part0022

"You look very handsome, Matteo." Ms. Zelda gazed up at him with those blue eyes so like Lori's.

"Thank you Ms. Zelda." He adjusted the collar on his tuxedo, which was attempting to strangle him. "I have one question, though. How do you keep that hat from blowing away in these winds?"

All around them on the back lawn of Ms. Zelda's art deco estate the wind ruffled the sea of pastel flowers and the wedding guests' clothing, but through it all, Ms. Zelda's feathered hat remained perched majestically on her head.

She laughed. "Hatpins, Matteo."

He smiled back at her, but kept one eye on the lotus door. He wanted to get the first glimpse of Lori when she came out the door on her father's arm.

Next to him stood Joe Serrano, his best man, and Kyle Madrigal, one of the groomsmen. George Asher was trying to get the white bow tie to stay on Shadowfax's collar. Shadowfax was doing his best to scratch it off every time George let go of him. And his other groomsman, Alec O'Keeffe, was still missing. Matt hoped he'd show up in time.

"Yes, ma'am." He pulled his attention away from the door. "I'm sorry. I didn't mean to be rude."

"That's all right, son. I just wanted to discuss a problem with you."

"Yes. I've heard about the hot tub." Some software tycoon had bought one of the cliff cottages and was threatening to put a hot tub on the front lawn. "I'm sure you ladies can handle the tragedy."

"It's not that. It's that." She nodded toward the bay, where the lighthouse island sat. "We need to name a permanent lighthouse keeper in preparation for next year's tourist season. All renovations are done, and we need someone who knows boats, can give tours, and can cook for the guests when the lighthouse becomes a bed and breakfast."

"Mm hmm," he said absently, glancing back at the door.

"We were thinking of Lori."

He laughed. "No offense, Ms. Zelda. But your great-niece isn't the best cook I've ever met."

"Oh, you'd be the cook and handle the boats. She'd give the historical tours."

"Thank you, ma'am," he said. "But you know with my reputation as a criminal the council would never approve such a thing."

"Oh." She smiled sweetly at him. "Haven't you heard?"

She just smiled and wandered off into the house.

Alec O'Keeffe finally showed up, a big stack of newspapers in his arms.

"Are you ready?" he asked Matt.

"Well, my mom's annoyed because we aren't having a church wedding, and Lori's parents are mad that she's marrying a bum like me, so yeah, I think we've covered all the bases."

"This ought to help," Alec said, handing him a paper from the stack. "Think of it as an extra wedding present...."

The Shadow is Undercover Hero , the headline read.

"I had a bit of help from Ms. Zelda, and Dr. Lil, and that character George," he said, nodding to his partner, who was still fighting a losing battle with Shadowfax over the bow tie. Alec grinned. "George decided that now that you are an ex-secret agent, it's time your friends knew the whole truth. I had to agree."

"Mabel Rutherford will have a cow," Matt said.

"Mabel Rutherford bought twelve copies. Claims she knew it all along."

Her mother. How strange that Lori had never noticed how much alike they were. She could see Aunt Zee in mom now. They were all so alike. An unbroken line from her grandmother, Aunt Zee's sister, to her mother, to her. All struggling with how to live with these thunderstorms in their brains. Trying to figure out how to just live.

The others had left the bedroom and she was alone with only her mother there. It still felt awkward, knowing her mother didn't approve, but was gritting her teeth and putting up with Lori's choices because she could no longer control her.

She turned to face her mother, wondering what to say to convince her that this was really the right decision. That this was where she belonged.

Her mother had tears in her eyes, and all Lori's tough resolve melted. She hugged her close and said, "I'm so sorry you're unhappy, Mom."

"Unhappy?" Her mother shook her head. "Oh, honey. I'm not unhappy." She fumbled with a little something and then held her hand out to Lori.

Lori took what her mother was offering to her. It was a little locket on a chain, gold, with an image of the Eiffel Tower etched on it. "Oh, mom! It's my something old!"

"No," said her mother. "Aunt Zee will be here in a minute with your something old."

"Then I don't understand...."

"This is your something borrowed." The tears spilled over onto her mom's cheeks. "Open it, Lori."

She did. Inside was a tiny picture of a man. He looked serious, with dark eyes in a lean face, a scraggle of a young man's beard, and a a mop of too-long, sunbleached hair.

"I don't understand. Who is he?"

"He is my Matt. When I was eighteen he asked me to run away to Paris with him, to become an artist like I had dreamed of doing."

"But I was afraid. Afraid to go against my parents' wishes. Afraid to take a risk. Afraid to be out in the world with my epilepsy always there, ready to stop me, to embarrass me, to possibly kill me."

I did this for you, because I didn't do it for your mother , Aunt Zee had said.

"I didn't go. I stayed with my parents. I let them decide what was best for me. I married your father, a man they picked out for me."

She looked at her mother, surprised.

"Oh, don't get me wrong. Your father and I have been very happy together. We care very deeply for each other. He is a wonderful man. Kind and decent, loving and supportive. I can't say a single thing bad about him."

"But it has never been that kind of love. The kind of love that would make you run off to Paris with a man." She kissed Lori on the cheek. "The kind of love you'd find when a man washes ashore on your island and steals your heart."

Then her mother straightened up and wiped away the tears. "I am very proud of you, Lori. Don't ever forget that."

Now Lori was the one with tears. "I never knew."

"How could I tell you? Your father doesn't know. No one knows. Except Aunt Zee. And now you."

"I'll never tell," Lori said. She let her mother slip the locket chain over her head and her mother nestled it under the neckline of the gown, close to her heart.

"Are you all finished?" asked Aunt Zee with her usual perfect timing.

"All done," her mom said brightly.

"Ready for the something blue?" Aunt Zee asked. She handed her a black velvet case. Lori opened it, and gasped.

The earrings were sapphires, a shade that matched Aunt Zee's eyes, and so matched her own. She put them on, then looked one last time in the mirror. In the glass she saw Aunt Zee, her mother, and herself. Three generations of strong women, all at peace with the decisions they'd made in life. All ready to go forward from here.

"Ready?" Aunt Zee asked.

Lori nodded. She was ready.

Deliver a dog to its new owner, they said. It'll be easy, they said. They didn't say anything about murder. Bree has to solve the secret of the Little Fox Cottage in the next Pajaro Bay Mystery, available now.