The Sleeping Beauty Bride

by Glenys O'Connell

  Kelly stared at Noelia, a shocked expression on her face.

  Noelia continued, “I’m pretty sure that the ghost is Lydia’s mom, Jackie. And didn’t you and Brett say the writing on the mirror was to keep that ‘bitch’ away from my daughter? It all fits, doesn’t it?”

  “If we could figure out why she’s afraid to wake up, then we could solve the problem and have her back with her father. Too bad Jackie isn’t talking. If it is Jackie we’re dealing with.”

  • • •

  Kelly left for a planning session with one of their brides, leaving Noelia feeling a bit shell-shocked after their conversation. If the Cranky Ghost in Lydia’s room really was her late mother, what were the woman’s intentions—to harm or help that helpless young girl? If the ghost was Jackie, then presumably she intended to help her daughter. But what if her mother has returned from the hereafter so that she could protect her daughter from some other force? Or maybe she missed her daughter and wanted her with her.

  Noelia had to resist the temptation to rush off to the hospital and alert the staff that Lydia might be in danger.

  “Oh, yeah, that would go down really well with the nursing staff! ‘I need you to do extra hours on guard in Sleeping Beauty’s room because there’s a restless spirit who might want to do her harm, might even be preventing her from waking up.’ Yes, I’m sure they’d be calling the men with straitjackets to take me away.” She sighed. Something was going on, she wasn’t sure what, but she really didn’t want Kelly involved in the actual ghostly contact. On that, she sided with Brett.

  She was in the kitchen making coffee when the tinkling of the silver bells above the door brought her out into the store. Nate was there, and her pulse gave a little leap at the sight of him. She pushed aside thoughts of how he would react when she told him her theory to account for the recent events.

  He’d probably laugh, then run a mile from the crazy lady.

  “I’m so glad you came, Nate. We really need to decide about this dress,” Noelia said, offering him a seat at the antique table. “Are you sure you want to sell your daughter’s wedding gown?”

  She drew the gown from its hanger, pleased that it had been repaired and cleaned after the rough treatment it had had when Corinne had tried it on. She was shocked when Nate averted his eyes, unable to even look at the wedding dress his daughter would never wear.

  “Yes, I do want to sell it, or give it away. I don’t really care. That dress is just symbolic of a terrible time in my life, my daughter’s life . . . ”

  Suddenly the door was thrown open, and a young man stalked in. Noelia recognized him as the man who’d made such a fuss at the hospital when he wasn’t allowed to visit Sleeping Beauty. Oh, no, this is bound to be trouble, she thought.

  The young man, Daniel, ignored the frantic ringing of a clutch of silver bells above his head as he confronted Nate, who turned a shocked and angry gaze on him.

  “What are you doing? That’s Lydia’s dress!” he shouted, struggling to stop the tears that sprang unbidden to his eyes.

  “What I do with this dress has nothing to do with you, young man. Lydia has nothing to do with you. You’ve ruined her life and . . . ”

  “That is such nonsense! If anyone has ruined her life, it’s her overbearing father! I love her and . . . and I can see you can’t wait to be rid of all traces of her!”

  Nate paled at the sting in the younger man’s words. “How could you say that? If it hadn’t been for you . . . ”

  Daniel lunged to grab the dress that Noelia held, but she was quicker and swung the pretty lace concoction out of his grasp.

  “Look, we can’t have this kind of scene going on in the store. I’ll have to ask you both to leave.” She tried to keep her voice firm, but her heart was beating like a military drum.

  “What are you doing here, Daniel? This is none of your business!”

  “That’s my fiancée’s wedding dress! How can you dream of giving it to her?”

  “It’s time to let go. There is never going to be a wedding. My daughter will never walk down the aisle with you!”

  Noelia drew in a sharp breath. The anger and sorrow that flowed between these two men was suffocating. It had no place in such a happy store as Wedding Bliss.

  “Please calm down.” Her tone seemed to stop both men in their tracks. They turned to her, both looking shamefaced.

  “You can’t sell that dress,” Daniel insisted desperately.

  “I can sell it, and I will. I cannot live with . . . with this uncertainty.”

  “Look, this is obviously between the two of you, and I have to ask you both again to leave, because I can’t have other customers coming in and witnessing this.” Noelia started to fold the gown and replace it on the hanger.

  “I want you to go ahead and sell it,” Nate insisted, refusing to meet her gaze.

  “No! If you want to sell it, I’ll pay whatever you want . . . ”

  “You? You don’t have a pot to piss in, let alone the price of . . . ”

  “That’s enough!” They’d been so involved in their conflict that no one had noticed Sasha’s arrival. She stood with her hands on her hips, glaring at the two men who were too intent on shouting at each other to notice her. Then she followed up her words with a loud whistle, stopping both men in their tracks.

  “I don’t know what’s going on here, but this is a wedding store, not a boxing ring. You men should be ashamed of yourselves! Can’t you see you are upsetting Mrs. Russo?”

  Noelia almost burst out laughing at the stunned silence and hangdog expressions on the faces of both men.

  “I am so sorry.” Nate was the first to apologize. “We shouldn’t be bringing our trouble here.”

  “Yes, I don’t know what got into me . . . I am sorry, Mrs. Russo.”

  Noelia frowned at the two of them. “Okay, now, as it seems you cannot agree about this dress, I am going to suggest that I put it in the back room, not on consignment, just until you sort out what is happening. Come back and see me—both of you—when you have agreed what to do about the dress, and we will take it from there.”

  Repeating their apologies, the two men shuffled out like scolded schoolboys, and Noelia collapsed onto one of the ornate wooden dining chairs beside the store counter. “My God, Sasha, thank you! I’m not sure what would have happened if you hadn’t come in and brought those men to their senses!”

  Sasha glowed at the praise. “Well, I am sorry I wasn’t here earlier. I forgot to mention that I had another dental appointment—the x-rays at my checkup showed I needed a couple of fillings. But you shouldn’t have had to put up with that nonsense. I can’t believe Danny would behave like that. So, you sit there for a few minutes and get your breath back. I’ll make us a cup of coffee and some of your chocolate cookies, and you can tell me all about it.”

  “You know that young man, do you?”

  “Sure, he’s about the same age I am, and we’ve met a few times, at concerts and parties and the like. I heard he was supposed to be getting married, but his girlfriend was in a car accident. Not sure what happened after that; the family is from Bar Harbor.”

  “Well, it seems that he’s the boyfriend—or fiancé, he claims—of Dr. Westbury’s daughter. The one who’s in a coma at Marina Grove General Hospital.”

  Sasha frowned. “That is so sad. I suppose it explains why they’re so miserable. But it doesn’t explain why they’re so angry with each other. You’d think they’d be a comfort to each other, as they both love her.”

  “Yes, you would indeed.” Noelia wondered at the anger between the two men as well. Whatever had gone on between them that they carried this rage even when the person they both loved lay fighting for her life?

  • • •

  Armed with an address that Sasha found for her, Noelia went off that evening in search of Daniel. She wanted to see for herself what kind of young man he was. After all, the very mention of his name made Nate Westbury, a man she’d thought reasonable, incandescent wi
th rage.

  Daniel lived in a tiny bungalow on a quiet street. It was well kept, and Noelia appreciated the trim gardens and the fresh paintwork. It didn’t look at all like the kind of place a wild and irresponsible young man would live, but Nate had certainly painted him as such. She was more determined than ever to see for herself what was going on.

  “Can I help you?” The young man who answered the door was weary-looking and dressed in old jeans and a frayed high school basketball sweatshirt. He was barefoot, and his hair was damp as if he’d just jumped out of the shower. His eyes widened in surprise as he recognized Noelia.

  “Mrs. Russo, isn’t it? From that wedding store? I . . . what . . . what can I do for you?” Daniel stammered.

  “Well, you can invite me in. It’s getting a little chilly out here.”

  “Oh, sure, come on in . . . Please excuse the place being a bit messy.”

  He showed Noelia into an open plan design with unpainted drywall and buckets of drywall filler standing on drop cloths. A huge window looked out onto a pocket-handkerchief lawn surrounded by rose bushes just coming into bloom, and Noelia exclaimed at how pretty it looked.

  “Roses are Lydia’s favorite flower. I planted the red and yellow ones for her, for when she comes home. Before . . . like, last summer, we both planted the white and pink ones. She was going to carry them as her wedding bouquet.” Daniel’s voice cracked, and he turned toward the open kitchen, wiping his arm across his eyes. Noelia suspected he was hiding tears, and her heart went out to him. He was so young, about the same age as her oldest boy.

  “I’m sorry, what did you say?” She’d been so involved in her own reaction that she’d missed his words.

  “Can I get you a hot chocolate or something?”

  Noelia looked at the small, bright galley kitchen, divided from the living and dining area by a narrow island. It was scrupulously clean, and as the mother of two boys, she marvelled at the orderliness. “That would be lovely, thank you.”

  She found a seat on a wing chair, one of a pair facing the window, and waited as he boiled the kettle and spooned powdered hot chocolate into mugs. When he brought the hot drinks out and placed them on a small wooden table between the chairs, Noelia said, “I imagine you’re curious as to why I’m here.”

  Daniel’s face darkened. “Well, I couldn’t blame you if you’re here wanting me to cough up for some damage to the store. I know I was way out of line, and I can’t apologize enough. But I hope you’re not here like some of Dr. Westbury’s other friends, trying to warn me off of even trying to see Lydia, because it just won’t work.”

  “Why do you want to see Lydia? She’s in a coma.”

  He chewed at his top lip. “I know this sounds foolish, but I love her so much, and I know she loves me. I can’t help thinking that if I could only sit with her and hold her hand, she’d at least know she wasn’t alone. And maybe she’d wake up.”

  “A bit like Prince Charming and Sleeping Beauty?”

  Daniel half-rose from his seat. “If you’re going to make fun of me . . . ”

  Noelia reached out and patted his arm. “Do sit down. I’m not making fun of you—did you know they call Lydia the Sleeping Beauty at the hospital? I know that the power of love is strong, and you seem to love Lydia very much.”

  He subsided into the chair, a slight smile on his face. “I didn’t know they called her that. She is beautiful. And I do love her, more than I ever imagined possible. We both raised the down payment on this place, and we designed the renovation ourselves. I’m working on it every spare minute, so it will be ready for Lydia when she comes home.”

  The raw longing in his voice brought tears to Noelia’s eyes. But still she had to ask, “If you care for her so much, why did you leave her in the car that night?”

  For a moment, his young face was suffused with anger, and Noelia thought he would shout at her to get out of his house. Then his shoulders inside the green shirt hunched, and he suddenly looked very young and defeated.

  “That’s what Dr. Westbury is telling everyone. Truth is, I wasn’t in the car with Lydia when it crashed. Does he honestly think that? As things happened, I was held up at a job in Bar Harbor—I do freelance work as a mechanic—and Lydia said she’d drive out and meet me there for a coffee, then give me a ride back to Marina Grove.” At Noelia’s questioning look, he blushed. “My car was broken down, and I needed to leave it in the garage and get a ride home with Lydia.

  “Yeah, it sounds great for a mechanic who’s planning his own business, doesn’t it? I’m sure it would just be more ammunition for Lydia’s dad.”

  Noelia sighed. “You know, hon, I believe you. The question is, who was in the car with Lydia? Because it seems the police believe there was someone.”

  “Well, it wasn’t me. Jeez, I have about a dozen guys who can vouch for my whereabouts that evening. In fact, one of them let me couch surf at his place overnight, when it became obvious Lydia wasn’t going to show.”

  “Weren’t you worried?”

  “I was pretty much out of my mind, but what could I do? I knew her dad was trying to keep us apart, and I thought maybe he’d finally succeeded, because otherwise Lydia would have let me know she’d be a no-show. She was very caring like that. It never occurred to me that she couldn’t let me know because she was lying unconscious in a freezing cold car on a back road . . . ” Daniel finally gave way to the tears that had been pooling in his green eyes.

  “I found out later the next morning, after I’d been frantically texting and calling Lydia’s cell. Her dad answered and said in that professional shrink voice of his, that I’d done enough damage, that Lydia had been in a car accident and was in the hospital . . . and that I’d better damn well keep away from her. Next thing, the police were at my door, asking all sorts of questions.

  “But they must have been satisfied after talking to the guys I was with that evening, because I never heard from them again. I just wish Dr. Westbury would accept that.”

  “Did Lydia mention anything about meeting anyone else?”

  Daniel drew in a deep breath and let it out on a sigh. He sipped from his hot chocolate for a moment, before wiping a hand across his mouth and putting the cup down. “No, not directly . . . but if anyone was with her, it would have been Corinne, her so-called best friend.”

  Noelia gave him a sharp look. “Why would you call her ‘so-called best friend’? Didn’t you like her?”

  Daniel paused. “They’d been best buds since high school, but I never liked the woman, always whispering and giggling with Lydia. I know that’s kind of what girls do. But sometimes she’d wink at me or give me a hug that was somehow more than a hug. If that makes sense. I kind of felt she wanted more—wanted her best friend’s boyfriend. That probably sounds a bit conceited, but I really didn’t like being around her, and I always thought Lydia was a bit too tolerant of the way Corinne treated her.”

  Noelia thanked Daniel for his frank and open words. As he showed her to the door, politely holding her jacket for her, she ached to do something to ease the young man’s pain.

  On impulse, she turned to him and said, “I’m at the hospital tomorrow, late afternoon. Do you want to come with me to see Lydia?”

  The hope that flared in Daniel’s eyes was brief but spoke volumes. But it died quickly, leaving him looking sad and defeated.

  “I don’t think that’s a good idea, Mrs. Russo. If Dr. Westbury finds out, he’ll be furious—and not just with me. He will be very angry with you, too.”

  “Let me deal with that.”

  Daniel straightened his shoulders. “No, Mrs. Russo, I honestly couldn’t let you do that. It’s asking far too much of you.”

  Noelia reached up and touched his cheek. “I have two sons of my own, and I can’t imagine how they would feel in your situation. So please, meet me at the hospital—or at least say you’ll think about it. You may be just what Lydia needs.”

  Chapter Fifteen

  Sleep was impossible for Noelia
the night after her visit to Daniel’s home. Or rather, Daniel and Lydia’s home. Did Nate know the young couple were buying a house together? If only he could see the loving work they had put into creating a home for when they were married . . . Surely that would melt even the hardest of paternal hearts?

  Oh, but what had she done? If she brought Daniel in to see Lydia and Nate found out, he’d be furious—with her as well as with Daniel. And theirs was such a new relationship. Would her impulsive actions make it wither before it even started?

  She clung to the faint hope that Daniel wouldn’t take her up on her offer. If he didn’t call, didn’t go to see Lydia, well, she had done her part. What more could she do?

  She finally dozed off as a weak spring sun was starting to paint stripes on her bedroom wall through the horizontal blinds. But it was a restless sleep, and the telephone roused her soon afterward.

  “Yes?” she murmured into the cell phone she had kept beside her bed in case Daniel called.

  There was silence on the other end of the line. Maybe he’s having a change of heart even as he’s on the phone, she thought.

  Then a whispering voice murmured, “Thank you.”

  “Hello? Hello? Who is this? Daniel?”

  But there was nothing but the dull buzzing sound the phone made when a call was disconnected. Cold fingers seemed to run up and down Noelia’s spine, and she pulled the colorful handmade quilt up around her shoulders.

  The Rolling Stones’ “Nineteenth Nervous Breakdown” filled the room again, and Noelia snatched the phone up. “Did you have trouble getting through before?” she asked, thinking—hoping—this was Daniel making a second attempt to call her. Otherwise, she might have to think about who—or what—was on the phone the last time.