Righteous Obsession (28 page)

“Like what?”  Alethea teased, pushing his hair back
over his shoulder.

“Like making love to my wife.”

“We could leave the reception early,” she suggested.

Colin shook his head.  “It still wouldn’t give us a
lot of time because I’ve got a sound check at three followed by a radio
interview.  Steve had that lined up long before we decided to get married.”  He
shook his head in frustration and repeated, “Shit!”

Alethea nibbled at the plate of food.  “But you’re
free until eight-thirty and if we skip supper …”

He brightened.  “Yeah!  That could work to our
advantage.”  He picked up the plate of cake and handed a fork to Alethea.

She sighed suddenly.  “What am I going to do about my
house?  I’ve been so busy I haven’t even thought about it until now!”

Colin thought a minute then suggested, “You could rent
it to Mace.  I know he’s been looking to get out of that dump he’s in now and
then you wouldn’t have to go through all the hassle of selling it.”  His eyes
twinkled.  “And Mrs. Von Neumann certainly won’t lack for excitement with Mace
living there!”

“That’s a good idea, Colin!”  She gave him a kiss on
his cheek.  “You’re going to be a good husband.”

“I’m trying really hard,” he replied fervently. 
“Hey!  You’re eating all the frosting!”

“I’m not either!”

“Are, too!”  Colin laughed suddenly.  “Does this
qualify as our first argument?”

“No, just a difference of opinion.”

There was a discreet knock on the door and Louisa
called, “Alethea?”

“Yes, Mom?”

“Some of the girls want to leave, but they don’t want
to miss your throwing your bouquet.  Would you mind doing that right now?”

“No.  I’ll be there in a second.”

“Traditions,” Colin remarked, nodding.

“Traditions,” she agreed, giving him a kiss then
eating the last of the cake.

“Hey!”

Everybody gathered at the foot of the stairs while
Alethea stood on the landing with her back to them.  She tossed her bouquet
over her head to a chorus of screams and outstretched hands.  The bouquet
tumbled over several pairs of hand and landed in Jake’s arms.

“Uh oh,” Colin murmured to him.  “You know what this
means?”

“What?”  Jake demanded.

“The person who catches the bridal bouquet is fated to
be married within a year!”

“You’re full of shit, Colin!”  Jake shoved the bouquet
at him and scurried out of sight.

“You can run but you can’t escape fate!”  Colin yelled
after him, a smirk on his face.

Alethea came over to him.  “Jake looks a little pale. 
What’s wrong?”

“I told him he was fated to be married within a year
since he caught your bouquet.”

Alethea giggled.  “Wouldn’t it be something if Jake
and Vanessa did end up getting married?”

“Colin, are you going to toss Alethea’s garter?”  Mace
called.

“Yeah, I do get to do that, don’t I?”

Alethea sat down on the settee by the side of the
staircase, kicked off her pump and carefully inched the skirt of her gown up
past her knee, exposing the garter.  There was a chorus of whistles at the
sight of her shapely leg.  The loudest was a drunken wolf whistle that came
from Nancy’s husband, George.  Colin smiled apologetically at Alethea then
gently slipped the garter off her leg, stood up and tossed it over his
shoulder.  There was a mad scramble behind him from where Steve finally emerged
as the victor.

“Congratulations, Steve!”  Colin said.

“There’s no marital significance attached to this I
hope,” he remarked.  “Because once was more than enough!”

Colin grinned.  “No, you’re safe.  You’re supposed to
give that back to us on our first anniversary.”

“That I can do,” Steve assured them.

Jazz came over to them.  “I haven’t had a chance to
kiss the bride yet!”  He gave Alethea a kiss.  “Congratulations, Alethea. 
Everybody at the office wanted me to give you their best wishes, too.”

“Thanks, Jazz, but I’m not going to be a stranger. 
I’ll be visiting from time to time.”  Alethea assured him.

“Thanks for your help in videotaping our wedding.   We
really appreciate it,” Colin added.

“No problem.  Glad to help out two of my favorite
people.  Now, if I could only do the same for myself!”

“What’s wrong?”  Alethea asked.

 “Well, I don’t have a clue what I’m going to write
about in my column for the next issue.  I expect they’ll be something
interesting on my desk when I get back to Los Angeles.”

“I wouldn’t be surprised,” Colin remarked.

Colin’s grandparents and his uncles and aunts were
going to leave for the airport and came over to say goodbye to him and
Alethea.  They both gave them a hug and a kiss and walked them outside to the
limousine.  Peter and Amanda were going to the airport with them.

“Thanks for coming on such short notice.  It wouldn’t
have been the same without you.”

“When you get home, please tell everyone who couldn’t
make it, that I’m going to have a small reception when Colin gets home so
they’ll be able to meet Alethea then,” Amanda said.

Colin and Alethea waved as the limousine pulled away
then went back inside.  As they came in, Liam came over to them and said,
“Mace, Jake Vanessa and I are going to take off and do some sightseeing in the
French Quarter.”

Colin laughed.  “So, Jake and Vanessa seem to be
hitting it off, huh?”

Liam shrugged.  “I guess.”

Colin looked at Alethea and raised his eyebrows. 
“See, it’s happening already.”

“Well, I’ll believe it when we’re standing up with
them,” she replied.

Liam looked confused for a moment, as if he knew he’d
missed something, but he didn’t know what it was then shrugged.  He gave
Alethea a hug and a kiss.  “You look absolutely gorgeous, Alethea, and I’m so
glad you’re my sister, now!”

“Thank you, Liam.”  She replied.  “And I’m glad I have
a brother now too.”

Colin waved to Liam.  “Have fun and we’ll see you
later.”

“Okay, see you later.”

Father Michaels was inside his car, across the street
from the hotel, reading his breviary when he noticed a limousine pulling up at
the front entrance.  Liam, Jake, Mace and a woman who was unfamiliar to him,
emerged from inside it.  Colin was not with them.  He sat up straighter and
kept his eyes on the hotel entrance.  About fifteen minutes later, the four of
them came out of the hotel again, dressed casually and walking toward the
Quarter.  He noticed immediately that their bodyguards were not along.  He
started his car, deciding that this was his message from God, telling him the
time was right to set his trap for Colin!  He drove slowly along the street, watching
them as they ducked in and out of stores.  Deciding it would be easier to
follow them on foot; he parked his car in a nearby alley and started back to
where he’d last seen them

Liam, Mace, Jake and Vanessa had stopped in front of
an herb shop that advertised different herbs and herbal remedies.

“Hey!  Maybe you can find something in here to help
with your sagging love life, Jake!”  Mace said.

“Huh!  Maybe, you can find something to cure your
nonexistent one, Mace!”  Jake retorted.

Mace, Jake and Vanessa went inside and Liam lingered
outside, studying the window displays of the neighboring shops.  He had gotten
several yards away from the herb shop before he realized it.  He was about to
go back when he heard footsteps coming up behind him then suddenly felt
something very sharp shoved into his side and heard a soft but threatening
voice say,  “Don’t turn around!  Do exactly as I say and you won’t be hurt!”

“I don’t have much money, but you can have whatever
I’ve got!”

“I don’t want your money!  I want you to walk straight
ahead until I tell you otherwise!  Don’t try to summon help or I will kill
you!”

Though frightened, Liam kept his wits about him and
looked for an opportunity to escape.  He followed his kidnapper’s directions
and turned into an alley.  “I don’t understand!  What do you want with me?”

“What do I want?  God has decided to test my faith and
has assigned me the chore of killing that evil, perverted brother of yours. 
You, my son, are the bait in the trap I’m going to set to capture him and bring
him to his execution!”  He lowered his knife and opened the rear door.  Liam
saw his chance and tried to bolt, but Father Michaels grabbed his arm and threw
him into the side of the car.  The side of Liam’s face hit the door frame hard
and he collapsed.  Father Michaels looked around to make sure nobody had
witnessed anything, than lowered Liam into the back seat and covered him with a
blanket.  He locked the rear door and shut it then got in and drove away.

Mace, Jake and Vanessa came out of the herb shop. 
Vanessa carried a bag of herbal cosmetics that she’d bought.  Mace looked
around.  “Where’s Liam?”

“He’s probably in one of these other shops,” Jake
replied.

“Well, we’d better find him because if we’re late for
the sound check, Crowley will have our balls!”

Colin and Alethea sat on one of the couches by the
fireplace.  There were still a few guests remaining at the reception, but Beau
and Louisa seem to be tending to them without their help.  Colin noticed Steve
and Jazz leaving, looked at his watch and sighed, “I guess we’d better get
moving, too.”  He got up and helped Alethea to her feet.

“You’ll have to help me with my gown because there’s
no way I can get out of this alone!”  Alethea said as she lifted her gown and
started up the stairs.

“It would be my pleasure, Mrs. Matthews,” Colin
replied, holding up her veil.

“Mrs. Matthews sounds wonderful!”

“I think so, but I might be prejudice,” he remarked as
they walked into her bedroom.

“Help me with my veil first, please.”  She unpinned
the coronet from her hair and laid it on the dresser then Colin helped her take
her veil off and carefully laid it across her bed.  He began to undo the
buttons on the back of her gown. 

He made a frustrated sound and bit his lip as he
worked to unfasten them.  “Jesus!  These buttons are so tiny I don’t see how in
the hell women back then got in and out of their clothes without an army of
helpers!”  He muttered.  He got the last button undone. “Finally!”

“My sleeves, too, please.”  Alethea held out her arms
to him with a teasing smile.

“Do you suppose your great-great-grandfather never
intended for his daughter to get out of her wedding gown?”  Colin joked.

“Well, if that was his intention, it didn’t work
because my great-grandmother had ten children!”

Colin whistled as he got her sleeves unbuttoned. 
“There!”  He helped her out of her gown and laid it on the bed next to her
veil.

Alethea slid out of the heavy slip and placed it on
the bed next to her gown and veil.  Attired only in her bra, panties and sheer
lace-top thigh-highs, she undid the pompadour and brushed her hair then redid
it in her customary French braid.  She got dressed in jeans, pulled a
short-sleeved sweater over her head and slipped on a pair of comfortable
shoes.  “There, I think I’m presentable,” She remarked to Colin who had been
avidly watching her as she dressed.

“More than that I’d say!”  He replied as he openly
admired the fit of her jeans.

Alethea carefully replaced the gown, slip and veil in
their separate storage bags and hung them in the closet.

“I guess those go back in storage?”

She nodded.  “Yes, until somebody else in the family
decides they want to wear it.”

Colin put his arms around her and held her close to
him.  “Well, maybe we’ll have a daughter who’ll want to wear it on her wedding
day.”

“A daughter?  You’ve got this all planned out, haven’t
you?”  She teased.

He kissed her neck.  “I wouldn’t mind having a
daughter who’s just like her mother.  Of course, I’m going to keep her locked
up until she’s forty!”

Alethea laughed, finished packing then closed and
locked her suitcase.  Colin picked up her suitcase while Alethea took her
carry-on bag and they went downstairs.

“I’m going to take these outside and put them in the
car.”

“Okay.” Alethea gave her mother and father a hug and a
kiss.  “Thanks for everything.  Today was beautiful and just like I always
dreamed it would be.”

Colin came back inside.  He gave his parents, who had
returned from the airport, a hug.  “I’ll see you at the concert later, okay?”

“We’ll be there,” Peter replied.  Alethea gave them
both a hug.  “Call us when you get settled in and we’ll have you over for
dinner,” Amanda said.

 “I’d like that, Amanda.  I hope I don’t make too much
of a pest out of myself while Colin’s gone.”

“Whenever you feel lonely, give me a call,” she
assured her.

“You’ll take good care of our daughter,” Beau said. 
It was an order rather than a request.  It was obvious he hadn’t quite
reconciled himself to the fact that Alethea had actually gone through with it.

“Yes,” Colin promised.  He looked at Alethea. 
“Ready?”

She nodded, took his arm and they ran through a heavy
shower of bird seed to their car.  They arrived back at the hotel.  Colin got
out, laughing as he brushed the bird seed out of his hair and off his clothes. 
“Glad I’m only doing this once!”

Alethea giggled as she took his arm.  “Why?  You look
so adorable covered in bird seed!”  They walked into the hotel and took the
elevator to the seventh floor.

“Well, maybe we can do it all again on our
twenty-fifth or fiftieth wedding anniversary,” he joked.  He unlocked his door,
scooped Alethea up and carried her into the room.  He kicked the door shut
after him.  “I’ll bet you thought I’d forget this part,” He teased, setting her
down on the bed.

Alethea smiled and shook her head.  “No, because I
know you’re a hopeless romantic no matter how hard you try to hide it.”

Colin stripped off his clothes and his hated shoes. 
He dug around in his suitcase, looking for something to wear.  Alethea came up
behind him, wrapped her arms around his waist and pressed her cheek to his
back.  “Are you sure we can’t find any time before five-thirty?”

“I wish we could!”  He replied, unclasping her hands
from around him and kissing them.  “I’m getting a major hard-on just thinking
about later!”

“And my panties are getting drenched every time I
think about it!”

Colin pulled out his favorite pair of light blue jeans
and a T-shirt from the current tour.  He sat down on the bed to put on his
hiking shoes.  There was a knock on the door and Alethea answered it.  “Is Colin
ready?”  Russ asked.

“Right there,” Colin called, tying his shoelace.  He
put his arm around Alethea and they walked out into the hallway to find Steve,
frowning, pacing and glancing at his watch.  “What’s wrong, Steve?”  His hand
slid down to Alethea’s ass, lightly caressing it.

“I distinctly told those guys, when they left your
reception not to leave this hotel!”

“Come on, Steve, they’re grown men and you can’t lock
them up.”

“Well, those supposedly grown men also left without
their bodyguards again!”

Just as he finished speaking, the elevator bell dinged
and the doors opened.  Mace and Jake ran out stopping short when they saw Steve’s
expression. Jake crashing into Mace.

“Where’s Liam?”  Colin asked.

Mace and Jake exchanged looks then Jake asked, “He isn’t
here?”

“He isn’t,” Russ confirmed.  “I went to his room
before I went to Colin’s.”

Mace cleared his throat.  “Well, we kind of lost him…”

“What do you mean you lost him?”  Colin demanded.

 “Jake, Vanessa and me went into this store and Liam
stayed outside.  We weren’t in there more than ten minutes and when we came out
again, he wasn’t there.  We figured he was in one of the nearby stores, but we
couldn’t find him.”

“Vanessa’s still looking for him,” Jake explained.

“We thought maybe he got bored and decided to come
back here ahead of us,” Mace added.

“Something’s wrong!  This isn’t like Liam!  He’s
always on time – you can set a clock by him!”

“Calm down, Colin!”  Steve advised.  “Let’s not panic
and jump to any wrong conclusions.

“Liam’s probably waiting for us at the arena,” Jake
said.

Liam was not at the arena nor had any of the crew seen
him.

“Fuck it!” Colin swore.  “Where in hell is he?”

“I’m sure he’ll be along any minute.  Why don’t you guys
get started,” Steve suggested.

The band ran through a couple of songs with Liam’s
roadie standing in for him.  Colin was only half-paying attention to what he
was doing so intent was he on listening for Liam’s footsteps.  He still hadn’t
arrived by the time they finished their sound check.  Colin spotted Vanessa as
he came off stage and rushed over to her.  “Did you find him?”

Vanessa shook her head regretfully.  “No.  I talked to
some of the store owners in the area, but none of them remembers seeing anyone
fitting Liam’s description.  I’m sorry.”

“It’s okay, Vanessa, thanks for trying,” Colin
replied.

Alethea gave Vanessa a hug.  “Thanks for looking.”

“You guys go on to the radio station,” Steve said. 
“McGregor and I will search as much of the Quarter as we can and when we do
find Liam; I’m going to burn his ass!”

“You’re going to have to wait in line!”  Colin
warned.  He and the rest of the band went to their interview.  They explained
Liam’s absence by saying he’d felt ill and had stayed in bed so he’d be well
enough to perform that evening.  Colin tried to keep his mind on the interview,
but he was worried about Liam.  He had to force himself to concentrate.  When
they arrived back at the hotel, one look at Steve’s face told Colin that his
brother was still among the missing.

“Has anybody checked Liam’s room?”  Alethea asked. 
“Maybe, he left some indication of his plans.”

“No.  I guess none of us thought to do the obvious,”
Colin answered, heading for Liam’s room.  He searched the room carefully, but
found nothing out of the ordinary.  As was Liam’s custom, the room was very
neat, clothes hung up or put away in drawers rather than tossed all over the
place like in his room.  “I don’t see anything that can help us,” Colin said,
tossing a guide book back on the dresser.

“I’ll give him until eight o’clock and if he hasn’t
turned up by then, I’ll get the police on it,” Steve promised.

“Maybe, somebody should check the hospitals – just in
case he had an accident or got mugged,” Mace suggested.

“I’ll get somebody on that right now,” Steve said.

Colin went back into his room, sat down on the bed and
buried his face in his hands.  Alethea came in and closed the door behind her. 
She sat down next to Colin and put her arms around him in an attempt to comfort
him.

He lifted his head.  “Jesus!  I have to tell mom and
dad Liam’s missing!  How in hell am I going to tell them?”  He got up and
walked over to the window.  “I promised them I’d look out for Liam and now he’s
missing!”