Going to the Chapel: A Novella (16 page)

“You hurt her,” Daisy added in an accusing tone.

“I know and I’m sorry,” Levi said. “Please, I need to speak to her before I leave town.”

The Sassafras women glared at him for another full minute before their aunt finally motioned for them to get Izzy.

As soon as the girls were out of sight, Aunt Dottie snatched him by the collar. “No one hurts my nieces without answering to me.”

This was the woman with the rules on being a lady? She looked more like a street fighter to him. “Yes, ma’am.”

Izzy appeared just as her aunt dropped her grip and tacked on a polite smile. “We’ll be in the kitchen if you need us, sweetheart.”

What did they think he was going to do? Maul her?

Izzy scooped the kitten up and held it as if it was a guard dog, those blue eyes filled with contempt. “What is it?”

“I wanted to let you know that Loudon flipped on Ray. He cut a deal, and we have Ray dead to rights.”

“Good.”

She started to close the door, and he wedged it with his foot again. “Izzy, I’m sorry—”

“Don’t bother,” Izzy said. “You’re no better than Ray. You use women, then throw them away.”

Dammit, he wasn’t at all like Ray. But he didn’t get a chance to plead his case, because Izzy slammed the door so hard the wreath fell off at his feet, the glass dove ornaments shattering.

Izzy turned from the door, battling more tears. Dang it, she wasn’t a pretty crier either. Her face was swollen from the night before.

But at least Ray would never bother her again.

And neither would Levi.

Because she would forget they’d ever met.

Aunt Dottie and her sisters looked up from the kitchen as she walked in, but Izzy avoided their sympathetic looks, and carried the kitten to her room.

Heart breaking, she curled on the window seat and watched Levi drive away. Aunt Dottie’s rule number three taunted her:
Never chase a man; let him chase you.

Except Levi wasn’t chasing her; he was running the other way as fast as he could.

Three days later

Levi booted up his computer and read the article Nellie Needlemyer had written with a grimace.

Naughty in Matrimony

By Nellie Needlemyer

SHOOTOUT IN MATRIMONY

Three weeks ago, the Sassafras sisters rolled into Matrimony promising weddings and romance, saying that they’d save the town with their business plan.

But true to their reputations, they brought trouble instead.

Chaos broke loose when Izzy Sassafras’s husband, Ray LaPone, and his accomplice to fraud and murder, Tate Loudon, held her at gunpoint in One Stop Weddings and demanded she return money she’d stolen from them.

Detective Elsa Firestone with the Austin police department and private investigator and former detective Levi Fox managed to subdue both LaPone and Loudon, but not before shooting up the bridal shop in the center of town. Izzy Sassafras knocked her husband over the head with a unity candelabra to prevent his escape. Her husband required seven stiches, but the candelabra was undamaged.

Thankfully, none of the residents in Matrimony were injured, although the dessert case in One Stop Weddings was shattered, and cakes and pies were everywhere.

Later, residents claimed they spotted the Sassafras sisters meandering over to the Triple D for ice cream sundaes and laughing about the events. Very wisely, Hattie McCoy closed before they arrived.

But questions still remain. The Sassafras sisters started a website called Destination: Matrimony. But is their destination prison instead?

As usual, the sisters’ Aunt Dottie, known most for her cotillion class on How to Be a Lady, was unavailable for comment.

Levi stood up from his desk and paced. He’d left Matrimony as soon as Izzy had slammed the door in his face.

This morning his former boss, Captain Sudwick, had offered not only to reinstate him, but also to give him the promotion to detective he’d wanted all along. Apparently LaPone and Loudon had murdered three different men.

Once the widows learned about his scheme, they realized Ray had swept in to comfort them after their husband’s deaths in order to waylay suspicion of foul play.

Both Ray and Loudon were going away for a long time.

Levi rubbed a finger over his detective badge and stared out the window of the police station. Austin was a happening place.

Restaurants, bars, music . . . crime.

The energy he used to feed on.

And the Silver Dollar—his brothers, both now officially single again, had taken over managing it and were happy to be living off the land.

But he still felt unsettled. Unfulfilled. Un . . . happy.

Because all he could think of was Izzy Sassafras—those damn blue eyes and that beguiling smile.

Five days before Christmas

Izzy stared at the interior of One Stop Weddings in despair. She and her sisters had cleaned up the shop, managed to salvage most of the dresses, had the glass dessert case replaced, and redone the displays.

But they hadn’t had a single call for business, though there had been a steady trail of locals venturing in for a pastry and coffee under the guise of glimpsing the scandalous sisters and the disastrous mess Nellie had painted with her recent article. She might as well have titled the piece “Boycott the Bridal Shop.”

Worse, she’d been waiting on pins and needles to be arrested because she’d used stolen money to fund their enterprise.

The door opened and Caroline appeared, a little girl with long dark hair in a French braid beside her. Izzy’s heart completely melted. Sally looked so much like Caroline—and their mother—that it made her choke up.

Daisy sashayed over with a tray of cookies. “Well, hello, you must be Sally.”

Sally nodded and snatched a cookie, her eyes lit with mischief as she spotted the dolls and the kitten.

“This is Aunt Daisy,” Caroline said. “And this is your aunt Izzy.”

Izzy squeezed the little girl’s shoulder affectionately. “I’m so glad you’re here. Has your mama told you about the rules for being a lady?”

Caroline shot her a warning look, but laughter gleamed in her eyes. “There’s plenty of time for that.”

“We might have to amend some of the rules for modern times,” Izzy murmured. Like the rule:
Never let a man see you naked before marriage
. Her version:
Never let a man see what’s under your skirt or he’ll think he can play in your garden whenever he wants
.

Sally bit into the cookie with a grin. “Can I play with the dolls? Mommy made new dresses for them.”

“Sure, honey,” Caroline said.

Sally grabbed the bag of doll clothes and skipped over to the display to play.

Daisy returned to the computer where she’d had been trying to put a positive spin on the Destination: Matrimony website from people who’d e-mailed about the story of Ray’s arrest.

The bell on the front door jingled, and Aunt Dottie swooped in. “All right, girls, I know you’ve been down in the dumps, but I have an idea how we can salvage this place.” She motioned for them to huddle around the coffee counter.

Izzy was open to anything that might save them from closing their doors or earning more scandalous news footage. Caroline and Daisy joined them in front of the petit fours Daisy had arranged on a tray to take to the women’s church circle. She was hoping to bribe them into letting her cater their monthly dinners.

Daisy had decided to stay in Matrimony and try her hand at the catering business. She’d created a website for Daisy’s Dining, passed out flyers, and posted ads. So far she had several bookings for birthday parties as well as women’s and church club special events. The church had even put her on retainer—they never could get enough casseroles and covered dishes for families in need, new mothers, and funerals. Lord knew that in the South, people fed grief with potato salad and apple pie.

“I don’t think there’s any way to salvage things,” Caroline said glumly.

“Yes, there is,” Aunt Dottie said. “First of all, I talked to Levi Fox, and he told me—”

“You talked to Levi?” Izzy asked, her heart pounding.

“Yes.” Aunt Dottie rubbed Izzy’s arms. “I gave him a piece of my mind about sneaking around and lying to us, and told him he should be ashamed of himself for using a nice girl like you.”

Izzy blinked back tears. After all she’d put her aunt through, Aunt Dottie still defended her. “Oh, Aunt Dottie, I appreciate that.”

Aunt Dottie winked. “I also told him we were not going to pay back that money you took, so he’d better figure out a way to get you out of that mess.”

Izzy didn’t think she could count on that.

“Anyway, this shop has real potential, and it’s just what Matrimony needs. I am damned and determined not to let Nosy Nellie keep writing about us the way she does.” Their aunt adjusted the wide brim of her hat. “If she wants war, I’ll give her war.”

Damned and determined? War on Nellie? Izzy had never heard her aunt use such harsh language.

“So I talked to Faye and Ruby, and I have a plan. Since you used our wedding stories as testimonials for the chapel’s magic, and you inspired us and the town by giving the town new life—”

“You mean another scandal?” Izzy said miserably.

“I mean, you gave us new life. You’ve brought business back by redoing the B and B, and the renovations on the cabins on the river are underway, and the quilting bee actually sold three quilts online this month, so Dorothy and Ruby and I want to renew our vows at the chapel.”

“You want to renew your vows?” Daisy asked.

“With our husbands, of course,” Aunt Dottie said, her eyes twinkling.

“The men agreed to this?” Caroline asked.

“They’ll do whatever we tell them to do,” Aunt Dottie said with a wink.

Just let him think it was his idea
, Izzy thought, remembering the rules.

Daisy gaped at her. “But how will we afford to pull it off?”

“I keep a little money in my mayonnaise jar.” Aunt Dottie waved a hand as if to say no worries. “And the town folk will pitch in. The garden club offered to donate flowers in exchange for publicity on the website. And Larry from the Hardware store said he’d donate Christmas lights and candles for the chapel.” Aunt Dottie was gaining steam. “We can still have that Christmas wedding, and we’ll invite that reporter from Atlanta and Chattanooga and show everyone that there is magic in Matrimony.”

“Then the testimonials will speak for themselves,” Daisy said with a triumphant grin.

Caroline shrugged. “It might work.”

Aunt Dottie clapped her hands. “Of course it will—that is, if we band together.”

“Well,” Izzy said. “We’ve always given this town something to talk about. I say we give them a Christmas wedding.”

She only wished she was walking down that aisle . . . with Levi.

But Levi was probably laughing his butt off about how stupid she’d been.

Christmas Eve