Page 63 of Kiss the Bride

One fat tear rolled down Brianna’s cheek. Evelyn handed the girl a tissue.

“Can you help me with them?” The young woman held out the strand.

“Of course.” She moved swiftly to the bride’s side. In seconds, she’d fitted the metal V into the clasp and snicked it shut. She tugged it gently to make sure it held. When it did, she stepped away.

Brianna stared into the mirror, her fingers tracing the lustrous pearls around her neck. “If y’all will excuse me for a minute, I need to call Aunt Sheila.” She turned to the makeup artist, her smile tremulous. “Don’t wander off. I think I might need a touchup by the time we’re through.”

The other women blotted their own eyes as they filed out of the room. Evelyn gave Brianna’s hand another squeeze and pressed the girl’s cell phone into her hand. She’d taken two steps toward the door when a particularly loud roll of thunder crashed overhead. Immediately on its heels, lightning flashed outside the window. In the ensuing silence, a loud boom shook the windows. Evelyn flinched. Brianna squealed. The lights flickered once and went out.

“It’s all right,” Evelyn called into the darkness. Rather than rushing to Brianna’s side, she headed in the other direction. While she and Ryan had been setting up yesterday, she’d tucked a box of battery-powered candles into one of the cabinets. Now, she felt her way along the wall to the bank of storage closets. Sure enough, the box was right where she’d left it. In minutes, a soft glow filled the room. She carried a candle to Brianna.

“We lost power,” the girl said, in case no one else had noticed.

“We did.”

“How can we have a wedding with no electricity?”

“Well, that could be a problem,” Evelyn conceded. Quickly, she added, “But I’m sure Ryan has everything under control. Go ahead and call your aunt,” she said, giving the girl’s hand a reassuring squeeze. “In the meantime, I’ll see what’s going on.”

Ryan took advantage of the momentary break in the chaos to lean against one of the cedar support beams in Harbor View’s ballroom. He and Evelyn had been hard at work getting the hall ready for the wedding since shortly after Brianna and Daniel’s big announcement yesterday. He didn’t think he could’ve made it without her help. She seemed to do things by instinct, but he knew hers was an instinct honed by a lifetime spent at the Captain’s Cottage. She was the one who’d insisted they sort through every cabinet and closet, every dish cupboard and the pantry, checking and double-checking the supplies for the Harbor View’s first wedding. It’d required more than one run to the store to stock up, but she’d made sure they had every single thing they needed. She’d even insisted on purchasing a supply of foul weather gear, which she’d hung on hooks in his office. At the time, he’d thought she was overthinking just a bit. Now, looking at the threatening sky, he had to admit having the rain gear handy didn’t hurt.

As for the rest, he breathed easily. Bev and Vi had arrived at eight sharp and had immediately begun arranging tablecloths, runners, and sparkling china on three dozen tables. After lunch, they’d set to work covering two hundred chairs in navy spandex, which Evelyn had declared the best possible use for the stretchy material. Mildred Morrey and her crew had shown up at ten with two vans filled with flowers and arrangements. Ashley and a young teen had pulled into the parking lot next. In short order, they’d piled hundreds of gift bags into the old Farley boat on display in the front lobby. Soon after, Janet Hubbard and her crew had taken over the kitchen. Since the chef had helped design the layout of Harbor View’s counters and appliances, she’d set to work with few questions. From then on, the front door had opened and closed at least a thousand times as stylists and musicians and deliveries had arrived. Nick Bell had rolled in with a wedding cake so tempting it’d been all Ryan could do not to swipe a bit of icing. JoJo Moss and her videographer roamed back and forth, taking preliminary shots of everything.

In well-timed movements, the shop owners and their helpers had transformed the empty hall into a space truly fit for a Wedding-in-a-Week couple. Dark purple flowers clustered around the bower where Brianna and Daniel would stand to recite their vows. The same floral design echoed down the rows of tall pedestals lining a carpeted aisle. It was repeated in the centerpieces on each of the tables set with gold-rimmed glasses and gleaming gold-tipped flatware.

In a matter of hours, guests would begin to trickle in. His parents, his brothers, and their families would be among them. He’d called his dad on the way home from dropping Evelyn off at the Captain’s Cottage yesterday. The old man had rallied the entire family to attend the wedding tonight and celebrate Ryan’s success. Even if they all got soaked in the process.

He eyed the dark clouds overhead. Distant lightning flashed. In the short time he’d been standing next to the window, a light drizzle had given way to a downpour. According to the weather reports, they were in for a blow.

The building didn’t worry him. It was sound. The people, though—they might need reassurance. He’d barely turned away from the window when a tremendous crack of thunder roared overhead. On its heels, lightning arced down from the clouds. A loud boom rattled the windowpanes. He had a split second to wonder if they’d been struck when the lights flickered.

Then, the room went dark.

“Gosh! That sounded close.” JoJo scampered down from the stepstool she’d been standing on. She clutched accessories for the photo booth in both hands.

“I think it might’ve hit nearby.” Ryan raised his voice to be heard over the rain that sluiced down by the bucketful, turning the world outside into gray soup. “Is everyone okay?”

A smattering of, “Yeah’s,” and, “Fine here’s,” answered.

Curtis appeared at his elbow out of the gloom. “We lost power,” the photographer announced, as if Ryan had failed to notice the sudden lack of light.

“I see that. Hang on while I call the power company.” He was already scrolling down the contacts list on his phone. “Hopefully, it’s something they’ll fix in a jiff.” He punched a few numbers and was immediately put on hold.

“Is your backup generator on manual? It hasn’t kicked on yet.”

“There’s a reason for that,” Ryan said, trying to remain upbeat. “We don’t have one.”

“Uh-oh.” Curtis pulled out his own phone. “I, um, I need to check in with Regina. Let her know what’s happened.”

“Can’t you just wait until …” A voice sounded in his ear. He paused to listen. By the time he realized it was just a recording telling him that call volume was heavy at the moment and asking for his patience, Curtis was already talking with his boss in low tones.

People streamed toward him from wherever they’d been when the lights had gone out. A door opened and closed somewhere at the front of the building. Six sturdy Marines in dress blues joined the small crowd. Speculation buzzed.

“Hold on.” Ryan raised his voice to be heard above the hubbub. “I’m on the line with the power company. Let’s see where things stand before we start jumping to conclusions.” He turned away from the group when another voice, a real one this time, asked him for the address. In response, a few beeps sounded through the earpiece. A recording followed.

“A power outage has occurred in your area.”

“Tell me something I don’t already know,” he muttered.

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