Going to the Chapel: A Novella (3 page)

Another photo showed her and Daisy covered in flour in their aunt’s kitchen. Daisy had baked cupcakes and cookies for their school events and birthdays. She’d also built a lemonade stand to sell her treats and tacked flyers all over the town inviting people to Izzy’s one-act plays.

More photos captured Izzy as a boy in the school play—with her figure as straight as a stickpin from Aunt Dottie’s sewing basket, no one had known she was a girl. Another captured her in the belly-dancing costume she’d worn for the halftime show at homecoming. Daisy, a wannabe cheerleader who had never made the squad, had loved home ec. She had entered the Miss Teenage Chef contest and won for her cheesecake balls. The crushed Oreos she’d sprinkled on top of them had cinched the title.

Caroline, the soccer player and athlete, had been dubbed the player who would most likely donate her body for the game. She could take out another girl without flinching.

Izzy had admired her toughness until she’d given her a black eye that night . . . of the scandal.

When she reached the landing, voices echoed from the bedroom. She knocked on her aunt Dottie’s door and pushed it open, not surprised to see a hatbox on her aunt’s dresser. Aunt Dottie had a thing about hats.

The antique wardrobe that held her aunt’s ballroom gowns still stood by the bed, reminding her of playing dress-up with her sisters.

But her breath stalled when she saw Daisy and Caroline sitting by her aunt’s bed.

Izzy clutched the kitten to her as if it might save her from her sisters’ wrath. Had they known she was coming?

She narrowed her eyes, suddenly suspicious. Was her aunt’s leg injury some kind of sneaky ploy to reunite the sisters?

“I’m so glad you’re finally here,” Aunt Dottie said.

Izzy steeled herself in case her sisters pounced. Daisy and Caroline looked exactly like they had when she’d last seen them ten years ago. Well, except that Daisy’s fiery-red hair was straight now instead of wavy, and Caroline’s brown hair was long and flowing over her shoulders instead of the short bob she used to wear.

But a thick silence filled the air, almost smothering. Both her sisters looked . . . angry.

No. Sad? Worried?

Aunt Dottie propped herself against a half-dozen pillows. “Just like always, you brought home another stray.”

Izzy placed the kitten in the rocking chair in the corner, where it snuggled up to one of Aunt Dottie’s shawls. Her stomach tightened with nerves. Her sisters were watching her as if they expected her to erupt into a raging lunatic any minute.

She always had been the drama queen, she supposed.

Izzy gestured toward the crutches. “How are you feeling?”

Normally, her aunt didn’t have a devious bone in her body, but something about this scenario seemed fishy.

In fact, she looked deathly pale. Was that white powder on her face?

“I’m fine, I’ll just be laid up a few days,” Aunt Dottie said with a grin.

“Are you sure you shouldn’t be in the hospital?” Daisy said, still holding their aunt’s hand.

“No, all I need is you girls home.”

Her statement fell between them like an ax slamming into a wall.

Caroline’s brown eyes flickered with emotions Izzy couldn’t quite define as she plumped another pillow for their aunt. Caroline had always been the motherly one. “Don’t worry, we’ll take care of you the way you took care of us.”

Aunt Dottie rubbed her temple and yawned. “I appreciate you all coming, but I need to rest awhile. Now go on downstairs and catch up while I take a nap.”

Daisy stood. “Just call us if you need anything.”

Caroline gestured toward the little bell on her aunt’s bedside table. “Yes, Aunt Dottie, ring the bell and we’ll come running.”

Daisy and Caroline traded wary looks as they started toward the door.

“Oh, girls,” Aunt Dottie said, “I also need you to finish decorating the Christmas tree. The ornaments you made are in your keepsake boxes in the den.”

“I don’t know if I’ll be here that long,” Daisy said.

“Me neither.” Caroline frowned. “I can only stay a couple days.”

“Please, girls, I’m just not up to it right now.” Aunt Dottie began to cough, and Izzy handed her the teacup from her tray.

“Fine, we’ll do it,” Daisy said, her face panicked at the sight of their aunt’s frail demeanor.

The teacup rattled as Aunt Dottie took a sip. “Caroline?”

“Of course,” Caroline said. “But you have to promise to stay in bed and get better.”

Aunt Dottie offered a small smile. “I promise.”

Izzy inched closer to examine her aunt. “You are okay, aren’t you?” Izzy whispered as soon as her sisters closed the door.

Aunt Dottie fluttered her hand over her face. “Yes, I will be. Now that you’re all here.”

“But—”

“Don’t argue,” Aunt Dottie said. “It’ll be the perfect time for y’all to settle your differences. This feud has gone on way too long.”

Izzy wanted that more than anything. But how could she face her sisters when she was the failure they’d always thought she’d be?

“All right, Aunt Dottie, but while they’re here, I’ll stay at the B and B in town.”

Aunt Dottie looked stricken. “No way. In fact, I have something you can help me with. There’s an empty space next to the antiques store in town. Ruby and Faye, my Zumba buddies, had an idea about making it a consignment shop.”

Aunt Dottie did Zumba now?

“They found some old wedding dresses in their attics,” Aunt Dottie continued. “Belonged to their grandmas, you know. Ruby suggested using them to start a secondhand bridal shop.”

Izzy’s interest was piqued. “Brides on a budget. That might work.”

“Good. Will you take care of setting up the shop? I left the keys on the kitchen counter, and I’ve already mentioned it to Caroline and Daisy, and they’re going to help.” Aunt Dottie massaged her leg. “That would be a big favor to me, dear.”

“Of course.” How could she say no? Especially if her sisters had already agreed. Then she would look like the ornery one.

Besides, she had nothing else to do, except mourn the death of her marriage. And burn the box of memorabilia she’d brought with her from Texas.

But she’d leave it in the trunk for now. She didn’t want her sisters asking questions.

“Good night, Aunt Dottie. Feel better.”

Aunt Dottie patted the quilt covering her. “Oh, I’m sure I’ll be better in a couple days.”

Izzy could have sworn she saw a twinkle in her aunt’s eyes, but then her aunt curled on her side to go to sleep. Izzy kissed her cheek, then headed down the steps, still debating on whether to sneak out to the B and B.

But Caroline met her at the bottom of the staircase with Daisy behind her. “What are you going to do, run again, Izzy?”

Izzy stiffened, her quick temper flaring. Aunt Dottie said she’d inherited that devil’s spark from her mama. “I thought it might be best if I stayed in town.”

“Listen,” Caroline said. “None of us like the fact that we’re in the same house, but we’re worried about Aunt Dottie. After all she sacrificed to raise us, we can’t leave her now, she needs us.”

“She is getting older,” Daisy said. “And we do owe her. She could have traveled the world instead of staying home to raise us.”

Izzy chewed her bottom lip. True. But this was supposed to be her reprieve from Ray. Her time to figure out what to do with her life.

“So,” Caroline said. “I suggest we stay and help her, but we steer clear of one another. Deal?”

Daisy tugged her sweater around her, but gave a little nod. Daisy was always the peacemaker, the bridge between them. “Deal.”

Izzy remembered their spit sister handshakes. But this time none of them made a move to repeat the tradition.

Still, Aunt Dottie had taken them in. And she had asked Izzy for a favor.

She couldn’t disappoint Aunt Dottie again, so she murmured, “Deal,” then hurried outside to retrieve her bag.

She’d set up the secondhand bridal shop, then leave before her sisters discovered the truth about her and Ray.

Levi left his two brothers in charge of the repairs to the Silver Dollar Ranch, and tracked Izzy Sassafras across three states.

In the past ten years since she’d left North Georgia, she’d been a busy woman.

“So what happened between you and Izzy?” he asked Stanley Norris, one in the string of boyfriends she’d accumulated after she’d left Matrimony. This guy lived in Mobile.

“I met Izzy when she first left home,” Stanley said. “She stayed over for a few weeks to make some money to fund her road trip to Texas. She was hot in love with this rodeo star from Austin. She claimed they were meant to be together and were going to get married.”

Blake Kincaid was not the marrying kind. Levi had heard about him from the boyfriend in Abilene and another in Baton Rouge. Kincaid had earned numerous championships—and was a notorious player on the rodeo circuit.

“You and Izzy were . . . friends?”

Stanley shrugged. “We hooked up, but Izzy had big dreams.” He gestured around the hardware store. “This business has been in my family for generations. I couldn’t leave Mobile.”

“Have you heard from her the past few days?”

“No.” Stanley looked worried. “Why? Is she in trouble?”

Levi debated how much to tell the man. “Her husband claims she’s missing. He’s concerned about her.”

“Izzy does have a way of attracting trouble.”

Same comment the other boyfriends had made. Levi laid his business card on the counter by the bowl of Christmas candy. “If she calls or you think of someplace she might go, let me know.”

Levi’s phone buzzed as he strode outside to his SUV. It was his ex-partner, Elsa Firestone, with the police department in Austin. The partner he’d let down when he’d botched that last case.

All because of a woman.

“Levi, I got a hit on the Beetle you asked me to track down.”

“Yeah? Where is it?”

“Georgia. A traffic camera caught the vehicle speeding through a red light in Atlanta.”

Levi straightened. Ray LaPone hadn’t thought Izzy would return to her hometown, but Atlanta was only a couple hours from the North Georgia mountains.

He started his engine and sped toward the interstate. He could be there in a few hours. And if he found Izzy, he’d have that money Ray promised him by tomorrow night. Then he could pay his brothers his share to fix up the ranch. They couldn’t let the legacy of the Silver Dollar die with their father.

Then he could forget about Izzy Sassafras with the mesmerizing eyes and the sweet-talking mouth, who’d left a trail of men in her wake.

The next morning, Izzy woke with a crick in her neck. She’d dreamed that Ray was chasing her with a hatchet, and that she managed to jump over a ravine. He’d tried to catch her, but he’d fallen in, and all her problems were solved.

Then she was standing in front of the mangled
WELCOME TO MATRIMONY
sign without a penny to her name, and debt collectors were snapping at her heels. Her sisters were also waiting and pummeled her with the handmade Christmas ornaments they were supposed to hang on the tree.

They obviously still hated her.

Although that wasn’t a dream—that was reality.

Sadness swelled inside her at the sight of the keepsake boxes stacked in a corner of the den by the Christmas tree.

Obviously Aunt Dottie thought decorating the tree together would mend the girls’ broken relationships, but it wasn’t that simple. Too many hurtful words and accusations had been hurled back and forth between them like grenades.

When she walked into the kitchen and saw Daisy bustling around, making her aunt a gourmet breakfast, and Caroline in the sewing room cleaning up the scraps of lace from Aunt Dottie’s latest project, her heart squeezed.

Even though they were sharing the same house, they’d retreated to their separate corners like boxers in a boxing ring. Hating the tense silence, she found some milk for the kitty, then grabbed her purse and Aunt Dottie’s keys to the shop and stepped outside.

The dented fender reminded her of her hasty escape and her broken marriage.

Hopefully Aunt Dottie would perk up fast, and Daisy and Caroline could go back to their perfect lives.