Page 54 of A Dead End Wedding

Wedding rehearsal.

I thought back to the day I’d proposed, in the pawnshop parking lot, with half of Dead End watching. I’ll never forget the words I used that day:

Tess, you have brought love and light and joy to a heart I thought was long dead and crumbled into dust, and you gave hope to a war-hardened soldier who’d found very little of that. You’re the center of my life and the warmth inside my soul. You are compassionate, warm, funny, and brilliant. I can’t imagine living a single day of the rest of my life without you in it. You taught me how to laugh and how to be part of a family. You andall of Dead End taught me how to be part of a community, no matter how hard I tried to fight it.

So, I knew they needed to be here and be part of this moment. Tess, I love you with everything I am and everything I will ever be. Will you please marry me and make me the luckiest man who ever lived?

I still meant every one of those words.

“Why am I so scared?”

I didn’t realize I’d spoken out loud until Carlos appeared, walking out from the shadows in the memorial garden. “You’re scared because she matters.Thismatters. And you’re afraid you can never be good enough for her. You’re afraid your darkness and your history will somehow bring her harm.”

I scowled at him. “It’s bad enough you’re in my wedding, vampire. Stay out of my head.”

His smile held no amusement. “I only know what you’re thinking because I once had a Tess of my own, and I was stupid enough to listen to my fears instead of my heart. Don’t lose her, Jack. Protect her and love her. Life is endlessly empty, with nobody to care about.”

I studied his bleak expression and nodded.

Then I punched him in the shoulder.

“Hey! No sad memories this weekend. Maybe you’ll meet someone at the reception. Even somebody as ugly as you might have a chance with the amount of champagne that will be floating around.”

He returned my grin. “You only wish you were as pretty as me.”

“Yeah, yeah, yeah. Let’s go do this thing.”

We turned to go to the church, but I stopped him before we got to the spill of light at the entrance. “Thanks, man. I needed to hear that.”

“Well, if Tess can’t have me, you’re her second-best choice, I guess.” He sighed dramatically. “Did you ever meet that dentist?”

I laughed. Poor Owen.

Once I’d set my sights on Tess, he’d never had a chance.

Considerably cheered up, I led the way into the church.

That’s when everything went horribly, horribly wrong.

First, we heard Mike’s voice boom across the church. “What in the name of all things horticultural happened here?”

I wanted to know that, too. The church was filled with a blizzard of flowers, and I wasn’t exaggerating for effect. The flowers literally swarmed through the air all around us, and there must have been thousands of them.

“What’smmphm—” I had to spit out a mouthful of flying carnations before I could finish my sentence. “Shelley!”

“Not me, Jack!” She popped up near us from where she’d been crouched behind a pew. “I didn’t do any magic at all. But the troll came by earlier.”

“The troll?” Carlos fought to keep from laughing, but I could tell it was tough. Especially since he was using both hands to bat flowers away from his head.

“I think so,” she said, waving a hand to stop a rosebush that had been heading for my face. “He’s the new Dead End High science teacher, did you hear? And he turned the chemistry lab into a hothouse filled with flowers on his first day. Mr. Peabody was so mad he said averybad word.”

“I have some sympathy for Mr. Peabody,” I muttered. “Shelley, I hate to ask, but is there anything you can do about this?”

She frowned. “Aunt Ruby told me not to use my magic in church.”

“Aunt Ruby is making an exception in this case,” Ruby shouted from somewhere in the front by the altar.

Shelley perked up. “Oh! Yay!”

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