they were actually sleeping there, but more for appearance sake with Kal’s parents.

  Kal spent a lot of time there with Will and fought the urge to hit the hotel room’s mini bar. Will laughed and took her into his arms, kissed her, distracting her and helping her with at least a little of her nerves. There was still a tiny part of her terrified that half her wedding party would explode in flames upon entering the church despite their assurances they wouldn’t.

  They held the rehearsal the afternoon before their wedding. When Will knew Kal had hit the limit her nerves could take, he gathered Aidan and Jeff and drove them all to the church to wait for the others even though they were nearly a half hour early. Jeff enjoyed taking pictures and video and kept them all laughing. The official photographer and videographer would arrive shortly, as would Purs, Gery, Becky and Mia, her other bridesmaid.

  When Kal saw her parents pull up, she hurried outside to meet them and help her mom with her dad. Will stayed inside with the others at Kal’s insistence. She wanted a little time alone with her parents to make sure they were okay.

  Especially her father.

  When Ryan walked around the corner of the church, Kal couldn’t explain the little thump her heart made when she saw him. It was like he always stirred a distant part of her in a way she didn’t understand. Maybe she didn’t want to. When he saw Kal trying to help her father out of the car he hurried over, concern on his face, and offered his arm.

  “Thanks, Ryan.”

  Her father looked up, recognizing him perhaps? Kal experienced a split-second of panic until Ryan gently shouldered her aside and gripped her father’s other hand. “How are you, Reverend Martin, I presume?”

  “Do I know you?” His eyes narrowed as if thinking about it.

  “Kal’s told me about you, shown me family pictures when I was talking to them. I’m Ryan Ausar. I’m performing the ceremony.”

  Her father relaxed and smiled, allowing Ryan to help him from the car. She didn’t know how Ryan was smoothing over the information in his mind that he was also her boss and had encountered him the night of the “Ohio Shoot Incident.”

  She didn’t want to know.

  Her mother had walked around the back of the car to get things from the trunk. When Kal, Ryan, and her father reached the front door of the church, her father stopped and patted Ryan’s arm.

  “Thank you, I’m fine from here.” He walked ahead with Kal while Kal’s mom caught up.

  “Mr. Ausar? Just a moment please—” Ryan turned and her jaw gaped. She would have dropped the armful of decorations had he not swooped in to help.

  “Are you all right, Mrs. Martin?”

  Her voice sounded little more than a shocked whisper. “You!”

  Mentally he winced. How could he have been so stupid to forget this detail?

  “Yes?”

  She stepped closer, studying his face. “It’s you!”

  “I’m sorry, I’m not sure what you mean.” Of course he knew damn well what she meant.

  She smiled, a delighted look on her face. “You’re him! My angel!”

  Ryan tried what he hoped was a kind smile and not a sick to his stomach one. This is what becoming emotionally involved gets you, you stupid fuck. “I’ve been called a lot of things in my life, madam, but I don’t think an angel is one of them.” Well, that was the truth.

  Sort of.

  She shook her head in stunned disbelief. “Who are you? What are you?”

  “Well, I’m performing the ceremony for your daughter and her fiancé. They are close friends of mine.”

  He handed her the decorations and in the process touched and firmly gripped her wrist. Her eyes clouded.

  “Mrs. Martin,” he murmured, “I know I look familiar, but it’s just that I bear a striking resemblance to someone you once met. That was over twenty-six years ago. I can’t possibly be the same man.”

  She shook her head, her eyes wide. “No,” she whispered. “You can’t be the same man.”

  “I might look like that person, but I am not him.”

  “You look just like the angel that came to me and told me I would have Kal.”

  “That’s very flattering, and I’m sure it’s a quite a funny coincidence, but I am not him.” Thank the gods Kal and the others were inside. Ryan’s pulsed frantically raced. He struggled to bring it under control and wash the realization from her mind.

  Laura Martin nodded. “You’re not him. But you look and sound and smell just like him. I remember the cologne he wore. I’ve never forgotten it. And you’re still wearing it. He looked so sad, like he’d been crying. You don’t look sad now, but you have his same green eyes.”

  “Thank you. You won’t mention your thoughts about this to anyone, however, because I am not that man.” He gently squeezed her wrist. “Now, did you have a question about the wedding ceremony?” He released her arm and she blinked.

  “Oh, yes, I wanted to ask you about the wedding ceremony.” They walked into the church as Ryan took a deep, relieved breath.

  That was too close for comfort.

  Chapter 15

  Will “spent the night” at the hotel. The euphemistic term for him going out to dinner with Aidan, Jeff, Gery, and Purs, and then popping back to Tampa to sleep at home. Aidan had promised Kal he wouldn’t bring Will to the church hung over and sick.

  “Sugar, we’re archdemons, we’ve got a concrete constitution for that.”

  Kal glared at Aidan. “I don’t care what kind of constitution you’ve got. You better take care of him, or I’ll knock your block off.”

  Jeff playfully smiled. “Don’t worry,” he reassured her. “I’ll keep them out of trouble.”

  Will smirked. “You and what army?”

  Truth be told, Kal suspected there wouldn’t be any wildness going on. Will wasn’t the type, and Aidan knew she’d strangle all of them. At least she didn’t have to worry about them going to a strip club.

  Now if Purs had planned the evening, she might be concerned.

  Kal tossed and turned half the night. She wasn’t used to sleeping alone. It felt strange and alien to not have Will next to her. She’d never realized before how much she depended on him, how his presence soothed her. When her alarm went off at seven that morning, Becky blasted through Kal’s bedroom door a minute later.

  “Up and at ‘em, Kalypso Kid! It’s your wedding day!”

  Kal groaned and pulled a pillow over her head. That was a mistake, because it was the one Will usually used and smelled just like him. It made her miss him even more. She struggled against the urge to summon him.

  “Leave me alone.”

  Becky landed on the other side of the bed with a bounce. “Up! Let’s go. Coffee’s waiting, I’m going to make French toast for you, and then we’ll get showers and go get our hair and nails done. Mia’s gonna meet us there at nine.”

  “I’ll be down in a minute.”

  “You’d better, or I’ll be up here with a glass of ice water to dump on you.” Becky left, shutting the door behind her.

  Kal rolled over and looked at the ceiling. Frankly, all Kal wanted was for the day to be over with so she could spend a guilt-free night with Will. It’d
been difficult sleeping next to him all the time they were under her parents’ roof and not being able to make love to him. Dang it, she missed that.

  Less than a minute later, there was a soft knock on the door. “Yes?”

  Her mom peeked in. “You awake?”

  “Yeah. Becky already bounced me out of bed.”

  Laura Martin smiled and walked in, softly shutting the door behind her. She was already dressed to go to the salon. “I’m so happy! My baby’s getting married!”

  Kal forced a smile. She sat up and threw the covers off. “I’m not a baby anymore, Mom.”

  Her mom sat next to her. “I know. Pretty soon you’ll be having babies of your own.” She blushed a little.

  Kal didn’t know if it was because of her connection to Will or just plain old daughterly intuition, but Kal had a flash of insight. “What’s going on?”

  Laura lowered her voice and blushed deeper. “I wanted to have a talk with you.”

  Inside, Kal groaned. “Oh, no. Mom, please—”

  “No, I’ve never really sat down and had this conversation with you.” She took a deep breath. “About a husband and a wife.”

  Kal bolted off the bed and held her hands up in front of her. “Mom, seriously, please. No birds and bees. Trust me, I had biology in high school, I know where babies come from.” Not to mention she’d already boinked Will in probably a hundred different positions more than her parents had ever had sex.

  Um, eww, creepy thought. Should not have gone there.

  Her mom would not be deterred. “Sweetie, it’s nothing to be embarrassed about.”

  Kal took a deep breath. “Mom, honestly. Please don’t.”

  “I just want to make sure you understand. There are options if you wanted to hold off on having kids—”

  “Mom!” Kal buried her face in her hands. “Tab A goes in slot B, nine months later, ba-da-bing. Please, can we not have this conversation!”

  “I’m sure Will must have certain…expectations for tonight.”

  Yeah, so did Kal. Particularly that she wanted him to boink her blind and silly in a very loud and raunchy way, since they’d had limited opportunities over the past few weeks. “Believe me, he’s not the only one.” Kal walked over and opened the bedroom door. “Consider the conversation had, okay? Please?”

  Laura smiled. “All right, dear. If you’re sure.”

  “Oh, believe you me, I’m sure!”

  Kal’s mom went to check on her father and get his day started. Becky was already downstairs. Kal glared at Becky’s amused smile when she walked into the kitchen and grabbed a coffee mug.

  “Well? How did ‘the talk’ go?” Becky asked.

  Kal rolled her eyes. “Oh, puhleeze.” She dropped her voice. “I think at this point I know a heckuva lot more than my mom does on the topic.”

  Becky snickered over the skillet, where she was cooking up her wonderful French toast. “I wondered if that’s what she was planning.”

  She slapped Becky on the shoulder. “Thanks for the warning.”

  “Hey, it was either stay quiet or tell her that ship has already sailed. I didn’t think you wanted the cat let out of the bag.”

  Kal nearly choked on her coffee. “Heck, no! What are you, crazy?” Kal desperately lowered her voice as she looked through the doorway to make sure her mom wasn’t downstairs yet. “I managed to short-circuit her though, thank goodness.”

  * * * *

  After breakfast, Kal and Becky grabbed their showers. The photographer showed up to document the rest of the morning and rode with them in the limo to the salon. Kal didn’t want to mess with her nails, but she’d agreed to a manicure and clear polish. One less hassle on an already crazy morning.

  Back to her parents’ house to get dressed, this time with Mia in tow. The women helped Kal carefully put on her dress and more pictures were taken. With the busy morning and so many people around, Kal hadn’t had time to talk to Will and she missed him like crazy.

  When she had thirty seconds to herself she closed her eyes and sent her mind out, hoping he could hear her. “I love you,” she thought to him.

  After only a moment, his reply. “I love you, too. Are you okay?”

  “I miss you.”

  “I miss you too, babe.”

  “Are you okay?”Please, God, let him be sober! she thought.

  “Safe, sober, and so ready to be alone with you this evening.”

  Kal smiled. “Me too.” Her mom walked in. “See you soon.” Kal opened her eyes.

  “Are you ready?” Laura asked.

  Kal nervously nodded.

  Her father appeared in the doorway behind her and touched his wife’s shoulder. “I want a minute alone with her.”

  “Kenneth, we need to get going.”

  “Just a minute.” He stepped inside, leaving Laura out in the hall, and closed the door behind him. “You look beautiful, sweetheart.”

  Kal tried not to cry, didn’t want her eyes looking red and puffy any sooner than absolutely necessary. “Thanks, Daddy.”

  He gently hugged her and kissed her cheek. “Not too late to back out, young lady. Especially since we didn’t have to pay for the wedding.” He smiled.

  That pulled Kal out of her funk. “I thought you’d warmed up to Will.”

  He nodded. “I have. As long as you’re happy with him, that’s all that matters.”

  Kal forced back another wave of emotion. “I’ve never been happier in my life than I am when I’m with him, Daddy.”

  “Then that’s all I can ask for.” He offered her his arm. “Let’s not keep the man waiting. Don’t want him to get cold feet.”

  Kal slipped her arm through her father’s. “That’s the last thing that would ever happen.” Boy, was it.

  * * * *

  The limo driver loaded Kal’s bags. She’d packed the night before, tucked what little else she needed in there today. Aidan assured her he’d take care of it all.

  Then again, if they forgot anything, it’s not like they couldn’t just pop back for it.

  Kal suppressed an amused snort.

  Becky grinned. “What’s so funny, girlfriend?”

  Kal shook her head. “Nothing. You know, we’ll be doing this for you pretty soon.”

  Becky nodded. “Yep. But I’m going nature girl. You know me and white clothes don’t have a good working relationship. I found a beautiful tropical print dress that’s gorgeous, will look good for my outdoor wedding. I’m having a luau, you know.” She grinned and playfully elbowed Kal. “Every guest there will get leied.”

  Kal laughed. Another reason she’d insisted on a darker color for the bridesmaids’ dresses, so poor Becky wouldn’t have more problems if she spilled something on herself. Becky always wore her food well.

  The closer they got to the church, the harder Kal fought the urge to call out for Will to spirit her there. Whether it was her emotions or just from missing Will, or maybe having so many archdemons together in one place at the same time, Kal was having difficulty remaining calm and steady as she felt their combined pull.

  She opened her eyes and found her father smiling at her. “Cold feet?” He winked. “We can turn this limo around and go home, if you want.”

  Kal grinned. “No, Daddy.”

  “Kenneth!” Laura scolded, horrified.

  Kal laughed. “He’s just teasing, Mom. It’s okay.”

  Laura relaxed.

  Barely.

  When they arrived at the church, Laura pushed her way out of the limo to make sure Will wasn’t where he could see Kal. Becky and Mia carefully got out. That left Kal and her father.

  “I suppose we can’t pay the driver to take off with us?” he joked.

  Kal rolled her eyes, but she laughed. “You won’t let up, will you?”

  “You’re my baby. It’s my job.” The driver leaned in to help him out. Outside the limo, he waited for Kal, then offered her his arm again. Laura reappeared with a broad, beaming smile.

  “It’s all s
afe. Come on, I’ll show you where to wait.”

  They were twenty minutes early. Kal’s emotions vacillated between nervous that it was finally happening and anxious to get it over with so she could get on with her life. The second made her feel guilty. Her mom had been able to distract herself with the wedding plans, and even her father seemed happier over the past few days.

  How could she possibly begrudge them this?

  They left Kal alone in an anteroom while Laura got the wedding party all arranged in their positions in the church foyer. Kal used that time to close her eyes and send out her mind, found Will, Ryan, and of course, Aidan. Surprisingly, she realized she could easily sense Jeff, too. Come to think of it, she’d been able to sense Jeff for the past few weeks.

  Weird.

  Ryan stepped into the room. Kal’s back was turned, but she knew he was there.

  “Hello, Ryan.”

  Ryan struggled not to sigh as he looked at her. He held a strong barrier in his mind, praying she wouldn’t sense his thoughts. “Hello, love.” She turned, smiling. She was a vision. Screw not being a virgin, white suited her complexion better than ivory would have.

  “Bad luck to see the bride, isn’t it?”

  “That’s for the groom, not for me.” He shoved down another wistful pang before walking over to her and taking her hands. This could have been his day. “He’s a lucky man.”

  “Please don’t make me cry. I don’t know if my mascara’s waterproof or not.”

  “No, love. I just wanted to see how you were holding up. Not much longer now.”

  “I’m good. I’m okay. I don’t know why I’m so nervous. Not like Will and I are strangers.”

  Ryan smiled. While Kal sensed it was a real smile, it seemed as if genuine happiness never touched his soul, as if he was perpetually sad. Maybe his pain from losing his soul mate so many years before.