Lori Wilde - There Goes The Bride Read Online Free PDF Page A

complications.”
    “Complications?” Delaney frowned. “What kind of complications are we talking about?”
    “Um . . . well . . . throughout the years the veil has . . . er . . . backfired,” Claire stammered.
    “Backfired? What does that mean?”
    “There’ve been a few incidents.”
    “Like what?”
    “Whenever people hear about the legend, they feel compelled to wish upon the veil.”
    “What’s wrong with that?”
    Claire nervously moistened her lips. “Nothing in and of itself. The problem occurs when people wish for one thing and what their hearts really want is another thing completely. Because you see, when you wish on the veil, you get whatever your soul most deeply hungers for. It’s just that some people aren’t ready to face what’s truly in their hearts and souls.”
    “Be careful what you wish for because you just might get it,” Jillian said.
    “Exactly.” Claire nodded.
    “But this wedding veil is absolutely perfect,” Delaney said, feeling wildly out of control, but unable to reel herself in. “I have to have it. Would seventy-five hundred dollars convince you?”
    A long silence stretched across the room. All five of them were staring at the wedding veil.
    “You really are desperately needin’ a bit of magic in your life, aren’t you,” Claire Kelley murmured, her Irish brogue more noticeable now.
    Delaney looked from the wedding veil to Claire and saw understanding in the shopkeeper’s eyes. Eerily, it seemed as if the woman comprehended all of Delaney’s doubts and fears concerning her impending marriage.
    “Yes.”
Far more than you can ever know.
Delaney raised her hands in supplication. “Please, sell me the veil.”
    “I cannot sell it to you.”
    An emotion she could not name, but that tasted a bit like grief, took hold of her. Why was possessing this particular wedding veil so important? There was no rational explanation for it, but an odd feeling clutched deep within her. The yearning was almost unbearable.
    “Ten thousand.” She felt like an acolyte begging a Zen master for enlightenment.
    Claire sucked in her breath and looked around the shabby little shop. “You really want it that badly?”
    Delaney nodded, too emotionally twisted up inside to speak.
    “All right.” Claire let out her breath in an audible whoosh. Her reluctance was palpable. “You may have it.”
    She felt as if someone had lifted a chunk of granite off her heart.
    Delaney’s breath came out on a squeak of pure joy. “Really?”
    “Yes, but only under one condition,” Claire cautioned.
    “Yes, yes.”
    “You must swear that you will never, under any circumstances, wish upon the veil.”
    “I’ll sign a waiver, a contract, whatever it takes. My friend Jillian is a lawyer; she can bear witness.”
    “Delaney.” Jillian made a clucking noise. “Are you sure you want to do this? Ten thousand is a lot of money for a wedding veil.”
    Defiantly she met Jillian’s eyes. “I want it, okay? Just back me up here.”
    Something in her face must have telegraphed her seriousness. Delaney rarely took a stand on anything, hardly ever expressed an opinion or even a strong desire, but because of this, whenever she did take a stand, people usually listened.
    Jillian held up her palms and took a step back. “Hey, if it’s what you want, I say go for it.”
    “Thank you.” She turned back to Claire and reached inside her Prada handbag for her checkbook. “I promise never to wish on the veil. Now may I have it?”
    Claire stuck out her hand to seal the deal. “Done.”
    And that was the moment Delaney realized that although she’d managed to find the special magic she’d been aching to believe in, she had just made a solemn vow never to use it.

    Chapter 2
     
    T hat night, Delaney dreamed of her sister.
    Skylar had been dead for seventeen years, but she popped up in Delaney’s dreams with surprising regularity. Although she couldn’t say why her sister still played such a prominent role