Black Diaries

86. Something Blue

The days passed, with no news of my would-be assassin, and no success in wheedling any information out of Roy, who treated my wedding with the same principles he applied to doctor-patient confidentiality. The weekend went by in a whirl, and then...

Monday morning dawned.

A day like any other.

Except for one thing.

"Oh my God, oh my God, oh my God! I'm freaking out! I'm totally freaking out!"

"Yes, my Lady."

"I'm going to blabber and stumble and fall, or forget my vows! Didn't I write them down somewhere? I'm sure I wrote them down somewhere, only where...?"

"Here, my Lady."

"Oh, thank you! Thank you, so much! Now, where is that dress?"

From this calm, serious exchange you might already have guessed that it was my wedding day. And I still didn't know where the hell I was going to get hitched!

From outside, there suddenly came the honking of a car horn.

"Oh my God! It's him! He's here! It's him!"

"Yes, my Lady."

"The dress! Give me the dress, now!"

As quick as I could, I slipped into my white gown. (The exact same one I had worn for my last wedding. Can you imagine my feeling of triumph when I tried it on for the first time and it wasn't even a little bit tight? Yay! I hadn't put on a single pound since my last husband!)

Quickly, I buttoned up the dress and flung the veil over my head. For some reason, Roy had insisted on me changing before the wedding.

"Why don't I change at the venue?" I had demanded.

"There isn't room at the venue."

"Where the heck do you intend to marry me? A rabbit hole?"

But even that clever ploy hadn't made him divulge any information. He had just smiled that seraphic smile of his and kissed me until I had forgotten my own name. With luck, I would remember it today when the priest came to bit where he asked "Do you, Cassy...?"

The car horn honked again.

"I'm coming!" I shouted, striding down the hallway, struggling with the last buttons. "I'm coming!"

"Really?" came his amused voice from outside. "And here was I thinking we'd reserve that for the wedding night."

"Roy!"

"Yes, my love?"

I threw open the door—and the insults and recriminations I wanted to throw at him for making dirty jokes on my wedding day died on my lips. There he stood, right in front of me: Dr. Roy Stein, looking edible in a dark gray suit and shirt, a sleek silk black tie around his neck. For anyone else, a black tie for a wedding might have seemed strange. But with his black eyes staring at me, and the memory of a black diamond sparkling in the lamplight in my mind, I couldn't help thinking that black was the most beautiful color ever.

"Cassy." He extended his arm to me, his eyes drinking me in. "Ready to go?"

And I was. Oh, how I was!

Taking his arm, I started descending the steps—and then halted halfway, when I noticed our vehicle.

I blinked.

"This is a joke, right?"

"A joke?" He glanced at the massive four-by-four Mercedes. "No, that's actually a car. You'll notice the difference if you look closely."