by T. R. Ragan
“You called,” he said, sounding surprised.
Lizzy laughed. “Why wouldn’t I?”
“You made me spend the night in a hotel last night. I thought we weren’t supposed to talk to one another.”
“It’s bad luck if we see each other before the ceremony,” she told him, “not if we talk to each other.”
“Do you really believe all of that malarkey?”
“Not one bit,” she said. “Biggest mistake I ever made. I feel like we’ve been apart a lifetime.”
“I feel the same.” He peered through the glass door leading into the church, but decided to stay outside while he finished talking to Lizzy. “Looks like your bridesmaids are all ready to go. Are you on your way?”
“How do they look? Did Hayley wear her dress?”
He took another look. “They all look amazing. Everyone is in blue, just as you wanted. I’ve never seen Hayley in a dress. She looks great.”
“I’m so happy, Jared.”
“I’m glad.”
“It’s the weirdest thing,” Lizzy told him. “For the past few months, I just wanted the two of us to go to the courtroom and get married. I didn’t want flowers and cakes and friends and family, but I was wrong. I can’t wait to walk down the aisle and say my vows. I love you so much.”
“I love you, too, Lizzy.”
“I’m sorry I’m running so late. There was something I had to get, but I’m home now. I’ll be there in fifteen minutes.”
“Good to know. I didn’t see your car in the parking lot and I was afraid you might leave me standing at the altar, looking like a fool.”
“Never. I’ve waited a lifetime for this day. I’ll see you soon.”
After they hung up, Jared took a moment to look around him and take it all in. It was December, five days before Christmas, but the sky was blue and there wasn’t a rain cloud in sight. He thought about everything he and Lizzy had gone through to get to this point. Their journey had been a winding road of craziness and mishaps, but they’d made it. Lizzy always talked as if she was the one who needed him, but it was the other way around. Always had been. There was nobody else in this world for him but Lizzy.
He turned back to the doors and pushed his way through the early arrivals. Heather rushed up to him, gave him a long squeeze and then wiped a tear from her eye and straightened his tie.
“I still think you should have gone with the tuxedo,” she said, “but I guess I’ll have to wait for my own knight in shining armor to come along before I can walk up the aisle with a handsome man in a tux.”
“The flowers look great,” he said, looking at the pews, feeling awkward, since Heather had given off not-so-subtle hints that she was into him the last time they were together. “I hope you sent me the invoice.”
“Nah, the flowers are on me. I had a lot of fun helping you.”
“That’s too generous. I can’t accept.”
She shrugged him off, but he figured he’d settle the matter later. Jared looked over Heather’s shoulder and smiled at Hayley, Kitally, and Jessica. He held up a finger, letting them know he would just be a minute.
“This is horrible of me to say—even worse that I’m going to tell you this on your wedding day—but I’ve had a mad crush on you for a while now.”
He said nothing.
“I was hoping there might be something there, but you never wavered. Not once.”
“You know there’s only one girl for me. I’ve waited a long time for this day. Nothing could ever stop me from loving Lizzy Gardner.”
She blushed and looked away.
“No reason to be embarrassed. I want you to know that I appreciate your friendship. You deserve to be happy, Heather. If that means finding the right man, then it will happen for you. Not when you’re looking, though. It never happens when you’re looking.”
“Lizzy is a lucky girl,” she said before motioning toward the organist. “I better make sure Mrs. Peters knows where to go.”
After Heather walked off, he made his way to the front of the church, where Lizzy’s sister, niece, and the other bridesmaids were gathered.
“I don’t know if you remember me, but I’m Kitally.” She offered him a hand to shake, but Jared chuckled and gave her a bear hug instead.
“Of course I remember you. I haven’t had a chance to thank you for helping Lizzy out. You did good work. You’re a hero.”
“Lizzy did all of the hard work. I just provided her with the right tools to get the job done.”
He couldn’t argue with that, but neither could he promote carrying a machete around, so he merely nodded.
Cathy hugged him next, and then her daughter, Brittany, followed by Jessica and Hayley.
“You girls look terrific. Thanks for being here.”
“Where’s the bride?” Jessica asked. “I brought the hairpins she asked for.” She looked at her watch. “We don’t have much time to get her dressed. Another few minutes and most of the guests will be here.”
“You know Lizzy,” Jared said. “She likes to keep everyone on their toes.”
“I talked to her,” Cathy said. “She’s grabbing her dress and heading over here as we speak.”
Jared’s heart began to race. Seeing the people gathering in the pews, being there at the church, he realized he was getting nervous. “How’s Tommy doing?” he asked Hayley, hoping to stop his nerves from getting the best of him.
“They took two bullets from his left arm. He’ll need some rehab, but his doctor said he should be released in the next few days. He’s bummed he can’t be here.”
“I’m glad he’s doing so well.”
“Look who’s here,” Jared said to Jessica, nodding to Magnus, who’d just walked through the doors at the other end of the room. “I didn’t realize you two were still an item.”
Jessica blushed. “We’re not. He recently finished a job in El Salvador and since he’s back in town, Lizzy told me to go ahead and invite him today. I hope you don’t mind.”
“Not at all.”
“Come on,” Cathy said to the group. “Lizzy is going to come through the back door of the dressing room. It’s this way.”
“I’m going to say hello to Magnus and then I’ll be right there,” Jessica told her.
Jared watched them all walk away. It made him happy to see everyone together and doing well. Jessica, he noticed, had been all smiles when she’d headed off toward Magnus. But suddenly she looked over her shoulder at him, her smile replaced by a look of fear before she turned back the other way again.
Following her gaze, he saw a woman he didn’t recognize. She wore a white lab coat. Polka-dotted sneakers peaked out from beneath blue scrub pants. A nurse? Her hair was disheveled and there was a frazzled look about her. She turned and that’s when he saw the gun in her hand.
Without hesitation, she started shooting into the crowd, pulling the trigger again and again.
Jared saw Magnus throw himself on top of Jessica, pushing her to the ground, his back violently arching as if he’d taken a bullet to the back.
The shooter aimed and fired, aimed and fired.
People were screaming, falling to the ground, hiding wherever they could.
Heather was draped over the seat of the organ, her dress covered in blood. The organist was slumped over the black and white keys.
Jimmy Martin, good friend and FBI agent, crouched low between the pews, protecting his wife as he used his cell phone to call for help.
The chaos was all around him. Everything felt as if it was happening in slow motion. Jared looked to his left, where he’d seen the bridesmaids moments ago. They weren’t anywhere in the room. Thank God.
Kitally was crawling on all fours. He wasn’t sure if she’d been shot.
Bullets were still being fired when he spotted Hayley moving up the side aisle. Why ha
dn’t she stayed with the others? Unlike the panicked guests, she appeared steadfast and calm. She marched forward along the wall, then turned and headed straight for the woman with the gun. There was anger in Hayley’s expression, power in every step she took.
Get out of there, Hayley. Now was not the time to be a hero. She needed to run, get out of harm’s way.
Somebody yelled Jared’s name at the exact moment he took a bullet to his arm and then another to his chest. A searing pain shot through every part of his body at once. “Hayley,” he shouted. “Get down!”
He took a step forward, but that’s all he could manage. He needed to get everyone out of the way, needed to stop Hayley from getting herself killed.
Another bullet ripped through his thigh. A fierce heat rushed through him.
He looked at the nurse with the gun. A shock of white hair, a crazed look in her eyes.
Numb. He felt numb. He hardly felt the next two bullets. His arm. His chest.
He willed his legs to move, wanted to take the shooter out, but all he could do was stand there and watch.
The shooter was focused on the frenzy in front of her, making it easy for Hayley to strike her from behind and knock the weapon from her hand. As Hayley grabbed the gun from the floor, the woman reached into the pocket of her lab coat and pulled out another weapon, aiming it at him.
Jared realized then that he was the shooter’s target, the one she’d come for. But why?
Before the nurse could fire, Hayley thrust the barrel of the revolver to the shooter’s temple and pulled the trigger.
Blood sprayed across the neatly lined bouquets of fresh white roses.
The continuous sound of gunfire was replaced with cries for help, moaning and sobbing. That’s all Jared heard as he slunk to the ground.
Silence enveloped him. Unable to keep his eyes open, the only thing he saw in his mind’s eye was Lizzy.
She looked beautiful.
He’d waited so long for this day and it was finally here.
He was by far the luckiest man in the world.
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
I want to thank my editor, Alan Turkus, for his enthusiasm; David Downing for his ability to help make a scene come alive; Cathy Katz for always being there to brainstorm or read my manuscript one more time; Brittany Ragan for keeping my characters real; and last but never least, I want to thank my husband, Joe, for his constant support and encouragement and for making me laugh every single day.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Photo © 2012 Morgan Ragan
Theresa Ragan is the bestselling author of the Lizzy Gardner series. Since publishing in 2011, she has sold nearly one million books and has been mentioned in the Wall Street Journal, the Los Angeles Times, PC Magazine, Huffington Post, and Publishers Weekly. She and her husband, Joe, have four children and live in Sacramento, California.
Learn more about Theresa at www.theresaragan.com.