Murder Is a Piece of Cake (21 page)

“You made my dream come true,” Josie said.

“No, you did that,” Alyce said as the shower guests toasted her with champagne.

Chapter 37

Friday, November 23

“Ready?” Jane asked.

“Yes,” Josie said.

“I’ve never done this before,” Jane said.

“Me, either,” Josie said.

She took her mother’s arm. She’d leaned on Jane for more than thirty years. Now Josie
needed her again to walk down the aisle. Butterflies flapped in her stomach.

“Nervous?” Jane asked.

“No,” Josie said. “I mean yes. It’s after two o’clock. Let’s go.”

The Jewel Box was a crystal cathedral bathed in buttery autumn light. Josie glided
along the white runner, escorted by her mother.

The string quartet played a fanfare, the notes shimmering in the clear air.

“I’m glad you let Lenore give you that quartet,” Jane said to her daughter. “Live
music sounds so much better than tapes.”

Josie nodded. The aisle seemed a thousand yards long.

“And we couldn’t have had better weather if we’d ordered it,” Jane said. “We’ve been
through terrible storms.”

“So we have,” Josie said. “The weather’s been scary, too.” She grinned at her mother.

The Jewel Box’s cantilevered walls were a towering fifty feet tall, but today the
art deco landmark was Josie’s sunlit secret garden. Poinsettias bloomed in impossible
colors: cool whites, tender pinks, blazing reds. The showy tropical flowers were massed
against pygmy date palms and feathery tree ferns. Flower baskets trailed from the
ceiling.

Josie and Jane glided down the Fountain Court to an elegant oasis of palms and flowers
near the entrance, accompanied by the music and a soft chorus of whispers: “She’s
beautiful.” . . . “Where did she get that jewelry?” . . . “Who would have guessed
Josie could look so extraordinary?”

“They’re right,” Jane said. “You look beautiful. Your grandmother’s brooch was meant
for your wedding dress.”

Josie’s gown was deceptively simple: long and white with a V neck. On her left shoulder,
Jane had pinned her mother’s dramatic art deco pearl-and-diamond brooch.

“You could have sold that pin after my father left and made your life a lot easier,”
Josie said.

“I was saving it for this day,” Jane said. “It was worth the struggle. And so were
you.” She gave a small, contented sigh.

“You look pretty good yourself, Mom,” Josie said. Jane’s pale pink dress and matching
coat suited her complexion.

“I’m not sophisticated like Lenore,” Jane began.

“Lenore is supposed to be admired,” Josie said. “You’re meant to be loved. I love
you, Mom.”

“You like the pink?” Jane asked. “I wanted to look special for you. Not many mothers
get to escort their daughter down the aisle.”

“Not many mothers worked so hard for that privilege,” Josie said.

Now Josie saw the wedding party waiting at the palm oasis. Her two bridesmaids—Alyce
in rich red velvet and Amelia in soft rose—seemed part of the floral show. On the
groom’s side, Ted’s best friend and clinic partner, Christine, wore a stunning Stella
McCartney tuxedo. Ted’s groomsmen—Richard, his brother, and Christine’s son, Todd,
were blurs.

Josie was dazzled by her groom. Ted was a striking six feet tall, with wide shoulders
and a narrow waist. The fine tailoring made his shoulders seem broader. His brown
hair was impossibly thick. Josie wanted to grab his hand and run away with him.

But she’d learned something planning this wedding. It wasn’t her day, or Ted’s. It
belonged to their families.

A few more steps and Josie would be with Ted forever.

“Still nervous?” Jane asked, and squeezed Josie’s hand.

“Not anymore,” Josie said. “Not now when I see Ted ahead of me.”

“That’s your whole life ahead of you,” Jane said.

Jane arranged Josie’s sheer veil, gave her daughter a kiss, then took Ted’s and Josie’s
hands. “Take care of each other,” she said.

I will, Mom, Josie promised herself. I do.

Christine escorted Jane to her seat.

“You’re beautiful,” Ted whispered to Josie.

“So are you,” Josie said. “I’ve never seen you in a tux.”

“I added a few dog hairs so you’d recognize me,” Ted said.

Josie giggled.

The minister, Ted’s uncle, Bob Scottsmeyer, cleared his throat. Josie thought Reverend
Uncle Bob could be a happy vision of her future. He had Ted’s kind brown eyes, a sun-reddened
outdoorsy face, and thick white hair.

“Reverend Uncle Bob could be my father’s twin,” Ted had told her. “He’s the next best
thing to having Dad here.”

The minister was blessed with a resonant voice. “Today, it is my happy privilege to
marry my nephew, Ted, and his bride, Josie,” he said. “We’re here to celebrate their
new life together.

“Ted Scottsmeyer, do you take Josie Marcus for your lawful wedded wife? Will you love,
honor, comfort, and cherish her from this day forward, for as long as you both live?”

“I do.” Ted’s voice rang out in the vast glass building. For generations, couples
had made that promise here, and would for years to come. Josie wanted to be part of
this past and future love.

Reverend Uncle Bob said, “Josie Marcus, do you take Ted Scottsmeyer for your lawful
wedded husband? Will you love, honor, comfort, and cherish him from this day forward,
for as long as you both live?”

“Oh, yes,” Josie said. “I mean, I do.”

The congregation laughed.

Alyce stepped forward to read Shakespeare’s eighteenth sonnet in a clear voice.

“‘Shall I compare thee to a summer’s day?’” she began. “‘Thou art more lovely and
more temperate . . .’”

For almost four hundred years those words had enchanted lovers. Ted and Josie fell
under their spell.

Only when Josie heard Alyce say, “‘So long as men can breathe, or eyes can see, /
So long lives this, and this gives life to thee,’” did Josie return to her wedding
at the Jewel Box.

“It is time for the marriage vows,” Reverend Uncle Bob said. “Ted, repeat after me.
I, Ted Scottsmeyer, take you, Josie Marcus, to be my wedded wife, to have and to hold
from this day forward, for better, for worse, for richer, for poorer, in sickness
and in health, to love, honor, and cherish, till death parts us.”

Josie and Ted had traded the old-school “obey” for “cherish.” “I want an equal partner,”
he’d said.

He was uneasy about saying “till death parts us,” but Josie insisted. “We’re together
until the very end,” she’d said.

She repeated her vows, then Reverend Uncle Bob said, “May I have the bride’s ring?”

Christine smoothly produced Josie’s wedding ring. The minister blessed it and Ted
slipped it on Josie’s finger with the twin-diamond engagement ring. Now her wedding
set was complete.

Alyce handed Reverend Uncle Bob Ted’s gold band. He blessed it. Josie took it with
trembling fingers, but she didn’t drop the ring. She slid it on Ted’s finger.

When the double-ring ceremony was completed, the string quartet burst into triumphant
music. Josie had obsessed on choosing the right piece. Now they might as well have
played “Pop Goes the Weasel” for all she noticed. The hundred or so guests vanished
and it was only her and Ted.

She could hear Reverend Uncle Bob say, “May Ted and Josie continue to give, forgive,
and receive more joy with each passing day. May they have the love of their family,
the support of their friends, long life, good health, and everlasting love.

“By the power vested in me, I now pronounce Ted Scottsmeyer and Josie Marcus husband
and wife. Ted and Josie, you may seal your promises with a kiss.”

Their kiss was electric.

Reverend Uncle Bob raised his arms and said, “Ladies and gentlemen, I present this
loving couple, Ted Scottsmeyer and Josie Marcus.”

The rest of the day seemed to pass by in snapshots. Ted and Josie didn’t walk down
the aisle together. Their guests engulfed them in a flurry of kisses and congratulations.

For the first time, Josie noticed that Jack Weekler, Amelia’s Canadian grandfather,
was at the ceremony. “I’m happy for you, Josie,” he whispered, but she heard the sadness
in his voice. He’d wished Josie had married his son. But Nate was there, too. Josie
could see him in Amelia’s face. She looked blissfully happy with her grandfather.
Josie made sure the photographer took their picture.

Josie had finally met Ted’s stepfather at the rehearsal dinner the previous night.
Whit Hall had flown up on his plane. He used a silver-headed cane at the wedding,
but he would abandon it to dance with Lenore at the reception.

“You’re even prettier than Ted said,” Whit had told Josie. “Welcome to our family.”

Lenore looked like a visitor from a distant, fashionable planet in her black designer
dress. “You make a picture-perfect bride, my dear,” she said.

And their pictures would be perfect. Josie knew it. She and Ted had hired the legendary
Tom Hedtke, a former wire service photographer who was now the city’s premier wedding
specialist. The old cigar chomper told Josie, “I started shooting during Vietnam,
then covered everything from wars to riots for the wires. I took a buyout at fifty-five
and sat around getting fat. So I started doing weddings as a favor, and then I was
back in the game again—fights, riots, action, and emotion. I’ll have a team of photographers
capture every moment of your day.”

He did, too. The surprisingly agile Tom and his assistants climbed balconies, scaled
staircases, and shot photos and video from impossible angles throughout the day. They
took scads of photos in the flattering light of the Jewel Box. Tom nearly hung upside
down taking video.

Richard, Ted’s foolish brother, gave Josie a shy kiss. “May I call you Sis?” he asked.

“Of course,” Josie said.

Josie’s brother-in-law was not going to be a worry today. Last night, Richard had
put plastic ice cubes with fake flies in them in the guests’ water glasses at the
Ritz.

Lenore had dragged her son out into the hall by his ear, as if he were seven years
old. Alyce, coming out of the restroom, heard Lenore hiss, “I am mortified, Richard.
You promised.” Alyce slipped back behind the door to listen.

“Awww, Mom,” he whined. “It didn’t hurt anyone.”

“It embarrassed me!” Lenore thundered. “Your allowance is cut for one year. You will
get a job. And if you ever pull another so-called joke again, you will be disinherited.
Do you understand?”

“But, Mom.”

“DO YOU UNDERSTAND ME!”

“Yes, Mother.”

“Go sit down. I’ve already apologized to my guests. Now you will.”

“I don’t know what to say,” Richard said.

“Think of something,” Lenore said. “Or you’ll fly home commercial.”

That horror forced Richard to make a rambling apology. He left before dessert.

With the threat of Richard’s shenanigans gone, Josie felt free to enjoy her wedding
day. She and Ted ran out of the building in a playful shower of wedding bubbles, then
posed in front of the statue of St. Francis of Assisi, the patron saint of animals,
near the Jewel Box. Ted wanted that photo for the clinic.

Then he helped Josie into his newly waxed vintage Mustang, decorated with white bows
and
JUST MARRIED
signs. Once they were both settled in the car, they kissed. This time, they could
let the kiss last.

“Um,” Josie said. “I may like legal love even better.”

“We’ll test that theory on our honeymoon,” Ted said as he started the car.

The other wedding guests formed a waving, honking parade through Forest Park and along
the streets to Tower Grove Park in the south part of the city. The wedding procession
rolled through Tower Grove’s Grand Avenue entrance, guarded by lions and griffins.

They waved to another wedding party, a couple on bicycles, and a mom with a baby stroller,
all enjoying the pleasures of the park’s main drive.

At last, they came to the most romantic spot in the park, the place where Ted had
proposed: A three-tiered fountain splashing in a glass-smooth reflecting pool, surrounded
by stone ruins.

Even Lenore was impressed. “It looks like a Valenciennes landscape,” she said.

Josie guessed he was a painter.

“Was there a mansion on this site?” Lenore asked.

“No, Mom,” Ted said. “These are real ruins from an old hotel that burned down almost
a hundred and fifty years ago. Henry Shaw, the man who created this park, made the
ruins into this folly. They’re an artistic recycling.”

“Very successful,” Lenore said. That was high praise indeed.

Two clinic aides were waiting with the pets. The dogs, Festus and Stuart Little, were
freshly washed and wearing their bow ties. Marmalade had bathed herself and wore her
white ribbon. Harry tried to claw off his bow tie.

Lenore eyed the pets and the pond warily, as if she expected the orange carp to leap
out and attack.

Tom and his assistants posed the wedding party, with Ted and Josie in the center.
Alyce, Amelia, and Jane were on Josie’s side. Amelia held her rose bouquet and perched
Harry on her shoulder. Stuart Little sat obediently at Jane’s feet. Ted sat Marmalade
on his shoulder and Festus at his feet, where the friendly Lab’s tail whipped at Lenore’s
long skirt. She tried to be a good sport, but she didn’t like Festus near her dress.
Whit traded places and stood next to Ted, with Lenore at his side.

“Big smiles,” Tom said. He had the video camera trained on the group. His assistants
were taking the still shots.

“Cheese,” said Josie, Jane, Ted and Amelia.

“Money,” said Dr. Hall and Lenore.

“Beautiful,” Tom said. “One more.”

It was one too many for Harry. The striped cat tore off his bow tie and jumped on
his friend Stuart’s back. The surprised shih tzu leaped up and darted toward Festus.
Marmalade jumped off Ted’s shoulder and ran under Lenore’s dress. “I’ve got it all,”
Tom the videographer yelled.

“So do I,” Ted said, and gave Josie a joyous kiss.