Bless the Bride

by Rhys Bowen

  I was sure she would, but I had other ideas by this time. I took Daniel aside when he came up to see how we were getting along.

  “Listen, how would you feel about starting married life with a child in the house?” I asked him.

  He looked at me suspiciously. “Are you trying to tell me—because we haven’t … for some time.”

  I laughed. “Not ours. I was thinking of Bridie. I’m sure she’d be fine with your mother, but I’m thinking she’d be a grand little helper for me, especially when the babies come, and she could continue her schooling.”

  “But my mother’s grown quite fond of her,” he said. “And I think we should get off to a better start with just the two of us on our own. Later when we’re settled, we can discuss it again if you like.”

  So now Bridie had people actually fighting over her. I could see that Daniel’s mother liked having someone to look after again, which was just fine with me. I suspected that Bridie would not end up as any maid’s helper. She would be spoiled and would learn to play croquet with the local young ladies.

  During the next week I had plenty to occupy me, so that I had no time to think about crime and detection and specifically what had just happened to me in Chinatown. My days were filled with the minutiae of arranging a wedding, from ordering the ham from the butcher to the flowers for the church and the final fittings on my wedding gown. None of it seemed real until I awoke one morning and realized it was my wedding day. I looked out of my window to a perfect blue sky. Mrs. Sullivan had arranged a hearty breakfast, but I couldn’t eat a thing. While I was still toying with my boiled egg Sid and Gus arrived from New York, dressed so conventionally that I hardly recognized them.

  We went up to my room and they helped me into my dress. It was all creamy silk and lace, and when I looked at myself in the looking glass, I hardly recognized myself. I was no longer the Irish tomboy—I was an elegant woman, about to be married.

  I saw Mrs. Sullivan standing in the doorway, watching me admiring myself. She looked pleased and proud. I went over to her and gave her a hug. “Thank you, it’s wonderful,” I said.

  “You look grand,” she said, going quite pink. “I only wish that my dear husband had lived to see this day.”

  So wonders would never cease. She actually approved of me. Then a second wonder happened as Sid and Gus came back, having turned into demure young ladies in dresses of lavender silk.

  “The carriage has come,” Bridie called, looking out of the window. “And it’s beautiful and it’s got two white horses, like Cinderella.”

  In truth I felt like a magic princess. The others went down and I stood alone in the room, still looking at my reflection. In an hour’s time I’d be a married woman, Mrs. Daniel Sullivan. I’d have given up my freedom. I’d no longer be hunting people through Chinatown or the Lower East Side. I’d be expected to behave sedately and do the kind of things wives did. For a second I felt a twinge of panic. Then I thought—was it really such fun to be risking my life on a daily basis, not knowing where my next dollar was coming from? And was Mrs. Daniel Sullivan such a bad thing to be?

  “Molly, come on, we’ll be late,” Mrs. Sullivan called from the stairs.

  “Coming,” I called and went down to meet my future.

  I climbed into the open carriage and we rode to the church, my veil blowing out behind me in the wind. The organ was playing as I went up the path to the church, with Bridie walking ahead of me. The organist switched to the wedding march. There were so many people in the pews, and as all those faces turned toward me, I was suddenly overcome with shyness and self-consciousness until I spotted Daniel. He was standing there by the altar in his dark suit, his unruly hair combed into submission, and he was staring at me with a strange look of wonder on his face, as if he’d just seen me for the first time. And he looked so handsome he almost took my breath away.

  “This is the man I’m going to marry,” I whispered and almost had to pinch myself. Mrs. Daniel Sullivan wasn’t a bad thing to be at all.

  I started to walk up the aisle toward him, hardly conscious of Bridie ahead of me or Sid and Gus following just behind. As I came close to the altar, Daniel held out his hand to me. His eyes were smiling.

  The next bit was something of a blur. Then we were walking down the aisle together, my hand tucked through his arm and people were throwing rice as we stepped out into the bright sunshine.

  “Well, Mrs. Sullivan?” Daniel said. “I’ve finally tamed the wild Irish girl.”

  “Don’t you believe it.” I laughed.

  Then it was back to the house for a magnificent spread of food and toasts and champagne. I had always known that Daniel moved in society, but I was surprised at the number of distinguished people who were attending. Daniel introduced me to aldermen and members of the Four Hundred. Even Mr. John Wilkie, head of the Secret Service with whom Daniel had recently worked, had come up from Washington. Actually I had worked for him too, unbeknownst to my bridegroom!

  “So you’re giving up your profession, are you?” he said as he came to congratulate us. “I must say I’m disappointed. Such a waste of talent, Sullivan. I was hoping to recruit her.”

  “You’ll do no such thing,” Daniel said. “I am delighted I can finally stop worrying about her and know that she’s safely at home.”

  The reception line moved on. For a while I had felt like a stranger at my own wedding until I realized that I did know quite a few of the guests. There were several of Daniel’s fellow officers, including my friend and female detective Mrs. Goodwin. I was delighted to see old Miss Van Woekem, the distinguished lady who had taken me under her wing when I first arrived in New York. Sarah Lindley had come, looking rather pale and sad, but giving me a kiss and a brave smile. “It was for the best, wasn’t it?” she whispered to me. I nodded.

  And then I looked up as an amazing figure came flying toward me. It was Ryan O’Hare, wearing a floor-length black cape over a white suit.

  “You didn’t think I’d let the small matter of a lack of invitation keep me away, did you?” he asked, taking my hand and kissing it. “I’ve never been known to miss a good party in my life. Besides, I can see that this one needs livening up. I may give one of my recitations—‘The Boy Stood on the Burning Deck,’ perhaps?”

  I started to laugh. “Oh, Ryan, I’m so glad you’re here,” I said.

  If Daniel didn’t feel the same way, he was gracious enough not to say anything. As we moved through the crowd together I heard Daniel’s mother’s voice. “Yes, she is such a dear girl, isn’t she? I’m so lucky to be getting such a daughter-in-law.”

  After the toasts and the cutting of the cake the party slowed down as guests stood around the lawn in the balmy evening air.

  “Ah, so there you are, Mrs. Sullivan.” Mr. Wilkie came up to me. “Come for a stroll with me and show me those lovely rosebushes.”

  We walked across the lawn together.

  “You know, I can’t see you settling down to domestic bliss,” he said.

  “I’m going to have to learn how to,” I replied.

  He leaned closer to me. “When you come back from the honeymoon,” he said in a low voice, “there’s a little job I’d like you to do for me. Oh, and no need to mention it to Daniel.” He put his finger to his lips and moved back into the crowd, leaving me staring after him.

  “Ah, there you are,” Daniel called, coming toward me. “I thought you’d run away from me already.” He put his arm around my waist. “They all seem to be having a good time, don’t they?”

  I nodded. “Your mother has done a wonderful job. It’s magnificent, Daniel.”

  “Let’s leave them to it. I think it’s time you and I slipped away together, don’t you?” he murmured.

  He took my hand and led me back toward the house.

  HISTORICAL NOTE

  Everything I have written about Chinatown in 1903 is accurate, including Chuck Connors’s slumming tours, the overzealous missionaries, the opium dens, and the lack of Chinese wom
en. Congress passed the Exclusion Act in 1884, hoping to drive those Chinese who had come for the Gold Rush and the building of the railways back to their homeland. The act decreed they could never become citizens, even if born here. They could not bring over their wives and families (certain rich merchants got around this). However, in the Census of 1900 there were over three thousand men living in Chinatown and only thirty women. Of course there could have been more women, including the small-foot wives hidden away, and there were definitely Chinese prostitutes in the brothels on the Bowery.

  In spite of the Chinese being sober and hardworking, they were universally mistrusted and considered to be a threat. Misconceptions about their customs and lifestyle continued well into the century, which is why Chinatowns have endured for so long.

  Also by Rhys Bowen

  The Molly Murphy Mysteries

  The Last Illusion

  In a Gilded Cage

  Tell Me, Pretty Maiden

  In Dublin’s Fair City

  Oh Danny Boy

  In Like Flynn

  For the Love of Mike

  Death of Riley

  Murphy’s Law

  The Constable Evans Mysteries

  Evanly Bodies

  Evan Blessed

  Evan’s Gate

  Evan Only Knows

  Evans to Betsy

  Evan Can Wait

  Evan and Elle

  Evanly Choirs

  Evan Help Us

  Evans Above

  This is a work of fiction. All of the characters, organizations, and events portrayed in this novel are either products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously.

  BLESS THE BRIDE. Copyright © 2011 by Rhys Bowen. All rights reserved. For information, address St. Martin’s Press, 175 Fifth Avenue, New York, N.Y. 10010.www.minotaurbooks.com Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication DataBowen, Rhys.Bless the bride / Rhys Bowen.—1st ed.p. cm.ISBN 978-0-312-62810-9 (alk. paper) 1. Murphy, Molly (Fictitious character)—Fiction. 2. Women private investigators—Fiction. 3. Irish American women—Fiction. 4. Missing persons—Investigation—Fiction. 5. New York (N.Y.)—History—1898–1951—Fiction. I. Title.PR6052.O848B57 2011823'.914—dc222010040697First Edition: March 2011eISBN 978-1-4299-6739-6First Minotaur Books eBook Edition: March 2011

  Table of Contents

  Title Page

  Dedication

  Author’s Note

  Chapter One

  Chapter Two

  Chapter Three

  Chapter Four

  Chapter Five

  Chapter Six

  Chapter Seven

  Chapter Eight

  Chapter Nine

  Chapter Ten

  Chapter Eleven

  Chapter Twelve

  Chapter Thirteen

  Chapter Fourteen

  Chapter Fifteen

  Chapter Sixteen

  Chapter Seventeen

  Chapter Eighteen

  Chapter Nineteen

  Chapter Twenty

  Chapter Twenty-one

  Chapter Twenty-two

  Chapter Twenty-three

  Chapter Twenty-four

  Chapter Twenty-five

  Chapter Twenty-six

  Chapter Twenty-seven

  Chapter Twenty-eight

  Chapter Twenty-nine

  Chapter Thirty

  Chapter Thirty-one

  Chapter Thirty-two

  Chapter Thirty-three

  Historical Note

  Also by Rhys Bowen

  Copyright

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