Hell by Hilary Norman Read Free Book Online

had seemed to slip right into place beside each other after Mildred had first agreed to come and live in the shelter of David’s home; and care, tenderness and, ultimately, love had come easily and gently after that.
    Nothing wrong with easy or gentle.
    Nothing wrong about right .
    There were white roses around the front door and through the hallway, marking out the route for the guests into the lanai, which had become, for one day only, wholly unrecognizable.
    No chuppah today, but Saul, his father’s best man – a carpenter by profession, his furniture increasingly in local demand – had built an indoor pergola and threaded roses through its trellis roof.
    Beneath which he now stood beside his father.
    Waiting, as Sam brought Mildred down the short, narrow aisle.
    To David, her husband-to-be.
    Grace waited, too, to one side, in a dress of pale gray silk, her hair in a chignon, smiling first at the bride, then at Sam – seeing him stoop somewhat, Mildred tiny beside him, but so handsome in his dark suit and the new, modern Italian silk cravat she had bought for him; then smiling down with pride at Joshua, standing very straight in his new Diesel polo shirt and pants, clutching her hand, wide-eyed at the goings-on – and then looking over at Cathy, standing on the other side of the pergola, gorgeous in a cornflower-blue halter dress with her new ultra-feminine urchin haircut.
    Mildred’s own suit was champagne silk, her face wreathed in smiles as her adored son-in-law-to-be guided her to her groom. Handsome too in his hawk-nosed, craggy way, in his new gray suit – not looking rumpled for once – a white rose in his buttonhole, his silver hair elegantly combed, his eyes behind his spectacles intent only on her and filled with warmth.
    Her David.
    They had exchanged their vows, been declared husband and wife by Judge Helen Dawkins, an old friend of the groom’s, had kissed, held hands, signed their names, been congratulated and embraced, had laughed with pleasure, and had both come close to shedding tears of pure joy.
    And now, together with their family and close friends, they were partying, eating, drinking and dancing.
    Saul was dancing with Mel Ambonetti, a twenty-one-year-old student in the Anthropology Department at the University of Miami, a tall, blue-eyed brunette, with an elegant aquiline nose and long, shining hair that swung as she moved. Three months together, and the first woman who had gotten to Saul for a long time.
    The whole Becket clan here today, along with good friends and neighbors, and a fistful of cops, too: Martinez, of course – who’d hurried in just after six – and Beth Riley and Mike Alvarez, too, both having become friends of the groom’s over time.
    No family there for Mildred. Her parents, still living in Queens, had claimed frailty as their reason for not attending – and David had asked Mildred if she might like to go back to New York City for their honeymoon, but Mildred had said she was determined that nothing and no one would spoil their special time.
    â€˜Though it seems a shame,’ David had persisted after they’d chosen Boston as their destination, ‘to be so close and not go see your parents at all.’ He’d shrugged. ‘They can’t be getting any younger.’
    â€˜I guess you’re right,’ Mildred had said. ‘And heaven knows I’ve never had much time for unforgiving people, so maybe we could go at the end of the vacation.’ She’d paused. ‘But I wouldn’t want to stay with them, even if they ask us to, which they probably will not.’
    â€˜We’ll be in a hotel,’ David had assured her.
    The Ritz Carlton in Boston, first, and he’d reserved a park view room at the Plaza in Manhattan for the last five days before their return, and that about summed up what David wanted for Mildred – that, and good health for them both, and as long a shared old