Carol Clark - Hitched

Tom leaned over and tried to see what Greeny’s fuss was all about. Then he saw it. A woman’s purse. Tom nudged his dog to get out of the way, bent down, and picked up the bag. “Good boy,” Tom said, petting Greeny’s head. “Somebody must have lost their purse, but you found it, didn’t you? Good boy!” Greeny wagged his tail joyfully.

Tom unzipped the small black bag and smiled at the sight of a Hershey’s chocolate bar. Next to it was a small cell phone. He reached his hand in, pulled out a driver’s license, and looked at the picture. A woman named Joyce who lived in Queens. She’s cute, Tom thought. The only other items in the purse were a credit card in her name and keys. No cash. A hard-core thief would have used the credit card and taken the cell phone. Someone probably took the money and ran.

“We’re making a special stop, Greeny,” Tom said, “then we’ll go down by the river.” The nearest police station was several blocks away. When Tom and Greeny walked in together, Tom smiled at the sergeant behind the desk. “I’m being a good citizen and returning a purse that my bloodhound here discovered on the street. I think he picked up on the scent of the chocolate bar inside.”

The sergeant smiled good-naturedly. “Does it have any other hidden treasures?” he asked as Tom handed it over.

“No, but if she’s offering a reward, I’d be happy to accept it.”

The sergeant dumped the contents on his desk. He picked up Joyce’s driver’s license, looked at the name, and grimaced.

“What’s the matter?” Tom asked.

“This girl was out last night with her friends at a club. It seems she disappeared into thin air.”

“Oh, my God,” Tom said quietly.

“Where did you find this?”

“On Jane Street. One block from the river.”

“This doesn’t bode well,” the sergeant said quietly. He took all of Tom’s information for the police report.

When Tom went back outside, he couldn’t stop thinking about Joyce from Queens.

Victoria loved being in Jeffrey’s apartment. It was so elegant. They were able to spend just three precious hours together before she had to report to work at midnight. As they snuggled on the couch, sipping champagne and taking in the view of Central Park, they reminisced about their chance meeting.

“It was such a stroke of luck that we ended up on that elevator together,” Jeffrey cooed. “If Tracy hadn’t left her wedding shoes in the car, I would never have had to run up to Alfred’s salon to drop them off. To think you were leaving at that very moment. And then the elevator got stuck with us in it!”

“Just long enough for you to kiss me!” Victoria giggled. “The attraction between us was too much to fight.”

“You were standing so close to me. When you grabbed my hand and said you were scared, I felt electricity,” Jeffrey sighed. “I knew at that moment I could never go back to Tracy.”

“Poor Tracy,” Victoria said as she put her head on Jeffrey’s shoulder. “In time she’ll understand.”

“I doubt it.”

“It doesn’t really matter, does it?” Victoria asked, looking up at him.

“Not at all. But believe me, Tracy will never understand. What about Frederick? How did he take the news when you broke up with him?”

“He felt terrible. So did I. But I told him to visualize the wonderful life ahead of him.”

“What did he say to that?”

“He hung up on me.”

“I can’t say I blame him,” Jeffrey laughed. “Ohhhhhhh,” he said, giving Victoria a big hug. “I can’t wait to get to know you better. I can’t wait until this mess blows over and we can go out in public together. I want to show you off!”

Victoria swooned. “All’s fair in love and war, Jeffrey! I keep pinching myself. I can’t believe I found you. I knew that if I just kept on believing, then real true love would come into my life.”

“Didn’t you think you’d found true love with Frederick? At least in the beginning?”

“No,” Victoria answered honestly. “I’ve never felt like this before.” She looked at her watch. “I’d better go. I’ll miss you, darling.”

Jeffrey walked to the door, and they kissed again. “I’ll be dreaming about you tonight, my sweet,” he whispered.

“And I’ll be daydreaming about you.”

At the hotel where Victoria worked in midtown, it was quiet during the witching hours. Not too many people checked in or out in the middle of the night. Workers on the late night shift ended up having a lot of time on their hands.

Victoria spent the night smiling, thinking about her future with Jeffrey. She was good for him, and he was good for her. Poor Tracy, Victoria thought. She must be devastated.

At around 6 A.M., one of the hotel employees dropped off the morning papers at the front desk. When Victoria saw the headline of the New York Post, her mouth dropped. But when she opened the page and saw her name in bold print, her adrenaline really started pumping. It was a feeling she couldn’t say she disliked.

“I didn’t know you were getting married!”

Victoria spun around.

Her co-worker Daisy, who’d been on a break, was standing inches from her. “I just saw the newspaper!” she cried. “Why didn’t you tell me?”

Victoria smiled. “My fiancé is very private. We just wanted to have a quiet wedding…”

“I didn’t even know you had a boyfriend! We’re here together all these nights, and I do nothing but complain about my love life and you don’t tell me anything! Who is the lucky man?”

“His name is Frederick and he lives in Pennsylvania.”

“I’m going to throw you a shower!”

“No.”

“Why not? It will be a fun excuse to get everyone who works here together. No big deal. But it said you were an April Bride. When are you getting married?”

“As you know, I’m working every weekend. We were going to take a couple days in the middle of the week and get married ourselves. Just a few friends and his family will be with us.”

Daisy looked down at the newspaper and pointed at the picture of one of Alfred’s dresses. “You got yourself an expensive dress for a small, middle-of-the-week wedding!”

“ Frederick is a painter. He plans to do a life-sized portrait of me in my wedding dress. I knew it had to be special.”

“How romantic! Are you going on a honeymoon?”

“We’ll go to the Poconos for a couple of days,” Victoria said quickly. “He’s busy and I’m busy, so we’ll take a longer vacation in the summer when the weather is nice.”

“I know what you mean. Give me a beach chair and I’m happy. So what’s Frederick like?”

The expression on Victoria ’s face turned positively saintly. “He’s wonderful. And he’s incredibly talented. His work is magnificent.”

“Yeah. What does he look like?” Daisy asked, always getting to the point.

“Handsome. Handsome. Oh, just so handsome.”

Daisy giggled with abandon. “I love it! What does your mother say about your dress being stolen? She must be freaked.” Daisy’s eyes opened wide. She stared straight at Victoria.

“Actually,” Victoria said, “my mother doesn’t know I’m getting married. She doesn’t approve of Frederick.”

“Really? Why not?” Daisy was clearly enjoying every detail, the juicier the better.

“My mother was hoping I’d marry someone who offered more stability. Frederick is a dreamy artist. So she doesn’t even know that we were planning to get married.”

“She doesn’t? Girl, she’s going to find out now!”

“Maybe not. She and my father are living abroad. I was going to tell her after we were married so she wouldn’t try and talk me out of it. I just hope Jef-”