Jordyn's Army, page 8
I filled her in on the events of the day before, from Mrs. Fields giving Jackie’s dress to a total stranger to Jackie’s reaction.
“I know it’s not just a dress, and I can’t help but wonder if the two events are connected somehow,” I confessed.
“Jacob, it’s been a year now. You really think that whoever poisoned Jackie did it intentionally, and then, an entire year later, stole her dress?” She seemed skeptical, her brow raising at me.
“I’m just saying that I think it’s strange and I wouldn’t rule anything out.”
“I think it’s a bit of a stretch. But nonetheless, I don’t understand why anyone would do that,” she replied.
“Well, there was no helpful evidence last year besides the apple itself, and Jackie doesn’t want to bother the police with a missing wedding dress. She says they have more important things to do. So, there’s nothing to be done at this point other than keeping an eye on everything else.”
“It’s just a couple days away. I’m sure it’ll be fine,” Ruth said, but there was a thoughtful look on her face.
“What?” I asked.
“Nothing.”
“It’s not nothing, spill it,” I demanded.
“Well, have you considered that someone might be stalking her? Or you, for that matter?” she asked.
“Why would anyone stalk me?”
“You’ve rejected half the female population at this hospital,” she said.
“Oh, come on.” I waved my hand at her. “Now that’s a stretch.”
“I’m serious though. I saw on that show Hindsight one time, where a lady was stalked by her boyfriend’s ex-girlfriend, and she did weird stuff, like let the air out of her tires and rearranged things in her house when she wasn’t home. She wanted to mess with them, without getting too violent, or attacking anyone directly. She was a real basket case. But smart.” Ruth loved watching crime television, and always had an obscure, criminal reference for just about any occasion.
“I don’t have any crazy ex-girlfriends,” I said.
“Does she have any?” Ruth asked.
“Not that she’s told me about. Besides,let’s say your insane theory is feasible… that doesn’t explain the apple. That happened before I ever met Jackie. So it wouldn’t be someone who knew us together. It would be someone who knew her and not me.”
“Maybe. But maybe not,” Ruth said. “I’m just saying, if any other weird stuff starts to happen, especially this close to the wedding day, I’d rethink it.”
Shortly after, we had some patients to check on, and went about our business. I deliberated on what Ruth said though, and decided I’d take the rings home. I’d been keeping them in my locker at the hospital for safe-keeping but now, with the disappearance of the dress, I didn’t want to take any chances of something happening to them.
At the end of my shift the following morning, I went to my locker and grabbed my stuff, shoving the box with the wedding rings into my pocket. I headed back to our place, unable to shake the looming feeling we weren’t quite done with wedding day crises.
5
Jaqueline
The day before the wedding arrived in the blink of an eye. My friend Ella, who was also my only employee, came in to help Aunt Lydia and I make flower arrangements. I was working on my bouquet, which was a mix of the champagne roses. This particular breed of flower signified tenderness. I found that so appropriate since Jacob's tender nature calmed me through my brief coma, and the sandy pink color reminded me of something vintage. They were also known as Quicksand Cream Roses, but I always called them champagne, because it sounded so much more romantic. For greenery, I wrapped eucalyptus leaves around the outside of the stems.
Aunt Lydia wanted me to include more color, but I felt like the roses were the star of the show. It also created a simple and clean bouquet, which I adored. I’d had plenty of practice over the years I’d created arrangements for brides, where they wanted massive color. It was striking, but it didn’t fit me. For the tables at the reception, I had chosen white peonies, along with the roses, and for a pop of color, I incorporated burgundy roses. I’d read somewhere once that burgundy roses symbolized deep passion, readiness for a commitment, and unconscious beauty. All of those things pretty much summed up Jacob and me.
We hadn’t had any more issues or traumas, no emergencies of any kind and I was beginning to think the dress situation was just a terrible coincidence. As I hummed to myself while I worked, my phone rang, and I saw Jacob's name pop up on the screen.
"Hey, babe," I said, nestling the phone between my chin and shoulder.
"Jackie?" His voice was soft, and there was a tremble in his tone.
"Jacob, what's wrong? Something's wrong, I can hear it in your voice."
"We have a situation."
Dammit. I spoke too soon.
"Just tell me what it is." I laid the flower I was holding on the table in front of me before I crushed its poor little stem.
“The rings.” He paused. I could hear him take a deep breath on the other end of the line. “The rings are gone, Jackie. They’re gone. I had the box with me, and I just went to look at them, and they’re not there. I don’t know where they could have disappeared.” He blurted it all out and then there was silence.
I felt my mouth drop open, but no words could escape. This was not the kind of thing I wanted to hear the afternoon before our wedding day.
“Jackie? Are you there?” he asked.
“I… uh… yeah, I’m here,” I replied quietly. Who would do this to us? I didn’t even have to ask, I knew they were stolen. Just like my dress.
“I don’t know what to do. Tell me what to do?” he pleaded. The rings were special. They’d belonged to his grandparents, who were no longer with us, and they’d been resized to fit us. Jacob had been married before, but he made sure every bit of our nuptials were special and unique to us. These rings were one of the ways he did that. When he showed them to me months before, I shed a tear over the sentimental gesture. Losing these rings was heartbreaking for both of us.
“Jacob? Are you sure we should do this?” I asked without thinking. My instinct was to run and hide. I thought we should postpone the wedding until we figured out who was behind trying to sabotage us, because it was clearly no longer a coincidence.
“Jackie, what are you saying?” I could hear the panic in his voice.
“I’m just saying that we need to consider the real possibility that someone is sending us a message. And maybe… we shouldn’t get married tomorrow.” I couldn’t believe the words were coming out of my mouth, but I was scared. A year ago, I’d been poisoned, and now my dress and our rings were stolen?
Someone was out to get us, but mostly, I was afraid someone was out to get me. What if they did something to Jacob? I couldn’t live with myself if someone’s crazy vendetta with me put him or anyone I loved in danger. What if the next thing that happened wasn’t thievery at all. What if it was something far more sinister, and someone at the wedding got caught in the crosshairs? No, I decided we were putting this wedding off.
“Jackie, hold on.”
“No, Jacob. I’m serious. This is becoming scary. I think that everything is connected. I believe whoever poisoned me last year is responsible for trying to ruin our wedding.” In my eyes, it was settled.
“Jaqueline White, we are getting married tomorrow. We didn’t find each other the way we did to just give up. That’s not who we are. Stolen dresses, stolen rings… it’s just stuff. It has nothing to do with our love for each other. I know you’re scared, and we’ll get to the bottom of this, but we are not calling off the wedding.” He was stern and authoritative, and truthfully, if it weren’t for the topic at hand, I’d have been completely turned on by it.
“Jacob, what are we going to do. Those rings belonged to your grandparents. It’s too late to find new ones.” He was bringing me back on board, but we still needed rings.
“Just leave the ring situation to me. I will take care of it, and I’ll meet you at the altar.” He was quiet for a moment, then added, “I can come home tonight, you know.”
“Jacob McIntyre! If you think for one minute with all that’s going on, I’m going to let you jinx us even further by seeing me before the wedding? You’re crazy. No way. Not happening. You better not come home!”
He laughed, a sound that calmed my nerves and lifted my spirits. “Okay, okay. I won’t come home tonight. But I’m not far away if you need me. Please don’t worry, Jackie. I’m serious, it’s going to be okay, and after tomorrow we’ll be husband and wife. We’ll figure out what’s been going on, then we’ll move on with our lives. But tomorrow is all about us, and celebrating what we have, okay?”
“Okay, babe,” I replied.
“I love you to the moon and back, Jackie. I can’t wait to make you my wife.” he said softly.
“I love you back, Jacob. I can’t wait to become your wife.”
I hung up the phone, feeling better but still unsettled. He was right though, we couldn’t let some unknown crackpot ruin our day. It was all just missing stuff, and if he said he’d figure out the ring situation, he would. I trusted him with my life, so I could certainly leave figuring out how to get us some wedding rings on the fly in his capable hands.
6
Jacbo
When Jackie said she thought we should postpone the wedding, I damn near lost my mind. There was absolutely no way we weren’t getting married tomorrow. Sure, the thefts were suspicious and my own concern was growing, but we were getting married, there was no doubt about that.
As soon as I got off the phone with her, I talked to my buddy Eric, who I was staying with. He and his wife Noelle had become very good friends of ours, and they offered to house me the night before the wedding so we could keep up with the tradition of the groom not catching a glimpse of his bride before the big day. I didn’t like to compare my relationship with Jackie to my first wife but in moments like this, I couldn’t help but be reminded of how much more traditional Jackie and I were.
The night before my first wedding, we stayed together, did photographs before the ceremony, we put on the show. But with Jackie, everything was about creating a perfect marriage, not a perfect wedding. She couldn’t care less about taking professional photos, and she didn’t even seem that upset when her dress was stolen. What Jackie cared about was being with me, and starting our married life together. There was no way I was letting some crazy person ruin it.
Eric and I decided to go to the police station and file reports on everything that happened, including going all the way back to Jackie’s poisoning. It had eaten up most of our time, and I still had the ring situation to address. The police were as helpful as they could be, I referred them to Mrs. Fields to try to identify the woman who had picked up the dress, but other than that, there were no other suspects.
Once that was done, Noelle, who was a marine biologist, met up with us for a hunt to find rings. She’d suggested going to pawn shops, as that was one of the few options open at that time of the evening. It was getting late and while I would have liked to go ring replacement shopping earlier, reporting everything to the police had to be top priority.
“Do any of these grab you?” Noelle asked as we sifted through a tray of someone else’s lost hopes and dreams.
“To be honest, this is depressing.”
“What’s depressing about it? It’s a literal buffet of options,” Eric replied.
“This entire tray of pawned rings is a reminder of people who had to sell their shit.” I found the whole process both daunting and disheartening. None of these rings were ours and as much and I tried to convince myself it didn’t matter, it did.
“Your grandparents’ rings will make their way back to you, Jacob. You have to just have a little faith,” Noelle said, trying to reassure me.
“Even if they don’t, they’re just a symbol. What you have with Jackie is special, and that’s what matters, bro.” Eric was right. I knew he was, but it was just frustrating for things to not go as planned.
I settled on two rings that sort of looked like they went together. Unsure if hers would even fit, I bought them anyway for what was an absolute steal, and shoved them into my front pocket. I planned to put them in the ring box when I got back to Eric and Noelle’s house.
Once they were safely tucked away, I settled in for the night, emotionally exhaused from the snafu. All I wanted to do was wake up and marry Jackie. I’d hoped the worst was behind us, and decided I needed to hear my soon-to-be-wife’s voice one more time before calling it a night.
There was a lot of commotion in the background when she picked up, and I could hear what sounded like a two-way radio. “Jackie, what’s going on?”
“Someone broke into the flower shop.”
“That’s it, I’m coming home. Are you okay?” I scrambled around the spare room I was in to gather my things. It was unbelievable to me that another incident had happened, and I wanted to make sure the police on scene knew about all the other things I had reported earlier. It had become very clear someone was out to stop the wedding or, at the very least, punish us.
“I’m fine, Jacob. But the flowers for tomorrow…” She trailed off.
“Are you serious?” Running my hand down my face in exasperation, I took a moment. Flowers meant everything to Jackie. Not only were they her livelihood, but she talked about them like they were little people. Giving them a drink, feeding them, sending them to new homes. They were important to her, and my heart broke, because no matter what she said, I knew that was the last heartbreaking straw.
“I’ll be right there. Is Lydia with you?” I asked.
“Yes, she’s here. And Ella came as well. We’re all fine.”
“Okay, please ask the police to stay, I want to speak with them.”
“I will,” she replied.
“I love you, baby. I’ll be there soon.” I wanted to reassure her, but I was at a loss myself.
“I love you too.”
When I arrived back home, there were two police cars parked on the street in front of the flower shop. Eric and Noelle decided it wasn’t a good idea to drive myself, so they drove.
“It doesn’t look bad from the outside,” Noelle said, a hopeful tone in her voice.
“I suspect the real damage is inside.” I took a deep breath and hopped out of the car. When I walked inside, Jackie was sitting on a stool at her counter across from a police officer. Another uniformed officer was walking around, taking pictures.
“Jacob!” Jackie spotted me and ran over, throwing herself into my arms.
“Tell me what happened,” I said, holding her tight.
“Everything for the wedding was destroyed.”
I pulled away and walked with her back to the counter and the officer seemed to be waiting patiently. Lydia and Ella were standing near the front counter where Eric and Noelle had also stationed themselves when they walked in behind me.
“It looks like someone managed to pick the lock and let themselves in. These older storefronts aren’t that hard to get into if you have a little practice lock picking,” the officer chimed in. “I’m Officer Anderson. I was just finishing up getting a statement from your fiance.”
“Jacob McIntyre.” I extended my hand to the officer. “Did she tell you about the other incidents that have been happening?”
“She did. I suspect it’s all the same person, but Jackie here says that she has no enemies. What about yourself?”
“No sir. We’re a pretty respectable, normal couple. Just trying to have a nice wedding. Tomorrow.” I squeezed Jackie’s hand for reassurance. “So, how bad is the damage?”
Officer Anderson looked to Jackie, who replied, “All of the centerpieces have been doused in bleach. It killed the flowers. And my bouquet… well, my bouquet was smashed up.” She didn’t relay any feelings, she was blank, emotionless.
“All of it is destroyed?” I asked.
She nodded.
“But, we still have a lot of extra flowers in the back cooler that the villain didn’t know about,” Ella, who was normally pretty quiet, said from across the room. “So, she’ll have a new bouquet, I’ll make sure of it.”
“Oh, thank you, Ella, that’s very sweet of you. But you’ve done plenty,” Jackie replied.
“I’ll decide when is enough,” Ella said with a wink. She was a good person. Ella had started out as Jackie’s nighttime cleaning person, and was hired on to help in the flower shop between her classes at the university nearby. She’d become a friend to us all, and her offer to replace Jackie’s bouquet was kind.
Jackie laughed. “Thank you, Ella.”
“Officer, is there any idea who this person might be?” I asked.
“Unfortunately, there isn’t at this time, but we’ve collected evidence and we’re going to keep on it. I wish I had better news for you right now, but hopefully we will have something for you soon.” He stood up and slid his small notebook into the front pocket of his shirt.
“Well, thank you for everything, Officer.” Jackie rose to shake his hand and I followed suit.
The officer left, and all of us stood around, not quite sure what to do next. I glanced over to Eric and Noelle. “Can you guys just bring my things, including my suit for tomorrow, to the venue? I’m going to stay here tonight.” There was absolutely no way I was leaving her after all of this.
“Of course,” Eric replied, then added tentatively, “So, the game plan is still the same?”
“It most certainly is. I’ll see you there at noon. Wedding is at two o’clock, come hell or high water,” I replied.
“Jacob—” Jackie tried to say something, but I wasn’t going there.
“Two o’clock, Jackie. We’re getting married. Flowers or not, dress or not, rings… well, we have rings.” I chuckled lightly and she returned with a small smile.
“Okay then, we’ll see you all tomorrow.” Jackie started to go upstairs, then paused, waiting for me to follow.
