Chapter 14
CHAPTER FOURTEEN
The perimeter Demons, along with Zander and Catriona, quickly dispersed and went back on duty.
It was doubtful that another round of zombies would show up any time soon, but assuming anything at this point could result in making a deceased ass out of both you and me.
Plus, we were on the lookout for Fake Tom Hanks and whatever new and horrifying tactic It would use to try and destroy the Trinity.
While we were outside battling zombies, Jegguthiz had moved Dip Doody from the floor to the couch. Jennifer was at her man’s side. My normally ebullient buddy was pale and subdued. Her eyes were red and puffy, and her cheeks were tear-stained. Every inch of my friend was in pain.
The entire picture made my heart hurt.
Alana Catherine and Shitty Ritchie stood near her. Their expressions were sorrowful. All of the Demons saluted the Sheriff. It was tragically lovely and very fitting. Gram and Gramps hovered over the sad scene and did their ghostly best to comfort her.
I wasn’t sure Jennifer could be comforted right now.
Upon entry, Tim moved immediately to his daughter.
He put his hand on her back, but she barely noticed.
All of her attention was on the man she loved too much to marry.
Dip had proposed a few times, but Jennifer had always turned him down.
She’s been burned by marriage multiple times and swore off ever standing on the altar again.
She felt like making it legal was a catalyst for disaster.
My friend had it real bad for Dip Doody—loved him so much that she promised she’d never screw it up by marrying him.
He’d accepted her decision and loved her just as much as she loved him
Gideon scrubbed his hand over his face and crossed the room. I stayed by his side. He was a Demon. He was the Grim Reaper, but he was also Jennifer’s friend. None of this was easy.
“Jennifer, you have some decisions to make,” he told her.
Dip looked peaceful in his unconscious state. He was a kind and handsome man. Although, he was going to have a hell of a shiner and a broken nose when he came to.
“What decisions?” Jennifer asked, keeping her gaze trained on Dip. Her voice was flat and lifeless. I believed she knew exactly what Gideon meant, but needed it spelled out.
Gideon squatted down next to her. “I’m going to wipe this entire day from Dip’s memory. You need to decide if I’m wiping more than just today.”
Jennifer leaned towards Gideon and rested her head on his shoulder. “I know what I have to do,” she whispered. “Why is it so hard to say the words… so devastating?”
Gideon was quiet for a long moment. He put his arm around our friend and gave her a gentle squeeze.
“It hard because you love him. It’s hard because being selfless can inflict deep and lasting wounds.
He’s a good man, Jennifer. Don’t know many humans who would have braved zombies and would have come back at me when ten guns were aimed at his head.
He’s brave but foolish. He loves you and put his life on the line for you.
He did it today, and he’ll do it again. Are you prepared for that? ”
She shook her head. Fresh tears rolled down her cheeks.
Gideon rested his head on hers and continued. “Dip could have died today. Humans aren’t meant to be part of our world. They don’t understand it and will never be able to accept it.”
Jennifer glanced at Gideon quizzically. “I never had a problem with it—even when I was human.”
Tim squatted down on her other side. “You were never fully human, child,” he softly reminded her.
She looked at her dad, patted his hand, and gave him a weak smile. “Whoops. Forgot about that for a hot sec.”
She then kissed Dip’s lips and adjusted his ripped shirt. Jennifer turned to Gideon, who awaited her decision. “Wipe me from Dip’s memories.”
“Are you sure?” he asked.
She nodded and smiled. It was a sad but resigned smile. “Yep. I’m sure. If the tables were turned, he’d do the same for me.”
I didn’t disagree, but the whole situation was heartbreaking.
“Candy Vargo,” Jennifer said, pointing at her. “You promised you’d fix Dip back up after the battle. He’s a mess right now and I don’t want the last time I see him for him to be all broken and bloodied up.”
“On it,” Candy replied.
The Keeper of Fate moved her hands in a circular motion over the prone body of Dip Doody.
Delicate orange sparkles danced over him.
We watched in real time as his nose straightened and mended, and the ugly bruises on his cheek and eye disappeared.
The buttons reappeared on his shirt, and his uniform went right back to being as pristine as when he’d arrived.
“Thank you,” Jennifer told her.
Candy swiped a tear and gave Jennifer a hug. “That was my fuckin’ pleasure—my total fuckin’ pleasure.”
“Are you ready?” Gideon asked.
Jennifer sighed and forced a smile. “A few questions first.”
“Ask.”
“Will this mind wipe hurt him? Will he feel pain?”
“No,” Gideon assured her. “No pain.”
“Good.” She inhaled deeply and blew it out on a raspberry. “How are we going to get him home? I saw his cruiser out there.”
“Not a problem,” Heather told her. “I’ll magically transport both Dip and his sedan back to his house. Gideon can plant a seed in his mind that he’s feeling under the weather and he’ll believe he took the day off of work.”
Jennifer nodded. “Sounds like a plan.” She caressed Dip’s cheek, her eyes damp with emotion.
“Dip Doody, I loved you too much to get hitched, and I love you too much to watch you die for me. It’s more than I’ve loved any man in my entire dang life.
And…” she said as her voice grew softer.
“I love you enough to let you go. I love you enough to protect you like you tried to protect me. And I want you to know this… I promise you that I’ll watch Little House on the Prairie every single time there’s a marathon. ”
After one more kiss to Dip’s lips, she backed away. “Gideon, do it, please.”
Gideon granted her request. Placing his hands on either side of Dip’s head, the Grim Reaper chanted in a language that was becoming more familiar to me.
I still didn’t understand the individual words, but the melodic cadence was riveting and strangely comforting.
Shimmering blood-red magic filled the room and landed on every surface.
The air grew warmer, and a small smile pulled at Dip Doody’s lips.
Jennifer cried the entire time. Actually, there wasn’t a dry eye in the house.
When he was done, Gideon motioned to Heather. She nodded once to him and once to Jennifer. Jennifer gave her a bittersweet thumbs-up.
Without another word, Dip Doody, his cruiser and Heather disappeared in a blast of iridescent purple mist.
Heather would be back. Dip would not.
The silence in the great room was the heaviest it had ever been. Jennifer stared at the ceiling and we all stared at her. After ten full minutes, she walked over to the bar, opened a bottle of wine and drank right from the bottle. She down a full third of the liquid before she came up for air.
With a loud burp and a surprise laugh, she addressed us.
“Alrighty, here’s the deal. I’m sad. I’m gonna be sad for a long time, but I also have the priceless gift of knowing I did the right thing by Dip Doody.
It would be an entirely different situation if we were all standing here at his funeral because he died for me.
That’s something I couldn’t live with. Do all of you feel me?
” She quickly held up her hand and gave Shitty Ritchie the eyeball.
“Don’t go there, little guy. I ain’t in the mood to slap you silly. ”
Shitty Ritchie, to his credit, didn’t go there. He just blew her a kiss.
“So,” Jennifer continued. “I don’t want nobody feeling sorry for me.
I want you to be proud of me. Proud for loving someone hard enough to give them up.
I thought I’d live out the rest of my days in sin with that beautiful man, but I also thought I’d die at forty-one.
A phone psychic once told me that about thirty years ago.
She also told me to marry my second husband and that he was a fine and upstanding man.
That son-of-a-bitch cheated on me the whole time we were hitched.
That psychic was full of shit. It was a total waste of ten dollars and seventy-five cents.
I’d like to recommend that no one gets advice from Dial-A-Genie. ”
“Good to know!” Shitty Ritchie said. “Thank you.”
“Welcome,” Jennifer said with a chuckle.
“Back to business. Heck, at the rate we’re getting attacked, there ain’t no guarantee that we’ll see tomorrow.
Can’t take even a second for granted. I know I did right today.
And I’m gonna keep on doin’ right until I can’t anymore. I’d suggest we all do the same.”
Shitty Ritchie raised his hand. “Does there happen to be a manual on what’s right and what is wrong? Preferably at a second-grade reading level.”
“Shitty Ritchie,” I said. “Cake hole. Shut it.”
“Roger that,” he replied with a grin.
“I’m gonna make a suggestion,” Jennifer announced. “I know it’s kinda spur of the moment, but, like I already said, we’ve got no guarantees for tomorrow.”
“Make that suggestion, girlie!” Gram told her.
“I think I will,” Jennifer replied. “I say we have Gram and Gramps wedding soon. Like right now.”
“But umm,” I said, my nose wrinkling in concern. I’d promised a wedding second to none. We weren’t even done with the planning. “That seems kind of fast.”
“Fast and furious,” Gram sang as she darted around the room like the Tasmanian Devil after ingesting a vat of sugar. “I like it. I don’t need no bells and whistles. All I need is the Mr. Jackson and my family and friends around me to tie the knot.”
“Are you sure?” I asked.
“Positive, Daisy girl,” she promised. “I’m dead. I can’t eat no cake or smell the flowers. All the trappins don’t matter a lick.”
I turned to Jennifer. “Are you really okay with this?” I asked. “Seeing people get married after… well, after what just happened.”
“More than okay,” she said, pouring wine and handing out glasses to everyone present, including the Demon guards. “I’m livin’ in the now. And right now, I wanna see Gram and Mr. Jackson get hitched! It’ll help heal my soul.”
I smiled at my amazing and crazily resilient friend. The mold had been broken when Jennifer was born. She was incredibly special, and I was lucky to call her my friend.
“Then we’re having a wedding!” I announced to cheers from the group. “How about giving us a half hour to get set up?”
Jegguthiz nodded enthusiastically. “I shall take Gram and Gramps back to the dining room and work on the wedding portrait. Call us when the ceremony is to begin.”
The Demon and the ghosts left the room. We had work to do.
“Is it cheating if we use magic instead of sweat equity?” I asked.
“Hell to the fuckin’ no,” Candy Vargo answered. “Let’s get this dang party started!”
To say we worked fast would have been an understatement.
Heather got back in time to help and to stop Shitty Ritchie from conjuring up naked blow-up dolls so there would be more guests.
Fairy lights adorned almost every wall and surface.
There were enough flowers to start a garden center.
Candy magically whipped up an altar that would have been more at home in a strip club, but I didn’t say a word.
She was so proud of herself. It was cute.
The Demons were all in and set up the chairs and draped a lovely white runner for me to walk Gram down the aisle.
Charlie helped June in the kitchen as she frantically baked cookies.
He used a little juju to speed the process along.
Zander and Catriona had come in to witness the ceremony, but would go back on duty once the groom kissed the bride. We were a well-oiled team.
Tim and Gideon conjured up a load of tuxes and handed them out to the men.
They even remembered to create a tiny tux for Shitty Ritchie.
He literally cried that he was remembered.
Heather and I took care of the gals. We all wore tasteful floral garden dresses that blended in with the crazy amount of flowers in the great room.
Well, Candy didn’t. She threw down and refused to wear a dress.
When I reminded her that Gram had the power to cancel her birth certificate, she caved and dressed herself in knee-length jean gauchos and a shirt that wasn’t ripped or stained. It would have to do.
Jennifer was fine much to my relief. She laughed as she served wine to the crew and only once, did I catch her staring off into the distance.
She was content for now. Happiness would come back eventually.
She’d grilled Heather on how Dip did and was relieved that the transport went off without a hitch. She truly loved him.
And we truly loved her. Tim followed her around and anticipated his daughter’s every need. He was a wonderful father, even if he’d only been a father for less than a week.
Looking around the great room, I wasn’t sure if I wanted to laugh or groan.
It was a lot, but it was done with love.
It wasn’t what I would have planned if I’d had the time, but like Jennifer had said…
tomorrow wasn’t guaranteed. We were going to run with that and live every moment with as much joy as the Universe was willing to dole out.
Right now, the Universe was in a good mood.
“Are we ready?” Jennifer shouted, holding her wine glass high in the air.
We were ready.
It was time for Gram to finally get hitched.