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“Give it a rest, Sandra,” the boyfriend ridiculed her as the cops got closer. He then yanked himself around to peer through the shadows of the back of the van, as though weighing up the probability that he could leap through the mess of boxes and vintage goods and get to the driver’s seat. Even from where Kelli stood, it looked very unlikely.
“I’m going to tell you one more time,” Officer Bobby warned. “Put your hands up.”
With a dramatic roll of his eyes, as though he was just a teenager who’d been caught staying out too late, the man raised his hands and shrugged his shoulders. Things sped up after that, as though Kelli was fast-forwarding through a criminal show on television. Officer Bobby walked toward the thief and managed to manipulate his body so that his torso fell forward and his wrists were cuffed together in one fell swoop. Kelli was impressed. Sandra was much easier to handle, of course, as she’d turned to putty in the officers’ hands. Even still, they couldn’t trust her, removing the backpack filled with hotel things before they cuffed her. As the other cop pulled her to her feet, Sandra turned spontaneously to meet Kelli’s gaze. Sandra’s jaw dropped. For a moment, they regarded one another— both bleary-eyed and exhausted for very different reasons. Kelli couldn’t believe it. Her heart broke for this poor, stupid creature, so young and so naive, who’d obviously allowed herself to be manipulated by her criminal boyfriend.
Kelli had fallen for Sandra’s tricks. Maybe it had hardened her for the future. Maybe she would move forward in time with the knowledge that very bad things could happen, even with the best intentions.
As the cops shoved Sandra and her boyfriend into the back of the cop car, Kelli walked toward the vendor van, which remained open like a mouth. On the ramp, she peered inside to find mountains of boxes and bags. Toward the back was something long and large and thin, wrapped in paper. With a nervous jump in her gut, she approached it and tore at the edges of the paper to peer inside. Just as she’d suspected, it was the painting that had been taken in the foyer. How had they managed that? It was incredible.
“Kelli?”
Kelli leaped out of her skin and turned around, gasping, to find Xander on the ramp. His face was drawn. Kelli staggered toward him, threw her arms around him, and shook violently. Although Kelli hadn’t known he was capable, he slowly lifted her up and carried her down the ramp, away from the van, and back into the sunlight, where she sat on the lush grass for a quiet moment. The cop car’s tires cracked over the gravel on the edge of the parking lot as they returned to Oak Bluffs. It had been one hell of a day.
“That was absolutely crazy, Kelli,” Xander breathed, his hand on her cheek as he gazed into her eyes.
“At least I know I wasn’t going insane, though. Things really were going missing. They were stealing things, right and left,” Kelli said.
Xander nodded wordlessly.
“Hey! They’re here!” Audrey’s voice came from the doorway to the kitchen before she burst into the sunlight, still in her bridesmaid dress. Amanda and Sam hurried up behind her, bride and groom, hand-in-hand. Amanda and Sam looked world-weary and fearful, the same way they’d looked after their car accident last year. These poor kids, Kelli thought now. They’d already been through so much, and they hadn’t even made it down the aisle yet.
“Are you okay?” Amanda said, perching gently beside Kelli. There were now two rips at the bottom of her wedding dress, and more beads had scattered off, leaving behind ghost-like strings.
“Oh, Amanda. I’m so sorry your wedding is ruined,” Kelli breathed.
Amanda’s face glowed with surprise. “It’s not ruined, Aunt Kelli. Not in the slightest.”
“Come on,” Kelli said, gesturing vaguely toward the van.
Amanda placed her hand over Kelli’s in the thick grass. “It has not been the easiest day of any of our lives,” Amanda said. “But everyone I love is still here. Sam didn’t take off the minute he saw the altar. And those criminals are long gone, now— they’re the cops’ problems and not ours.” As she tried to smile, her face seemed to get the hang of it, and she began to beam like the bride she was.
“We can clear another day in the schedule,” Kelli tried, wanting to fix this. “Any day, all summer long. We can do this all over again.”
But Amanda wouldn’t hear of it. “I want to marry Sam today. That is, if Sam’s still up for it.”
Sam pressed his forehead against Amanda’s, his breaths coming in fits and starts, as though he’d just run a marathon or held his breath for too long. When he locked eyes with Amanda, there on the lawn that encircled the tremendous and historical hotel, Kelli felt she could see everything that would come after this for them— the wedding, the babies, and the life-altering decisions that went hand-in-hand with middle age and even the shattering reality of death. Kelli blinked back tears, remembering that life was something none of us got out of alive. But somehow, during the small era of time that she and Amanda had been on this earth, they’d both been able to find their person. It was truly an incredible thing.
“I don’t just want to marry you today, Amanda Harris. I need to,” Sam told her, which settled it. Amanda gasped with relief.
ChapterTwenty-Four
The full breadth of the story wasn’t reported to the wedding guests that afternoon. Kelli gave them an abbreviated and PG version, saying, “We’ve had a bit of a mix-up today, which means that the wedding is postponed to six-thirty. The bride needs a little more time to prepare, and the hotel manager needs a drink.” The guests laughed nervously across the ballroom, shifting their weight and blinking hungrily at one another. It had been several drinks since they’d had the appetizers. From above, where Amanda watched them on the landing of the staircase, Amanda realized they needed to feed them as soon as possible, or they would have another disaster on their hands.
Amanda returned to the bridal suite, where Audrey was at the tail-end of explaining the dramatic story of what had happened to Brittany and Brooke, who’d been drinking with friends from Newark. Lola, Susan, and Christine were fixing their makeup and watching Max, who remained shoeless, bouncing around the room with manic eyes that told Amanda just how much he needed a nap.
“We need to feed everyone,” Amanda said. “Maybe we should serve the reception dinner early?”
Susan raised her mascara wand thoughtfully. “I don’t know, honey. Are you sure you want that? Won’t that screw up the schedule of the wedding?”
Just as she finished saying it, Susan, Amanda, and Audrey burst into giggles.
“I’m sorry. I just realized what I said. Like the wedding schedule isn’t screwed up already!” Susan laughed. “But then again, you can do whatever you want with today, Amanda. It’s all yours. If you want to order sandwiches for everyone to tide them over, be my guest.”
“Do you think anywhere in Oak Bluffs is willing to serve two hundred sandwiches out of the blue?” Amanda asked.
“You can spread out the orders,” Audrey suggested. “There’s got to be at least fifteen sandwich places across the island with the capacity to make between ten and fifteen sandwiches. We can tell them it’s an island emergency.” She gave Susan a knowing smile and added, “Susan Sheridan always knows how to get what she wants. Let’s put her in charge.”
Susan grabbed her phone and sped off. “I’m on it.”
