Chapter Ten

Greta placed her hand on her hip as she stared coolly down the pathway that Chloe and Craig should have come down about four minutes ago. She blew out an impatient breath of air as she willed them to arrive. "I knew I should have gotten Chloe!" Greta grumbled discontentedly to Hope and Belle, who looked at her with sympathy.

"Never ask a man to do a woman's job," Belle quipped perkily, trying to lighten the mood a little bit. She had noticed how Greta's face had been becoming gloomier and gloomier with each passing second.

Hope also watched the path that Craig and Chloe would be using to get to their waiting place before they began their part in the ceremony, but, so far, there was no sign of the two of them. "The processional is going to start any minute," Hope stated the obvious to Greta and her daughter-in-law. "What should we do? Wait or start down the aisle?"

"They'll be here, I'm sure of it," Belle insisted optimistically as she waved her hands expressively in the air towards the path. "We should definitely start down. Otherwise, Brady and everyone else would wonder what was going on. We'd end up looking pretty silly when Chloe and Craig show up on time."

Greta narrowed her eyes on the path. Something didn't feel right, but she couldn't quite put her finger on it. She didn't want to share her worries with Hope or Belle, at least, not yet. Hopefully it's just nerves, she thought as she asked Hope, "What do you think, Hope?"

"I say we get the show on the road. Chloe isn't exactly a flight risk, you know. I can't imagine anything on this planet that would prevent her from marrying Brady." She craned her neck, looking down the pathway one last time. "I'll bet that her and Craig are having another father-daughter moment. She probably had to fix her face again."

"That could be it," Greta said, but that uneasy feeling refused to leave her. She shivered slightly and then wrapped her arms around herself as she suddenly felt cold. The uneasy feeling would continue to send tremors through her until Chloe was standing next to her, ready to walk down that aisle.

The musicians stopped playing the background music and warmed up, announcing the start of the processional. "Oh, shit!" Greta swore as she looked in worry at her companions, biting her bottom lip in concentration. "Belle!" she said urgently, holding onto the younger woman's arm. "You are the first one to go. Take it slow, extremely slow. Hope and I will follow suit. The musicians can't start Chloe's part until I am at the altar, with both of you."

Belle nodded in agreement, starting to feel slightly uneasy herself. "Good idea, Greta." She inhaled deeply, a la John Black, and then pasted a wide, carefree smile on her face. "Do I look worried?" she asked them before she started to walk towards the aisle.

"No," Hope whispered back as she saw Belle start her extremely slow walk in front of the gathering of Salemites. "Greta, I have a really bad feeling about this," she whispered to her friend as she positioned her bouquet in front of her middle, readying herself for her leisurely stroll down the aisle.

"I know what you mean," Greta answered softly, steeling another long, worried glance at the completely deserted pathway. "Keep the pace slow, Hope. And, for god's sake, smile!"

Hope gave her best attempt at looking unconcerned and prepared to begin her deliberately slow march down the aisle. When she started her march, Hope smiled warmly at the people. But, since she knew so many of them well, she correctly interpreted their amazed expressions. They were all looking slightly puzzled at the extraordinary amount of time it was taking for her and Belle to reach the altar. Hope focused on Brady's eyes and was relieved to see that he didn't suspect anything out of the ordinary. Yet.

Before Greta started her leisurely stroll down the aisle, she glanced down the pathway one last time. Her eyes opened wide as she saw Craig hurrying up it. Alone. "No," she breathed out as she ignored her role in the ceremony and ran the last few steps to greet him. "What happened?" she asked him as she held onto his arms, worry clearly marking her face.

Craig stopped when Greta placed her arms on him and waited a second to speak after he caught his breath. "She's gone," he announced to Greta, revealing Greta's worst fear. His eyes gazed into hers intently as he told her, "But she didn't leave on her own."

Greta closed her eyes briefly, showing her desolate despair. This was worse than she could have imagined. The music continued to play loudly and joyfully as Greta continued to converse with Craig over the unexpected development. "What are we going to do, Craig?"

"We need to tell Brady, for starters." Craig looked towards the beginning of the aisle, dreading the announcement he knew he would have to make momentarily. "Then, we need to get the police and your husband involved. Hopefully they can find a trace of Chloe or whoever abducted her."

While Craig broke the surprising news to Greta, the guests at the wedding were witnessing Hope's very slow stroll down the aisle. Belle's had taken an extraordinary amount of time, but Hope's walk was much more leisurely. Greta, who should have been next, was nowhere to be seen. When Hope finally reached the altar, she gave her best possible reassuring smile to Brady and the men who were standing with him. The men all looked at her with mounting anxiety. In fact, Hope saw that Brady's eyes were growing icier by the second.

She turned slightly away from the men and moved to the bride's side of the altar. She gave a barely noticeable shake of her head when Belle implored Hope with a searching look. Belle sighed inwardly as she realized that Chloe hadn't shown up yet. They turned and looked at the opening, waiting for Greta to make her entrance. The music continued to float through the air, even though Greta didn't show.

"I don't seem to remember wedding marches taking this long," Nicole whispered to Victor as they continued waiting for Greta and then Chloe to walk down the aisle. They were standing on Brady's side of the outdoor congregation. "I think a blind turtle could have beaten Hope and Belle down the aisle."

Victor shrugged his shoulders as he started to feel concerned about the tardiness of Greta and the bride. If Chloe hurts my grandson, he thought to himself as he kept his expression carefully neutral, there will be hell to pay. He fixed his gaze on Brady. His eyes narrowed dangerously as he correctly interpreted the look of dawning concern and worry in Brady's intensely blue eyes. "Something's wrong," Victor muttered. Nicole gave Victor a startled look in response to his statement.

"Remind me never to bet on Hope or Belle in a race," Maggie Horton said lowly to her husband, Mickey, from their position by the aisle. "They move too damn slow."

Kate Roberts could feel that something was in the air, too. "I don't think this wedding is going to happen," she said quietly to her son, Austin and her date, Roman Brady, who were standing on either side of her. "Chloe should have reached the altar by now." Her eyes gleamed, not in satisfaction at the possibility of Chloe not showing up, but at the possibility of a horrendous scandal. Kate loved scandals, as long as she wasn't part of it.

Mimi caught Phillip's eye up from his position at the altar. He shrugged his shoulders, letting her know that he didn't have a clue about what was going on. Mimi chewed on her bottom lip in agitation and turned her gaze to the aisle, willing Greta and Chloe to show up soon.

Nancy looked down the aisle and then at Marlena, who was sitting directly across from her. The two shared a concerned look as they both wondered what on earth was keeping the last two women from going to the altar. Marlena fluttered her eyes at Nancy, revealing the depths of her true concern over the tardiness of the bride.

"This doesn't look good," Belle muttered to Hope through a smile of clenched teeth from her position at the altar. Her face was hurting from the effort to keep on smiling and looking cheerfully unconcerned. She correctly interpreted the startled and worried expressions on everyone in attendance. It was obvious to everyone in attendance by now that the wedding was not going as planned.

"I know," Hope mumbled back, also through a smile of clenched teeth. She kept her eyes trained at the beginning of the aisle, carefully avoiding looking at Brady or any other member of the wedding party. "Something's happened, Belle. And, whatever it is, it's bad. I bet Craig is talking to Greta as we speak."

"Damn," Belle responded as the cheerful music continued to swirl around them in direct contrast to the mounting tension among the wedding party and the guests.