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Gray nodded toward David, who was just coming over to them.
“My office alerts me of any activity. Tank and Shauna are in the office right now. I’ll go and check with them and see if there’s any word.”
David walked down the hall, and Mary asked, “Do you think we can have dinner at our house today or is it still too dangerous?”
Gray shrugged his shoulders. “When David comes back in we can ask him. Obviously, this isn’t a good long-term solution. We don’t know where Cheryl is and how long it will take to find her. Cheryl knew about the roses, and I told her that you and Dad had planted roses for Sam this year; I have no doubt that’s why she cut them down. Other than the flowers, she didn’t approach the house where you and Dad were, but I still wouldn’t be comfortable with you two being there without security. We’ll have to have someone from David’s office stationed at your house until this is all over. But, still, we don’t know her state of mind or how far she’ll be willing to go. She knows we’re getting married, but we didn’t tell her when and we don’t know how much she knows.”
David walked back into the kitchen and went to the coffeepot to pour himself a cup. He looked over at everyone with the pot in his hand and raised it in question.
“The police haven’t found her yet.”
Gray asked David about dinner and suggestions for allowing Mary and Harry to go home and David said he would take care of it. Jessie leaned her head on Sam’s shoulder.
Brushing Jessie’s hair from her forehead, she whispered, “It’ll be okay, you know.”
Jessie nodded but didn’t say anything. One by one, guests woke up and wandered into the kitchen. Mary, anxious for something to do, began pulling things from the refrigerator to make breakfast. Jessie jumped up to help her. When Sam started getting up, they both looked at her and told her to sit down.
“We told you, you wouldn’t have to do anything, we have this. After all, it’s still part of your bachelorette party.”
She chuckled and sat back down. “Be my guest.”
Mary and Jessie made a batch of fried potatoes, sausage, bacon, and scrambled eggs. As the food started cooking, the rest of the family wandered into the kitchen toward the aroma. Dani giggled and told the men Mary’s dating stories of her and Harry and they all laughed. Even Harry, though his ears were tinted red. Breakfast was eaten, and everyone pitched in to clean up the messes from last night. Within an hour everything was cleaned, and people began leaving. David came in and said he had a security person coming to Gray and Sam’s to take Mary and Harry to their house. There would be a security system installed, and that person would stay with them until this was all over. About an hour later, guess who walked in? Kent Logan was assigned to Mary and Harry. Harry rolled his eyes and Mary giggled.
David looked at Gray. “Is anything wrong with Kent?”
Sam giggled. “Mary thinks he’s handsome and Harry’s a little jealous.”
David chuckled and nodded. “Oh.”
Harry and Mary packed up and said they would see them in a few hours. They were excited to get home. They were going to need to learn how to use their new security system, and Mary just wanted to get home and check out her flowers. She hoped they would be able to save some of them.
Sam and Gray flopped on the sofa. Quiet was so wonderful after all that commotion. As nice as it was to have everyone around, it was a lot of activity. She leaned back and closed her eyes and let out a long sigh. Gray chuckled and did the same thing. They both fell asleep.
At eleven-thirty, they pulled into Harry and Mary’s driveway. Tank was with them today and in good spirits. He was happy the way things worked out last night, and he wasn’t stuck with the women like he was afraid he was going to be. He apologized to Sam; she laughed and said she completely understood his apprehension. As they walked into the house, Mary ran forward, excited.
“We have flowers; she didn’t kill them all. You’re going to have my flowers for your wedding.”
She was talking excitedly, hands flailing, her breathing shallow. “Come on; I’ll show you.” Flanked by security, they walked to the gardens. Yes, there were a few roses Cheryl hadn’t killed. Their bouquets wouldn’t be as big as originally planned, but Sam would be able to carry them. The girls would each carry two, one champagne and one purple. Perfect. They would adopt the less-is-more attitude.
Mary said, “I’d like to sleep out in the garden in case that bitch comes back.”
Whoa! Mary said bitch again. Sam pitied Cheryl if Mary found her before the police.
Dinner was a short affair. After last night, the family was tired, but in good spirits, especially since they knew Cheryl hadn’t been able to take away the one thing Mary was so proud of for this wedding. Besides her son marrying the woman of his dreams, Mary wanted them to carry the flowers she lovingly grew for them. They ate, cleaned up, and went home.
She sighed. “I’m getting too old to stay awake till two in the morning and get up early and start again.”
Gray chuckled. “It certainly has been a long few days—emotional and long—but nonetheless happy despite it all.”
When they got home, Gray poured them each a glass of wine, and they went into the living room to sit on the sofa. Neither of them felt comfortable sitting out on the deck as they had gotten used to doing after coming home from Harry and Mary’s. It was the first time they had been able to sit and just talk to each other.
The next day Sam conferenced with the office and got a lot of things taken care of. They had decided to promote one of the other paralegals, and she applauded their choice. They decided to Skype the following day for a mini training session. That left Sam able to go to the Kinkaide office with Gray.
He had some drafting to do, and she could spend time becoming familiar with the policies, procedures, employees, and the business-related things. They had licenses that needed to be renewed, basics on which vehicles the company owned and licensure. Then there was the demolition company. There was a little more involved with that because of some of the equipment involved. Heavier trucks meant DOT regulations and renewals. Jax could go over all of that with her.
The day flew by—she couldn't believe it when Gray told her it was time to go. She found a few things she needed to organize, dug through files and scanned in things that weren’t scanned in for remote access. She was excited to get that much done. Tomorrow would be another day.
By Friday, she was tired. The week had been a whirlwind of meeting the employees, Skyping with the law office, learning how Gray ran the business and what he needed from her and where they were strong and where they were weak in the business. The fourth floor had gotten very little attention, but they’d gone up there a couple times over the week to eat lunch and look around to see where they left off. After they came back from their honeymoon, she wanted to get up there and finish some of the pieces for the new offices. They had one staff meeting this week with Ethan and two other architects in the office to discuss what was needed for the second and third floors. In addition, they’d need to come up with design ideas. Ethan said he’d take the lead with her ideas and when they return from their honeymoon they can see them. She was leaving at noon today to try on her dress and having lunch with Pam and Jessie. Gray insisted she take Tank along, even though there had been no word from Cheryl and no sightings. The police still hadn’t found her and had no clue where she was. David was at the office with Gray, and they would meet back at the house.
