Love, Lucy
Chapter Eleven: Marriage



"Am I the only one who ever listens?" Matt asked his mother who was on the other end of the phone. He was pacing around the small living room, running his free hand through his short hair.

"Are they both home?" his wife, Sarah, asked as she appeared from the kitchen, carrying two steaming mugs of coffee.

Matt looked at her briefly and nodded before returning to his conversation with Annie.

Sarah set Matt's cup down on the side table and stayed to listen.

"Okay, well, I guess I'll see you then. Love you, too. Bye." Matt hung up the phone and consulted his wife. "Mary and Simon both showed up on Mom and Dad's doorstep. Simon last night and Mary this morning."

Sarah managed a small chuckle. "Well you should have expected it, Matt. If it weren't for school, we probably would have been there in a heart beat. Even if your parents said not to."

Matt seemed to think for a moment, then sighed, a grin creeping onto his face. "Yeah, you're right."

Sarah's eyes twinkled. It was the first time in days that she had seen her husband smile. He had been so caught up with worrying about his sister, Ruthie, that he hadn't had time to be himself, be happy.

"Did she say that there was any news about Ruthie?" Sarah asked.

The smile gone and the worry back, Matt replied, "No, but I think there was something that she wasn't telling me. When I asked about Lucy, she changed the subject." Matt paused. "Do you think there's something going on with Luce?"

Sarah sipped her tea, then shrugged. Matt slumped onto the couch next to her, looking disappointed and concerned.

Annie had been avoiding the question. Her plan about not saying a thing wasn't working out very well, now that Mary and Simon were there. Before, it had been easy. When she had been communicating to them through the telephone, she could have easily created distractions and reasons for her to quickly say good-bye. There was certainly no more of that. They were home and when Lucy didn't make an appearance, those questions were going to rise. And rise, they did.

Mary had been through the whole house and she couldn't find Lucy anywhere. Certainly her mother knew where she was. Annie had been cornered in the kitchen. Obviously, Simon had the same idea.

"Where's Lucy?" Mary asked, just as Simon had entered the room.

Annie, a spatula in her hand, stopped dishing scrambled eggs onto plates and deeply sighed. Leaving the spatula on the counter, she made her way over to the table and took a seat. She motioned for her children to follow suit. When Simon had sat down, Mary asked again, becoming afraid.

As Annie spoke, she looked into each child's eyes. "Lucy disappeared with Thomas Hunter yesterday. Kevin and your father left to look for both her and Ruthie, but I haven't heard from them since." Annie clasped her hands that were resting on her lap, her eyes glancing from Mary to Simon. "I'm so sorry that I didn't say anything. I didn't want to worry you any more than you already are."

Silence filled the room as minds raced, trying to comprehend what Annie had said. Blood pounding in his ears, Simon raised his gaze to meet his mother's.

"You lied to me." Simon's voice was low and angry. "I was with you in the car yesterday. I asked you how everyone was doing, including Lucy, and you said they were fine." He stood, the chair scraping along the floor. His hands balled into fists. "How could not have told me?! How could you lie to me?!"

When Annie tried to explain, Simon left the room in a furious rage. Realizing that her actions, however good they were intended, only hurt in the end. That was the last thing that she wanted to do.

Turning to Mary, Annie's eyes were misty. Mary was staring a hole right through the wood, her breathing uneven.

"Mary," Annie started.

Mary's eyes snapped to her mother. She, too, was angry.

"I'm so sorry." Annie realized her voice had sounded as if she were pleading for forgiveness, and in a way she was. Yet, this attempt failed also.

Mary walked from the room in her brother's footsteps, leaving her mother to drown in her sorrows.

Kevin's foot was already putting the petal to the metal, but it didn't seem fast enough. With Eric in the seat next to him, it wasn't any easier to concentrate on getting to Lucy, as he kept asking questions about the phone call. Kevin had already told him as much as he could, but that wasn't enough for Eric.

His knuckles turning white on the wheel, Kevin hoped that he wasn't too late.

"You have to stall," Ruthie explained urgently in her sister's ear. "They can't start the ceremony without the bride."

Lucy looked at her and then at Colton, who was standing with his brother and the minister, talking animatedly. There was some kind of hold up already, and Lucy's had to planned just right for it to work. That, she knew, but what to stall about, was another thing.

"Say you have to use the rest room," Ruthie suggested, picking up on Lucy's silence.

Lucy shrugged. "It's worth a shot." Lucy straightened in her seat, noticing Colton and Thomas coming their way.

Colton smiled. "Okay, everything's set up. The damn minister was saying there was another couple before us, but I fixed that." He took a breath. "Ready?"

"Actually," Lucy stammered, gesturing with her hand. "I have to use the rest room."

Colton's eyes narrowed, sensing that Lucy had a plan. "We don't have time." He grabbed her none too nicely around the upper arm and dragged her into the small chapel where the minister had just disappeared only moments before.

Thomas took Ruthie's arm and did the same, pulling her behind them.

Lucy's heart was beating wildly. She didn't know how far away Kevin was, didn't know if he would get here in time.

Oh, God, let him get here in time, Lucy prayed.

She and Colton were now at the alter, facing the minister. Lucy saw Ruthie and Thomas standing off to the side, acting as the two witnesses. She was beginning to think that Ruthie's being taken was part of the plan, not just some perk that came with the deal. Colton needed Ruthie just as much as he needed Lucy.

"We are gathered here today," the minister began, looking happily at Lucy and Colton. "to marry this man and this woman - "

The door burst open and Kevin came in, flanked by Eric and a few other police officers. Lucy and Colton turned around, while the minister looked up from his bible and stared with wide, confused eyes.

"That's never going to happen. She's already married...to me."