The Bride's Curse by Glenys O'Connell Read Free Book Online

as she spoke to her guests. She placed a selection of tiny sandwiches, fruit, and some cupcakes on a small table under the window, along with some crockery and silverware, linen napkins, and a flask of hot coffee.
    She stood back to study the table, then turned to Daria. “I hope this is enough for you. If there’s anything else, just give me a call,” she said as she left the room with a friendly invitation to “Enjoy!”
    “Isn’t she wonderful? I understand she used to be the housekeeper here before everything blew up. If I thought I had a ghost of a chance, I’d try and lure her away to be the housekeeper in the home Drake and I are having built.” Daria seemed to notice Kelly’s wince at her phrase “a ghost of a chance” and frowned. “Just a figure of speech. I guess a lot of people are sensitive to what happened here.”
    “A bit of a silly reaction, I know. It’s just that what happened was, well, not something that goes on much in a small town like this. I think it shocked everyone to the core. Anyway, good luck with trying to lure her away. She seems happy enough here.”
    Half an hour later the table was littered with empty cups, plates, and cupcake wrappers, and Kelly had a notebook full of ideas to explore for Daria’s wedding and lists of items such as flowers and bridesmaids’ gifts.
    “I’m still amazed that the dress needs no alterations at all. All three brides who tried it on have fit into it well enough without having to change anything, but I say again, it could have been made for you. It’s by a famous Parisian designer—I should have brought the note that was in the box with it when I bought it because I can’t remember the name offhand.”
    “I’d be interested in seeing that. Drake and I are meeting up this weekend to finalize our plans for the wedding date and location. I can’t believe how many small details are involved in such a simple ceremony.” Daria walked to the door with Kelly.
    “That’s what wedding planners are for, to take as much of the burden as possible off your shoulders so you’re still able to smile as you walk down the aisle.”
    • • •
    Kelly managed to scurry from the Captain’s House without encountering any of the shades that might be lurking there. Perhaps Daria was right and such things were only echoes of the past. Her own experience with restless spirits didn’t support that theory, though.
    She was relieved to be back in the safety of Wedding Bliss knowing that her next appointment with the realtor Daria would be at the store where there was no danger of running into any of the insubstantial figures she glimpsed from time to time. She had the awful feeling that one day one of these visions would have the strength to actually make contact and demand something of her. The very thought made fear scamper up and down her spine. She comforted herself with the thought that she had not seen any apparitions in the two years since she’d moved to Marina. “Maybe the doctors were right, maybe these really were some sort of weird hallucinations,” she muttered to herself. But she didn’t believe a word of it.
    She busied herself filling out her notes and checking her calendar so as not to miss any deadlines. Despite the problems with that dratted gown and the fall off in people wanting to arrange spring weddings, Wedding Bliss was busy with weddings already arranged. Winter weddings seemed popular these days, and several brides were planning to tie the knot by Christmas. They also had two Christmastime nuptials, and Kelly loved Christmas weddings when the events were made even more special because of the season. Even the possibility of snow and the unpredictable weather didn’t detract from the romance of those Yuletide days.
    A young woman and an older lady who looked like mother and daughter had paused to look in the window. They appeared to be discussing the 1930s gown that was displayed there and which would look fabulous on the girl, Kelly