Page 8 of Harvey

“The things I do in the name of love.” He murmured wryly.

*****

“I cannot thank you enough for agreeing to do this.” Silas stepped out of the way as she put a pot of flowers on a side table.

“Stop thanking me.” Kendra gave him a distracted smile and tried to stem the shiver of foreboding she had started to feel ever since she agreed to the sham ceremony. It did not feel right somehow, and the fact that she would be standing next to a man she did not like inside the chapel where she always felt so close to God was making it worse.

But Silas was so sweet and earnest, and she wanted to help him achieve his goals. It would be over in thirty minutes – just half an hour of her time, something she could spare.

“I know it’s an inconvenience, and you don’t exactly like my brother- “

“Nonsense,” Silas told him firmly, putting a smile on her lips. “He just gets used to a little, that’s all.”

“He can be a lot.” Silas agreed, peering at her anxiously. “I just want you to be as comfortable as possible, and I cannot thank you enough for doing this – “

Laying a hand on his arm, she shook her head. “It’s nothing. I won’t have to wear white and a veil, do I?”

Silas gave a relieved laugh. “Just a nice dress will do. I will have Arnold taking pictures for my report.”

“It sounds real enough,” Kendra murmured, feeling the instinctive warning again.

“I want it as real as possible, if you know what I mean. There will be the wedding march and the organist playing to accompany you down the aisle. And a bouquet you are most fond of. I am paying for it, of course.”

“I will take care of it. Now leave me to do some work.”

“It starts at ten sharp.” He reminded her.

“I will be there on time.”

“Good.” Looking around, he pointed to a bouquet of yellow roses. “I think those would do very well in Mother’s Salon. I will take it with me.”

Kendra wrapped up the sale and turned the floor over to her assistant. She entered her tiny office, closed the door, and sat at her desk.

She had no idea why she was feeling this sinking in the pit of her stomach. She had agreed to the sham ceremony to help a friend who also happened to be her minister. Silas had been so kind to her that it would have been churlish for her to refuse his request.

Maybe the thought of standing in any chapel with that churlish man and pretending to pledge the rest of her life to him made her feel slightly ill.

Or she had planned her wedding down to the last detail, minus her parents' absence. It could also be that November had been the month they had both succumbed to the tragic vehicular crash that had left her an orphan and alone in the world.

When her world fell apart, she was twenty-two, and things had never been the same. She was still living in the same exclusive and secluded neighborhood, but she had sold the house she had grown up in, only leaving it when she had to go out of state for college.

She had only kept a few personal reminders of her life back then. The church and her relationship with God had saved her from going out of her mind.

The floral shop had been a passion of her mother’s. After the tragedy, she abandoned all thoughts of going into interior design and decided to run the place herself. It would have been her mother’s wish, and she would not be the one to disappoint her.

Leaning back, she closed her eyes and willed the worry away. It was just a favor to a friend, nothing more, and there was no need to get so worked up about it.

*****

“Hey, Blackwood!”

“Yea!”

“We have water coming up over the east section.”

“What the hell am I supposed to do about it?”

“You are the rich boy with the fancy education; I was told to come and fetch you,” Jack said with a grin.

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