The Sinners of Saint Amos - Logan Fox Page 0,186

it’s warm outside, so I didn’t have to get a jacket. Instead, I’m wearing a branded athletic shirt that looks a lot more expensive than it was, thanks to their 50% off sale. A little deodorant to mask the smell of new clothes, and I was set.

Ask, and ye shall receive.

“I’m sorry to drop in unannounced like this, but I only just got the address and, well…” I throw her a sheepish look. “I just couldn’t wait to see it.”

“See what?” Vicky asks, but at least she’s not holding herself rigid anymore.

“The chapel.” I glance around. “She wasn’t lying. It is beautiful. And I think we’ll just about be able to fit everyone in.”

“Excuse me?”

I glance at her from the corner of my eye. “The wedding party?” I wave at the rows of pews. “I think we’d just about be able to fit everyone in.”

“Wedding? Here?” Vicky’s eyebrows dart up. “When?” She shakes her head.

“Our wedding.” I let my voice get a little deeper.

Vicky takes a step back.

I immediately hold out a hand. “I’m so sorry, but are you sure you’re booked here?” I look at the ground, my jaw bunching. “I knew that wedding planner was full of—” I cut off, and hurriedly make the sign of the cross, ending off by lifting the metal crucifix around my neck and kissing it.

Another purchase, since Cass said the black crucifix Zach got me was ‘too intense.’

I turn back to Vicky, who’s wide-eyed now.

“I’m sorry. My fiancée tossed out the last wedding planner we had, so we have a new one, and I didn’t like her from the get-go but…” I lift my hands, shrug. “You don’t want to mess with a bride-to-be.”

Vicky shakes her head. “When is the wedding?”

“In three weeks,” I tell her. “Wedding planner was supposed to call. I just stopped by because I was convinced from the way Trinity described this place that it might be too small for all the guests.”

Vicky holds up her hands. “Trinity?”

“Malone.” I move my chin to the side. “Daughter of Keith and Monica?”

Vicky puts a hand over her mouth. “Oh my…I…” She shakes her head. “I didn’t even know she was old enough too—” But then her jaw clicks shut. “I’m going to check the register straight away.”

I let her walk a few paces before following. She leads me back through the nave, to a small office beside the foyer.

“If we decide not to get married here, would you send her baptismal records over to Father Kennedy? I’ll give you his email address.”

“Oh, we don’t keep electronic records,” Vicky says. “But I can always fax the certificate through to him.”

I take my phone out, put down her details as a new contact even though the certificate is useless to me. I need the record the parish keeps where they note the parents’ names and, usually, an address. It’s a long shot, but right now it’s all we have.

She motions to a chair, and we sit in stuffy silence as she opens a big ledger and makes a note of the impending wedding in three weeks.

“Where were you baptized?” she asks, peering at me over her glasses.

Some things you don’t lie about. “I wasn’t.”

The temperature inside the room drops a few degrees.

“Do you have any of the documents with you?”

The sudden chill in the air spreads right to my lungs. “Documents? Like my social security number?” I reach for my wallet, but she shakes her head.

Ticking off on her fingers, she starts up, “I need your Freedom to Marry letter, your dispensation form, your civil marriage license, and the information for marriage form.”

Christ.

I almost cross myself again hearing that list.

“Guess I have another wedding planner to fire,” I murmur, as if to myself. “Is there still time for me to get those, or do we have to postpone? I hope not. I’ve already lost the deposit on a cake because the previous planner had the dates wrong. And don’t even get me started on the flowers. Did you know that, apparently, peonies are only beautiful if they haven’t opened all the way?”

I’m not an actor like Cass. Hell, even Apollo could have done a better job convincing this woman that I’m a groom in a pickle. But I got the gig because any sister of the cloth would be too shocked Cass didn’t catch flame when he walked into the chapel to deal with him, and Apollo…well…he gets distracted sometimes.

Also, I had sisters. Which apparently makes me the closest thing to a