Chapter 24
TWENTY-FOUR
The wedding dress was nowhere to be found.
Dax stood beside Ariel as the last reports came in from the search party they’d formed. Even the Lord of the Flies boys had been eager to help despite their shocked faces, muttering about Dax being blamed for it. Which had only made him want to snarl. Being accused of something he hadn’t done—would never do—was new to him, and he hated it. And he had no idea how to clear his name or find the damn dress!
They’d searched cottages.
They’d searched the common areas of the resort.
No dress.
Anywhere.
Focusing on his objective kept him from wanting to shake Rob senseless. Hell, he wanted to clock him for accusing him of such a low, vile thing. How could his best friend think he’d ever hide a wedding dress?
A friend didn’t.
They were done.
“I don’t know what else to do here.” Ariel was tapping a pen against her temple, standing on their front porch with Sherlock pressed against her leg, looking at the map of the resort. “Where else can we look? Dax, we’ve got an hour until the wedding starts. Guests are starting to arrive.”
“Keep calm.” He took the pen away and held her hand while Sherlock nuzzled it. “Let’s brainstorm. We haven’t found the dress. We need a plan if we don’t.”
She lost even more color. “A plan?” A wild laugh escaped her. “It’s a wedding dress! You don’t exactly go out and buy one of those.”
“Why not? I’m not saying it’s going to be the ideal dress?—”
“This is Tiffany we’re talking about!” Ariel’s voice quavered with stress. “Besides, there’s the fitting and pressing and the— Someone is going to have to convince her to wear a different dress. One of her sundresses. Oh God! This is awful. In every wedding nightmare I had, this one never came up.”
She cradled her face in her hands. Dax could understand. Tiffany’s threat had pissed him off. She could lose her grandma’s house here. He’d lost his best friend. He looked off in the direction where his buddies had stashed Rob so he wouldn’t go after him again. They’d had to practically drag him back to his cottage while the bridal party, minus Ariel, had taken Tiffany back to the bridal suite after Terry and Tricia had started asking their sister nonstop questions about her marriage and pregnancy. Ariel’s mother hadn’t said a word but her entire face had tightened as if by screws. Dax didn’t want to be in either cottage.
Jeffrey appeared, running toward them, his loafers slapping on the path. When he reached them, he put a hand on Dax’s arm, breathing heavily. “Tiffany is insistent. There won’t be a wedding if she doesn’t have her dress. It doesn’t matter to her that she’s already married. She will not go through with her perfect day?—”
Ariel slumped against him. Dax usually had a good head on his shoulders in stressful moments, but even he felt knots forming in his stomach. Her worst fear was here, and he felt helpless in the face of her desolation.
“Then it’s all over,” she whispered hoarsely. “I won’t get my grandma’s house. Everything was for nothing. Oh God! How could this happen?”
Dax still didn’t know. A wedding dress did not just disappear. “Do you think Sherlock could find it?”
She rubbed the dog under the ears as she shook her head. “I already thought of that, but Tiffany’s scent is all over the resort. Yours and Jeffrey’s too. It would be like going after a needle in a haystack.”
He’d been afraid of that. “Do we start calling bridal boutiques with her size and asking if we could pick up dresses for the bride to try on, this being an emergency?”
Jeffrey took off his glasses and pinched the bridge of his nose. “I already called the most famous wedding dress boutique downtown. They said they couldn’t just send us all the dresses in Tiffany’s size. Too much liability if something happened to them. I called two other boutiques and got the same answer. No surprise, I guess. We have trouble with a capital T written all over us. The shopkeepers couldn’t believe we’d lost the wedding dress. One said she’s been in the business for over forty years and never heard of such a thing.”
“Great, we’re a first.” Ariel tipped her head back up toward the sky. “I usually have an answer. In every disaster, there’s often something that can be done. Even if it’s small. But not today. We simply have to convince Tiffany to wear something else.”
Jeffrey clutched his now-rumpled cravat. “Ariel, she swore on Grandma Deverell’s grave that she won’t do it.”
“She has to. She just has to.” Ariel uttered a pained moan and started walking down the steps and then onto the path leading in the direction of the bridal cabin. Dax caught up with her after putting Sherlock back in the house—better he be out of the way right now. Jeffrey was on his heels.
“Ariel, you don’t have to go in there,” Jeffrey called out. “You know how it’s going to be.”
“I know! But I can’t give up without trying.”
She sounded so dejected his heart squeezed. “We’ll be a unified front.”
“I’m not sure you should go in there, Dax.” Ariel’s pained face glanced his way. “Let me talk to her.”
He stopped short. “Wait, you don’t think I stole it, do you?”
Her mouth parted. “No, of course not! But Tiffany does, and she will rain hellfire on you.”
Jesus, Ariel was right. What would it be like for him and Ariel going forward after this? Her mother and the Three Tornadoes would probably bar him from every family function. What would that do to her? God, he didn’t want to put her in that position, but he also wasn’t a man to hide from anything. “I told you from the beginning that I’m your wingman. That doesn’t stop now.”
“I agree, Ariel,” Jeffrey declared, locking arms with her. “I’m not going to let Tiffany or anyone else unload on you. This is not your fault. Or Dax’s for that matter, so you don’t need to protect him. This is the Deverell wedding curse. I was with Dax. We left the cottage together. The dress was there, and I have the photo to prove it.”
“When has common sense ever mattered?” She groaned. “I should have put guards on the door. I should have?—”
“Hey there.” Dax couldn’t stand to see her blaming herself. “Let’s not go there. We’re both getting knocked around for something we didn’t do. We need to remember that. So you go in there and hope she can see that marrying Rob again is the most important thing—not the dress.”
Jeffrey let out an anguished shriek. “Not the dress! Dax, please don’t say that out loud.”
Ariel gave a tormented nod of agreement.
Dax patted them both on the back as they reached the bridal cottage. He just didn’t get it. Maybe it was a guy thing. But how could you let something like a dress stop you from doing something really important? Like getting married to the person you loved? It was even crazier given they were already legally married.
Jeffrey opened the door for her after adjusting his rumpled cravat. Lifting her chin, Ariel walked inside in determined strides. Tiffany was surrounded by her sisters, crying in front of a mirror. Stormy was holding a large highball filled to the brim, sitting in a nearby chair.
Seeing her, Tiffany hurled herself up out of the chair. “Did you find it?”
Ariel shook her head. Tiffany’s face crumpled, and she sank down to the floor, hands in her lap, crying her heart out.
Dax felt Jeffrey’s hand on his arm. They halted just inside the door, which was probably a good decision because the bridal party rushed over and settled around Tiffany, their loud cries joining hers.
He’d never seen anything like it.
The wailing made him want to turn tail and walk out, but he stayed for Ariel. He heard her muttering to Tiffany.
“I can’t get married if I don’t have a wedding dress!” she howled back, glaring at her sister.
More murmuring from Ariel.
“But I can’t!” came another protestation from the bride.
“It’s too bad I can’t pop back to my house in Savannah and let you choose from my old wedding dresses, Tiffany.” Stormy took a long pull of her drink. “You’re a little chubby, but my empire dress would probably fit you.”
“That’s it!” Ariel practically shouted.
Dax felt the energy in the room change as she pushed off the floor and stood up, pulling Tiffany to her feet.
“What?” Tiffany muttered, wiping tears and smearing more makeup.
“Grandma has three wedding dresses in the attic to choose from, and you’re her size.” She grabbed Tiffany’s shoulders. “Don’t you remember how gorgeous they are? I’ll bet one will fit you.”
“But they’re not mine,” Tiffany wailed. “And they’re old and not clean.”
“Grandma was a neat freak, and you know it.” Ariel checked her watch. “They’ll be in perfect condition. Okay… If we delay the wedding a little, I can run out to Folly Beach, grab the dresses, and then be back in a jiffy for you to try them on, to see which one you like best. Then we’ll steam it real quick and get you married.”
“But Ariel—” she moaned, crying jaggedly now.
“Tiff, I love you,” she interrupted, hugging her. “But you’re going to have to open your mind to a new plan. Think about how romantic it will be to tell your and Rob’s children about wearing your grandma’s wedding dress.”
They shared a look. There was a long pause. Tension thickened in the air.
“Maybe your girls might even wear one, should you and Rob have them,” she followed up, wiping the tears from Tiffany’s cheeks. “It could become a beautiful family tradition.”
Tiffany sniffed and finally nodded. “All right…but it’s not how I wanted it.”
“I know, but maybe it’s even better this way.” Ariel kissed her on the cheek. “I’ll be back as soon as I can. Be ready to try some dresses on. Jeffrey! Will you find a couple of steamers? We’ll work like an assembly line if need be once she chooses the dress she wants to wear.”
“You’ve got it,” Jeffrey called brightly as she passed them in a blur to the door. “And I’ll make sure everyone knows it’s delayed and keep the rest going like clockwork until you get back.”
“You’re the best!” Ariel called. “Dax!”
“Coming,” he answered, rushing after her as they headed down the path in the direction of the parking lot. “You want me to drive?”
She shot him a killer smile. “I’d love for you to drive. It’s been one hell of a day so far, and we’re not done.”
He did his best not to speed, feeling every minute of the twenty-five-minute journey ahead of them. But he couldn’t help that his foot wanted to put the pedal to the metal. When they reached Folly Beach, he wanted to curse. The police were everywhere, and the twenty-five miles per hour speed limit on the island was enough to drive anyone bananas.
Ariel was clearly losing her mind over the snail’s pace. She tapped her foot on the floor as well as her fingers on the dashboard, leaning forward in her seat like the mere act would propel them to their destination faster. When they pulled into the driveway, she was opening the door before he’d stopped.
“Hey! Be careful.”
Hitting the brakes, he watched her run to the house and take the steps two at a time. He kept the car running but went around to the side to make sure the rear seats were lying flat so the dresses could be laid out. That’s what he’d done with his dress whites. Made sense to him.
When he hit the button for the first seat, he spotted the plastic. His mind reeled as his gaze took in the rest.
The wedding dress was here!
In the back of his Bronco…
Holy—
He took a couple deep breaths before walking to the back and popping it open. While he wasn’t a superstitious man, he reached out to touch the dress to make sure it was actually there.
Yup.
The plastic made a rustling sound as he carefully unfolded the balled-up dress. He couldn’t believe it! Someone had balled up Tiffany’s dress and thrown it in the back of his Bronco. Rare panic made his heart race. Surely she’d believe he had no idea how it had ended up in his car. Except shit. Look at Rob—they’d been friends for half their lives and his friend had turned on him without any evidence.
The sound of Ariel’s footsteps pounding down the stairs had his head craning to look at her. She held three vacuum-sealed bags in her arms. He looked back toward the wrinkled wonder in his trunk.
Fuck! What the hell was he supposed to say?
Hey, Elizabeth. You aren’t going to believe this. Someone threw Tiffany’s dress in the back of my car.
But then she was off the stairs and running toward the Bronco and him. The situation hit him.
He’d been framed.
And he had no idea by whom or why.
He stepped a couple feet from the trunk, blocking her view. She was panting and her gaze shot up to look at him. He put his hands on her shoulders and leaned down until they were eye level. “So…I don’t think I’m going crazy, but it seems like Tiffany’s dress is in my trunk.”
Her brows slammed together. “What?”
She zoomed around him and let out a closed-mouth shriek before swinging around and staring at him.
“You see it too, right?”
“But…how?” she sputtered. “I thought you and Jeffrey put it in the wedding cottage.”
An unholy tension rolled through his gut. “We did. Ariel, I have no idea how or why this dress is in my trunk.”
Her mouth parted before she glanced toward it again, her face pale as fresh snow. She stood there, breathing hard, the other wedding dresses lying limply in her arms.
When she didn’t say anything, he stepped forward and put his hand on her shoulder. “You believe me, right?”
Her pupils were dilated, and she looked as wild as he felt. She glanced back toward her sister’s wedding dress…and then at him. She finally nodded. Slowly.
“But…” She made an inarticulate sound. “I don’t understand. Who else?—”
“I don’t know.” He checked his watch, his sense of mission timing never failing him. “Look, we both have questions. But we need to get back. We have less than thirty minutes?—”
“You’re right. I should just be grateful it showed up.”
He loved that perspective. “Right.”
She spun into action, laying her grandma’s dresses carefully in the back after straightening Tiffany’s dress. “I don’t have time to take them back inside. Let’s go.”
He backed out of the driveway and then hit the road. As a pilot on a mission, he hated that sinking feeling of knowing the clock was against you. He felt it today. Even though he knew they could delay the wedding a little, he could still hear the second hand clicking in his mind. Ariel clenched her hands in her lap, staring straight out the window.
“We need a cover story,” he finally said in the tense silence of the car.
She turned her stricken gaze his way. “Dax, this looks really bad.”
He nodded, his jaw clenching. “I know.”
She exhaled loudly, pressing her hands to her knees. “I think we just say that we found it as we were coming back to the resort. In a closet or something.”
In a closet? She must be jittery because that didn’t make any sense. “Ariel, everyone knows someone moved it. I know it won’t be easy for anyone to believe someone put the dress in the back of my car?—”
“Dax!” Her cry was totally out of character as she turned in her seat and looked at him, her blue eyes round as quarters. “No one is going to believe you.”
He’d lived his whole life doing what was right. Knowing people were going to think the worst of him—Rob and her family and everyone else—was like being told he’d never fly again. “Ariel, I know this looks bad, but we’re going to find out who did this.”
She started laughing, the stress making the sound tense and ear-grating. “Find out? Like a whodunnit? Oh, Dax! I don’t even know where to start because I can’t think of anyone but you wanting this wedding stopped.”
He bristled. “Are you saying you don’t believe me?”
Rubbing her throat, she turned away and looked out the window. “I do, but then a horrible little voice starts talking.”
His heart felt like it had been ripped in half. “And what does that horrible voice say?”
“Oh, Dax,” was all she said in a hoarse voice.
He watched the road ahead and stared at the cars in front of him, going numb. “You think I felt guilty or something and decided to unhide the dress.”
She rubbed her forehead. “Dax, I know you… When you tell me you didn’t do it, I believe you. But I don’t know how this could have happened. Okay?”
Okay? No, it wasn’t okay. She was crushing him here.
“I’m tired and I thought I’d lost my grandma’s house again.” She reached out a shaky hand and touched his arm, her blue eyes glistening now. “It’s been a roller coaster. Let’s deal with all this after. Please.”
If he didn’t have her trust, at least he could stand by the truth. “Ariel, I will not say we found this dress in a closet. I’m going to tell Rob it was in my Bronco and that I did not put it there.”
“He’ll never believe you,” she whispered, gripping his hand. “Neither will Tiffany or anyone else. You saw how they are.”
He set his jaw and kept driving. “I have a code. I won’t break it. Not to make things easier or smooth things over.”
Her sharp inhale hurt to hear, and he clenched his teeth, knowing he’d hurt her too.
“Like I do, you mean.”
He said nothing.
“That’s right. That’s my job. To smooth things over. To help everyone get along. To clean up after disasters like this as kindly and politely as I can.”
“Lying isn’t kind or polite,” he felt compelled to say. “I can’t control what anyone thinks of me, but I would hope the people who know me would understand I’d never do something like this. If you love me like you said you did, then you would know that too, and you would tell the truth. About me. About this.”
Her silence had something dying inside him.
“I do love you, and I do know you.” She heaved out a breath. “But I just don’t know what to think right now, and I certainly don’t want you to tell them where the dress was, because it will only cause more problems.”
He kept driving, biting his tongue to hold back his harsh retort, the kind you can’t take back. He was aware of her staring at him as he drove, but she said nothing. And when she let her hand fall from his arm, he thought he’d lost one more person he loved.
Her.