Page 89 of The 24th Hour

“Thank you.” Cindy cleared her throat. She looked up at her groom and said, “Richie, I’ve loved you since our first date at Ruby Tuesday, no lie. I want to tell you … I’m sorry I’ve been so difficult—” Her voice broke. She took some breaths and swallowed, then said, “—but I can be stubborn, you know.”

I laughed first but not last. All the people on the left sideof the aisle, Cindy’s family and college friends and coworkers at theChronicle,joined in. Cindy turned her head to the audience as the groom’s side also fell apart—and she laughed along with them.

Cindy had always been a good sport, and watching her crack up at the altar filled me with more love for her than I’d ever felt before. I knew she was all in.

“Richie,” she said, “I want to thank you for picking up after me, putting up with me, going out to my car in the rain to get my radio, sitting up front for my little readings in tiny book clubs, rolling with my shenanigans, letting me cry in your armpit, giving me funny nicknames, and for saving my life. There are a million other things I’ll tell you later. But right now, I want to say, I love you so much. You can count on me to support you every day and in every way. I believe in you deeply and will always do so, even when you doubt yourself. I promise never to take you for granted but to let you know that you’re a giant and my hero. I promise that I’m yours, Rich. All the way, in all ways, and for all time. I swear to you and to God.”

Richie laughed, hugging this precious woman who was just tall enough to come up to his shoulder.

“You’re one of a kind, Cindy,” Rich said. “And I love that about you. I love you for more reasons and in more ways than I can say, and I trust you with my heart and my life. I promise you, Cindy, it doesn’t matter how many rainy nights I go out to the car or run the dry cycle in the washing machine or call you Bunny Toes, I am grateful that today you are making me so very happy. And I will be by your side, always.”

Applause broke out in the chapel. Darcy Thomas got toher feet and clapped hard, and so did Cindy’s dad. Henry Tyler, Cindy’s boss at theChronicle,gave her two thumbs up while Richie’s brothers roughed him up, messed up his hair, and called him their own pet names as the laughter rolled from front to back before returning again to the altar, where Rich and Cindy grinned while looking deeply into each other’s eyes.

Standing between Lindsay and Claire, Yuki was also grinning along with the bride and groom. She then turned toward the congregation, and as if he were sitting under a spotlight, Yuki’s eyes fell on her own fair-haired, good-doing husband, Jackson Brady, Homicide lieutenant, who winked at her as he clapped for Rich and Cindy.

Yuki had never asked Cindy if she’d had sleepless nights when Richie hadn’t answered his phone, when he hadn’t come home, or had come home in the morning so tired he couldn’t sleep or tell her what was wrong. And then having to rip herself away from him and go to work.

Yuki smiled at the sounds of approval from the congregation. She fingered the angel skin coral necklace that Brady had given her as a wedding gift, and she thought about their honeymoon—on a cruise ship that had been boarded by pirates, all armed and dangerous. Every person on the Finnstar could have died but for Brady’s sharp thinking and courage. Richie, too, had those qualities.

Claire, standing beside Yuki, reached out and took her hand, nodding once as if she could read her thoughts. Or maybe she just saw the worry on Yuki’s face. Yuki tried but couldn’t wish the worry away.

She recalled the day she married Brady. Yuki had had little experience with men, and for the most part, had kept to herself. On her wedding day, she’d had a vision of her mother, Keiko, saying to her,He is love of your life, Yuki-eh. This life and next one. Tell him that.

Yuki had said those words to Brady, who’d hugged and kissed her, lifting her off her feet and telling her in his soft southern-tinged voice, “Sweetheart. Ah’ll be right here with you.”

Now Yuki beamed those words and feelings at Rich and Cindy.

Claire took in the full sight of the handsome couple, her friends who were about to make official a marriage that had already put down deep roots during their years together. She thought that Cindy and Rich were more alike than they knew; courageous, committed to their careers, loyal to their friends.

Cindy had never shied from anything. Claire remembered well when Cindy had fatally shot a killer who’d had Lindsay in her gunsights. Claire had done the autopsy. No charges had been pressed against Girl Reporter, who’d never looked back.

Claire also remembered a time when Rich had taken a .38- caliber round through his right shoulder at close range. It had been a painful injury that could have cost him the use of his arm or even killed him. But Rich had been stoic.

Claire had conferred with his doctors and had spent seven hours with Cindy in the hospital waiting room while Rich underwent surgery and was still under anesthesia.

When the surgeon had come out and asked for Mrs. Conklin, Cindy hadn’t corrected him, but she’d been visibly shakenand had sobbed when she’d lost her fight to stay with Rich at Metro Hospital overnight.

Now, Claire watched Rich and Cindy stand together as the minister asked Eddie Conklin, best man and Richie’s oldest brother, for the rings. She dropped Yuki’s hand, covered her mouth as if to stop herself from shouting, “Whoo-hooooo!”

CHAPTER 116

REVEREND ROMANO NOW posed the two show-stopping questions.

“Do you, Richard, take Cynthia to be your lawful, wedded wife, for richer or poorer, through sickness and in health, as long as you both shall live?”

Rich said, “I do,” and before the minister had fully repeated the question to Cindy, she replied, to the delight of the audience, “I do,too.”

The rings were exchanged, and Reverend Romano said, “I now pronounce you husband and wife. Richard, you may kiss the bride.”

The bride didn’t wait for the maid of honor, her dearest friend, to lift her veil. She pushed it back herself. Richie kissed Cindy and buried his face in her curls, while nearly hugging the breath from her. Then he kissed her again to more applause.

As the organ started up, Claire felt as elated as she had on the day she’d married her own best friend. And after all these years, and four blessed children, she thought that they should celebrate their good fortune by renewing their vows. She wanted to get married again and would propose it to Edmund tonight.

Without knowing exactly why, Claire felt warm tears on her cheeks.

As the recessional music continued and the pews emptied from the rear first, Cindy felt the entirety of the wedding flooding through her and with it, a deeper awareness of herself. She was no longer afraid.

The long years of turning away from marriage to Richie and his longing for children were all about fear. Hers. She’d had a fear of failing, fear of giving up her independence, fear of not living up to Richie’s belief and faith and love for her.

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