Hitched

by Carol Higgins Clark

  Shauna smiled at her. “I don’t care what I wear. This has been so amazing, getting to know you and Arnold. That’s what is so important. And that Tyler and I will finally be married.”

  Arnold sipped his wine. “What were you two waiting for? Why didn’t you get married a long time ago?”

  Pamela looked at her husband sternly. “Arnold, Shauna told us already. She doesn’t have family.” Pamela turned back to Shauna. “Are you sure that there aren’t any cousins you want to invite? Anyone at all?”

  Tears glistened in Shauna’s eyes. “Honestly, I have no one. No one but Tyler. And now you.”

  “What about you, Tyler?” Pamela asked gently. “I’ve been going over the guest list. I just wish that there were some people who you could share this day with.”

  “Whoa,” Tyler answered as he took a bite out of his dinner roll, then looked off into the distance as he chewed.

  Normally Pamela would have winced at the sight of someone biting into a roll instead of breaking off a delicate piece, but for Tyler she felt nothing but affection. His breach of manners was almost endearing. He knew the Heimlich maneuver and had saved her life. He could lick his knife for all she cared.

  Finally Tyler swallowed, took a sip of his water, then put his hand over Shauna’s. “Before Shauna and I met, we both felt like we were alone on this planet. Then we found each other. It was as if we were the only two people in the universe, man. You two are teaching us what it means to have family.” He paused and stared into Shauna’s eyes. “Should we tell them?”

  “Tell us what?” Arnold demanded.

  Shauna giggled. “Tyler, you can’t tease them like that. Now we have to tell them.” She turned to Arnold and Pamela. “We didn’t know whether we should wait until after we were officially married to tell you because we were afraid you’d disapprove. But you know we have been living together.”

  Arnold and Pamela both shrugged as if to say “What can you do?”

  “The thing is…” Shauna continued.

  “We’re pregnant!” Tyler interrupted, then banged the table excitedly with his fist. “We’re pregnant, and if it’s a boy he’ll be Arnold; a girl, Pamela. And we hope to have a couple more. We’ll keep trying until we get an Arnold and a Pamela.” He banged the table again and looked around. The people at the next table looked over with disdain as the silverware jingled.

  Pamela’s mouth dropped. “Ohhh,” she said. “Ohhhh, my word.”

  “We are so happy,” Shauna continued. “We thought we couldn’t have children. But I’m convinced it’s the love that you’ve shown us that has made this happen for us. We want you to be our child’s surrogate grandparents.”

  Even Arnold smiled.

  Pamela’s mouth quivered as she said, “I’ve longed to be a grandmother. And I know Arnold would love to be someone’s Papa. Our son is married, but I think that he and our daughter-in-law have gotten used to a life without children.”

  Shauna brought her hands together as if in prayer. Soulfully, she said, “I know that I’m at an age where it isn’t so easy to have a child. That’s why I’m so grateful.”

  “We had our Alex later in life,” Pamela noted. “I didn’t want to ask if you had plans for a family. I thought it might be a sensitive subject.”

  “Ask us anything,” Tyler exulted. “We’re family. This baby will be all of ours.”

  “There’s nothing that would please us more than to spoil a child. Isn’t that right, Arnold?”

  Arnold nodded.

  “That means that over the holidays this year we’ll have a new baby in our midst,” Pamela said joyfully. “Oh it’ll be so wonderful.”

  Tyler raised his glass. “Here’s to little Arnie or Pammy! They’ll be here by Thanksgiving!”

  They all laughed and clinked glasses.

  After coffee and a dessert of raspberries covered with whipped cream, the two couples sauntered up Fifth Avenue. The April air was cool and fresh, and they decided to walk the nearly twenty blocks home. “That was some rain we had today,” Pamela said, shaking her head. “Tyler, I saw your black raincoat hanging in the back hallway. It was soaked. So were those big black shoes of yours. You always seem to get stuck in the rain! Couldn’t you get a cab today?”

  “I was out running errands and couldn’t get a cab when the storm hit. It doesn’t matter. I like walking in the rain.”

  “Well, at least you were wearing a raincoat! That storm came upon us so suddenly I think it caught most people unprepared. When I left this morning I had no idea it was going to rain.”

  “It comes from living out in the open,” Tyler explained. “You get in tune with nature. You just know what’s coming.”

  “I suppose. I just hope you don’t catch a cold.”

  “I’ll be fine,” Tyler assured her.

  “We don’t want a bridegroom with a case of the sniffles,” Pamela laughed. “Or a Daddy. When we get upstairs, I’ll give you Vitamin C.”

  “You’re the best, Pamela,” Tyler murmured. “I wish my mother had been as caring.”

  Pamela smiled. “I always loved being a mother.”

  “I know I will, too,” Shauna said serenely. “I just hope everything turns out okay. I’m not that far along.”

  “Everything will be fine!” Pamela insisted.

  In the apartment, Pamela and Arnold said their good nights and retired to their room. After they got ready for bed and turned out the light, Pamela reached for Arnold’s hand. “Honey, I’ve been thinking. Maybe we should change our will and provide for Shauna and Tyler. They are starting a family, and it’s so tough these days. And they do plan to name their children after us.”

  In the dark, Arnold made a face. “I suppose we could do that. But I’d like to see them enjoy money while we’re both alive. Maybe we should get them a decent place to live and set up a trust fund for the baby. But what about Alex?”

  “There’s plenty of money to go around. Our son has enough money of his own, and it doesn’t look like he’ll ever have to worry about supporting children.”

  Arnold grunted. “I suppose you’re right. I’ll call the lawyer on Monday.”

  Pamela closed her eyes. “I can’t believe we’re finally going to have a baby named after one of us.”

  “Took long enough,” Arnold said. “We may as well make the most of it before we die.”

  The two of them fell fast asleep.

  28

  The Timber family had never known such hysteria. They usually reacted to any of life’s upheavals in a quiet reserved manner. Not this time.

  Tracy was sprawled on the couch in the family room of her parents’ gracious Connecticut home, gulping her second cosmopolitan. Her face was streaked with tears. Montgomery, Tracy’s dear old dad, had built a fire in the large stone hearth even though it wasn’t really cold. It gave him something to do, and he thought it would offer comfort.

  “Dear, I think you’d better slow up your drinking,” Tracy’s mother, Ellen, advised. “You haven’t touched any of your chicken with cashews. I ordered that specially for you.”

  “My life is ruined,” Tracy slurred.

  “No, it’s not,” Montgomery insisted. “You’re a Timber. You can do a lot better than Jeffrey Woodall and you know it!”

  “I just hope that detective, Regan Reilly, discovers something about Jeffrey that ruins his life!” Tracy spewed. “I hope they find out he cheated on his taxes and they send him to jail!” She took another large sip of the pink elixir.

  Tracy’s mother shook her head. “I just don’t understand what happened. He must have gotten cold feet.”

  “Don’t ever take him back!” Montgomery barked. “You are a Timber! Always remember you are a Timber! You are proud! Our family fought in the American Revolution. Never forget that!”

  Tracy raised her right hand. “I’m a Timber. And it looks like I’m never going to be anything else.”

  Tracy’s sister, Adele, was curled up in an overstuffed chair, examining her hair f
or split ends. “You’re going to be so happy about this in a few months, believe me! You dodged a bullet. I can’t believe he actually kept a record of how much he spent taking you out to dinner before you got engaged. What a creep.”

  “I want revenge!”

  Ellen nodded. “That Regan Reilly is a lovely girl. I’m sure if there’s anything to find out about Jeffrey, she will. But, dear, what does it matter?”

  “It matters a lot. I want him to suffer like I’m suffering right now. I want him to feel pain!”

  Ellen sat down next to her daughter. “Grandma called earlier when you were soaking in the tub.”

  Tracy frowned. “All she’s been saying since I got engaged was that she was so happy she was alive to see me get married.”

  “That’s true,” Ellen agreed. “But at ninety-two she’s still going strong. She told me something that I never knew. She said she wanted you to know that before she married Grandpa, she got dumped, too.”

  Adele’s split ends no longer held as much interest. “Grandma got dumped?” she repeated, her voice rising.

  “I never knew it. But she said there was a boy who proposed to her, and they told everyone they were engaged to be married, and then he ran off with a new girl who moved to town. Grandma was happy to report that they experienced nothing but misery their whole lives. She, of course, married Grandpa and lived happily ever after.”

  “Good for Grandma!” Adele enthused.

  “Grandma also said that she couldn’t imagine life without your grandfather. And she reminded me that I wouldn’t have been born if she had married her first fiancé, which means you wouldn’t have been born either.”

  “So someday I’ll have a kid who wouldn’t have been born if I weren’t in misery right now.”

  “Exactly. Which goes to show—”

  “Goes to show what? The man I was in love with doesn’t want me!” Tracy started to sob yet again.

  The doorbell rang.

  Montgomery, happy to get out of the room, ran for the front door. When he opened it, Tracy’s three best friends were standing there.

  Catherine Heaney, Tracy’s closest friend since college, spoke first. “Mr. Timber, I know that Tracy said she didn’t want to see anyone. But we’re her girlfriends, and this is the girlfriend ambulance. We’re here to take her out and we’re not taking no for an answer.”

  “Please!” Montgomery said ecstatically. “That sounds like a great idea!”

  When they entered the den, and Tracy saw the three girls who would have been her bridesmaids, she burst into another round of tears. They rushed over, and the four sorority sisters huddled together.

  “I never liked him.”

  “Not good enough for you.”

  “Boring.”

  In the background, Adele was shaking her head in earnest agreement. “Stuffy,” she added. “Uptight.”

  “Quiet, Adele,” Ellen reprimanded her daughter.

  “We’re taking you out,” Catherine told Tracy.

  “I can’t go out,” Tracy sniffled.

  “You have to. You can’t just sit here and be miserable.”

  “But I’m humiliated! I don’t want to run into anyone I know!” Tracy wailed.

  “We figured that,” Catherine said. “So we’re taking you to a biker bar a couple miles out of town. It’s a dump, but they have a dart-board!” Catherine pulled an unflattering picture of Jeffrey out of her purse that she’d blown up to eight by ten. “We’re going to pin his mug over the bull’s eye.”

  Tracy looked at the picture. It took her a moment to react, but she started to laugh like she hadn’t for a very long time. “This is just the beginning,” she vowed as she got to her feet, somewhat unsteadily. “I’m going to live to make him regret what he did if it takes me the rest of my life,” she said with a hiccup, half laughing, half crying.

  Ellen sighed. “Tracy dear. Just go out and have a good time. Think of how well getting dumped turned out for Grandma.”

  29

  Regan and Jack viewed the tapes for nearly two hours. Several players came and went, but Alfred stayed put at the craps table. And why not? He kept winning, making no attempt to hide his glee.

  “If I’d have known Alfred was going to entertain us for this long, I’d have brought along a bucket of popcorn,” Regan commented. “He does ham it up.” They watched as Alfred clapped his hands and pumped his fist in victory.

  “And he’s been served a few drinks,” Jack remarked. “I could have used some popcorn this afternoon. We watched the security tapes of the bank robbery over and over.”

  “Did it help at all?” Regan asked.

  “Not yet. I keep thinking that there must be something on all the tapes of those first robberies that date back to January that we’re missing.”

  They watched the screen as Alfred finally got up to leave the gambling table. He reached into his jacket pocket and pulled out what looked like a jumble of cash and papers. He wobbled slightly, steadied himself, and handed out his business cards to several of the players, all men.

  “There are the business cards he mentioned,” Regan said. “I can just imagine what he’s saying.”

  “None of the players look like they can use a wedding dress.”

  Alfred waved to the group as if he were their departing leader, bowed, and walked off.

  “I already knew Alfred liked to make a grand entrance when he walked into a room,” Regan said. “Now I see he’s into grand exits as well.”

  Jack sighed and turned to Regan. “What do you want to do now?”

  “I guess we’ll just…wait a minute, Jack…look…”

  Another one of the players got up from the table and leaned down, apparently picking something up off the ground, very close to where Alfred had been standing. When the young man straightened up, he walked off quickly without a backward glance.

  “The keys,” Regan said. “Could he have just picked up Alfred’s keys?”

  Another guy got up from the table and hurried to catch up with the player who had left after Alfred.

  “That second man looks like he’s favoring one leg,” Regan said, cautiously optimistic. “Alfred and Charisse said that one of the thieves walked with a limp.”

  Jack pressed a button, and they watched that last moment again, slowing the action several times. Then they went even farther back. “Those two guys were already at the table when Alfred sat down,” Jack observed. “They were sitting next to each other. Let’s get Stan back in here and see if he can get close-ups on those two. It would also be nice if the dealer from that night is on duty.”

  Twenty minutes later they were showing the images to a man of about forty with gelled brown hair, a deep tan, and perfectly manicured hands. The dealer leaned forward in his chair as he stared at the screen. “Who could forget that guy in the velvet jacket? You say his name is Alfred?”

  “Yes,” Regan answered.

  “He was lucky. He sat down and started to win right away. As he kept winning, he started to get carried away. Your average gambler at least tries to keep a poker face the whole time they’re playing. Not Alfie. He was gloating. I could tell it was irritating those other two guys. They’d been winning before he came to the table.”

  “They’d been winning?” Regan repeated.

  The dealer nodded. “They lost everything to him.”

  There’s motivation for you, Regan thought.

  “That’s why they got up when Alfred left. He’d just relieved them of their last chips. I remember being surprised that Alfred even handed them his business card. I heard them trade barbs about each other’s clothes.”

  “Really?” Regan said.

  “Your man Alfred was in a green velvet jacket. The other two were wearing old jeans and sweatshirts.” He shrugged. “What can I tell you? They don’t have the same taste.”

  “That they don’t,” Regan agreed. “Anything else you can tell us about them?”

  “They were young. In their mid- to late twenties. The
y knew the rules of the game. Especially the dark-haired one.”

  “Would you recognize them if you saw them again?”

  “Probably. If I see them, I’ll let the boss here know.”

  Stan nodded. “We’ll keep on top of this.”

  Regan handed the dealer her card. “If you remember anything else about those two, anything at all, please let me know.”

  He nodded and got up to leave.

  Stan shut the door behind him. “Jack, I’ll get the images of those two reproduced to show to our staff so they can be on the lookout. They’re not passport photos, but I think our employees can get a good idea of what these two look like. I’ll have stills made for you as well. I’ll also make you a copy of the tape. It’ll take us a few minutes.”

  Regan looked thoughtful.

  “What is it, Regan?” Jack asked.

  Regan shook her head. “These two could very well be the ones we’re looking for. It’s just what to do next.”

  “We’ll keep on it,” Stan assured her. “I’ll have the staff at the front desk look at the images. See if anyone remembers checking them in. There’s a good chance they’ll be back. If they do grace us with their presence again, we’ll find out who they are.”

  “Thanks,” Regan said. “We’re heading back to the neighborhood where the robbery took place last night. With a few of these photos, maybe we can jar someone’s memory who was out at three o’clock in the morning. Jack, why don’t we take a stroll around the floor while Stan gets the pictures ready?”

  “Sure,” Jack said as he stood. “Maybe our friends will surprise us and be out there attempting to reverse their losses.”

  “That’d be a stroke of luck,” Regan commented.

  Out in the casino, Regan and Jack did a tour of the whole room. There was no sign of the men who resembled the two they were looking for. They found Kit, who was down to her last few coins at a slot machine.

  “I can’t believe it!” she yelped. “I was way ahead about fifteen minutes ago. If I had walked away I could have bought you two your china gravy boat as well as a place setting.”