Chapter 3
It was a bright clear day in November. The air was surprisingly warm for that time of year. Daisy stood in the bridal room of the church with Harley, Bridget and Beth. They were helping her get ready for the most important day in her young life. Beth was getting the flowers ready for the bride and bridesmaids while Bridget helped with the dress and Harley with the veil. She couldn't believe that the day she had waited for was finally here. It seemed so long ago that she had gotten whisked away to Newport California and proposed to by the man that she had grown to love more than she thought possible and couldn't imagine living the rest of her life without.
"Oh Daisy" Harley breathed as she took a step back and looked at her only daughter, "You look so beautiful right now. Your getting married." Harley's eyes started watering by this point, "Your not going to be my little girl anymore."
"Mom" Daisy said, "Stop now your going to make me cry."
"Don't you dare" Bridget said standing up from the floor, "After all the time and effort into putting your makeup on, I don't care if it is waterproof mascara, the eyeliner is not."
Beth just laughed at this as she handed Daisy the flowers, a bouquet of white roses as Lizzie, Christina, Ashlee and Riley came in.
"Dais, James is going to hit the floor when he sees you" Ashlee sighed in amazement.
"Don't worry, Bill was instructed by me not to let him faint or run" Lizzie said smoothing out her red floor length dress and then proceeding to do the same for Riley's short red dress.
"I don't think I have to worry about him running" Daisy said laughing, "maybe the fainting part though"
"Well I just talked to Remy and he said that James is so nervous they practically needed to tie him to a chair to keep him from pacing the floor and wearing a hole in it" Christina said taking her red roses from Beth.
Suddenly a knock came from the door and Dylan entered.
"Everyone ready to get this show on the road" he said peeking his head in.
Daisy looked at herself in the mirror and nodded. "Lets get me married"
Once everyone was in place the music began as Jude escorted Harley and Peter with Bridget down the isle to one side of the church. Next it was Phillip escorting Beth to the other side of the church. Following them it was Riley as she tossed red and white rose petals, Remy escorting Christina, Zach escorting Ashlee and finally Lizzie.
As the wedding march began to play Dylan looked over at his daughter and smiled, "Your last moments as my baby girl, you ready"
"Yes dad" Daisy breathed as they turned the corner and came face with the whole church.
She could see James and Bill at the front with Josh, James fidgeting ever so slightly and smiled. Looking up at her dad she nodded and they began the walk down the isle.
Bill nudged James gently which caused his eyes to shoot up in the direction of Daisy. He felt his knees begin to shake as Bill put a hand on his shoulder to steady him. James felt his throat dry up and swallowed.
As Daisy began her walk down the isle everyone stood up and turned to face her. Practically everyone was there. Her entire family including her Aunt Lucy and even her Uncle Rocky as well as James's entire family plus his Aunt Amanda. Blake was there with Kevin, Jason and Clarissa, Cassie, Richard and RJ had come from San Cristobel, Matt, Vanessa and Maureen, Danny and Michelle with their kids, Ed Bauer and Rick, Mel and Leah, as well as many of her friends from boarding school and James's friends from school also.
Finally reaching the end of the isle Dylan turned and lifted his daughter's veil and gave her a kiss on the cheek before taking his seat between Harley and Bridget. Daisy took James's extended hand and both turned to face Josh.
"Dearly beloved we are gathered here today in the sight of God to witness the union of Susan Daisy Lemay and James Alexander Spaulding. If anyone knows just cause of why these two should not be joined lawfully speak now or forever hold your peace" Josh said as a hush came over the entire church. No one spoke and just as he began to continue a gun shot rang through out the entire church.
People screamed but no one knew who was hit. Daisy looked around and everyone seemed okay. She looked at James who was now on the ground a gunshot wound through his stomach. Screaming Daisy fell down beside him and started putting pressure on the wound as Bill and Josh tried to help elevate him. Beth had pulled out her cell phone and began dialing 911. Everyone was in a frantic mode as Rick and Ed both made their way through the chaos to the severely injured young man.
"Your all mine now" an Australian voice said from the back of the church.
Daisy's eyes shot up and there stood Grady with a gun in his hands.
"Now your all mine" Grady said taking another shot at James.
Daisy shot up in bed drenched in sweat. She looked around and realized it had all been a dream. She wasn't at a church and Grady wasn't there in the room. She was in bed, James sleeping soundly next to her. But it had seemed so real. She could feel everything and it was so vivid. Daisy looked over at him and said a silent thank you that it
was only a dream. Looking at the clock she realized it was 5am. She decided to go ahead and get up grabbing her phone off the nightstand. Daisy looked back at her fiance sleeping peacefully before walking into the living room. She took out the phone and scrolled through her contact list. Usually if something was wrong James would be the first person she would call, but under the circumstances she decided against telling him about the encounter with Grady and the dream. Stopping at a number she hit call and listened to it ring about 6 times before the other person finally picked up.
"Hello" a groggy voice came from the other end.
"Hey Bridget its me" Daisy said soft enough so that she wouldn't wake James up but loud enough for Bridget to hear.
"Daisy its 5 in the morning" Bridget said sleep lacing her entire voice, "What's going on"
"I really need to talk to someone and I can't go to my mom about this" Daisy said tripping over her words slightly. "Can we meet up later this morning and talk."
"Is something wrong" Bridget asked now semi awake.
"No, no" Daisy stammered, "At least I hope not. I just really need to talk to someone who can give me a completely objective third party point of view about something."
"Okay" Bridget said yawning over the phone, "Lets say 10 in the park okay"
"Perfect" Daisy sighed a breath of relief, "Sorry to have woken you up"
"Its okay" Bridget said, "I'll see you in a couple of hours."
With that Daisy hung up her phone and curled up onto the couch, her knees drawn up to her chest while she nervously chewed on her nails. She sat there in the dark looking out at the moon from the window. She stayed that way until the sun began to peek through the horizon. Watching the sun rise Daisy looked over at the clock and saw that it was almost 7am. James would be getting up soon and she would have to pull herself together so as to not come across as if something was wrong. She just hoped that Bridget could give her some advice and words of encouragement.
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"So this Grady guy, you and he used to date" Bridget asked as she and Daisy sat on a bench in the park drinking coffee Daisy had brought.
"Yes" Daisy said sighing in distress. "Long story short, he was part of a kidnapping scheme that put Lizzie and Bill's life in jeopardy. Once Lizzie was found, she bribed him to get out of town and apparently when he went to get the money he had threatened Lizzie's life again and Phillip pushed him off the cliff. We all thought he was dead."
Bridget's eyes were wide with confusion as she processed everything her step-daughter had just told her. "Okay so Grady's dead, what's the problem."
"He's not dead" Daisy blurted out quickly, "He sent me a text message during the engagement party and I didn't know who it was so I went out to the terrace and when I turned around he showed himself. Told me that I was the only one for him and that we belonged together. I told him he was crazy and that I love James. Last night I had a dream about the wedding and just as Josh was starting the ceremony Grady shot James and said that now we could be together before shooting him again." By this time Daisy was shaking and was becoming hysterical.
"Okay, okay" Bridget said in a soothing voice trying to calm her down, "It was just a dream, it didn't mean anything okay"
"No but it felt so real, I could feel everything, I could hear everything. The gunshot was so loud and people were screaming, James was on the floor blood everywhere. God Bridget it was awful."
"It may have felt real, but it wasn't" Bridget said trying to reassure the young woman, "Have you told James about Grady"
"Well I mean he knows about him, but if your asking me if I told him about Grady still being here and me seeing him last night then no" Daisy said shaking her head.
Bridget sighed and placed a hand on Daisy's arm, "I think you need to tell him. If he finds out on his own and then figures out that you knew the whole time it won't turn out too well."
"I'll tell him, I just have to figure out how." Daisy said standing up from the bench, "I'm just worried that if I tell him he will go out looking for Grady and I don't want him to get hurt in the process."
"James is a smart guy from what I can tell" Bridget said standing up too as they began the walk back to the boarding house, "I don't think he would do something that might put his life in jeopardy"
"For his sake and mine I sure hope not" Daisy said stuffing her hands into the pockets of her jeans.
"But if things look like they could become really dicey then I think you need to tell Frank or even your mom" Bridget said as they continued walking, "They are cops and they have dealt with Grady before correct."
Daisy nodded, "Yeah they have, but I don't want them to get involved unless it really can't be controlled."
Once they got back to the Reardon Boardinghouse Daisy headed to her car.
"Let me know how it goes telling James okay" she said from the doorway.
"I will" Daisy smiled and crossed her fingers, "Here's to hoping it goes well."
Daisy made the drive back to her and James's apartment all the while trying from every angle on how to tell her fiancé that her ex-boyfriend who was a felon and wanted her back was not only alive but also back in town ready to try everything to win her back. Pulling up to the complex she noticed that James's car was in fact there and that now would probably be the most opportune time to tell him.
Entering the apartment she could smell food permeating the air and she inwardly smiled. James never cooked unless she was sick or it was absolutely necessary. Daisy placed her keys on the table next to the door as well as her purse and made her way to the kitchen.
"Wow your actually cooking" Daisy said leaning against the door frame of the kitchen, "What's the occasion."
James turned around with a plate of spaghetti in hand. "I got the rest of the day off today so I thought I would come home and make lunch seeing as you don't have to go into work at Company today. Thought we could spend the whole afternoon together, nothing and no one to distract us."
Daisy inwardly groaned, she knew she needed to tell him but what he was suggesting was sounding ten times better. Putting a smile on her face she replied enthusiastically, "Yes, I love that plan. What do you want to go do this afternoon then"
James shrugged as he set another plate of food on the table in front of Daisy and sat down. "I don't know, we could just go for a walk or something."
"I like that" Daisy said reaching her hand across the table to reach his. Grasping his hand tightly in hers she replied, "I don't care what we do, I just want to be with you. I need you to know that."
James gave her a puzzling look, "Okay" he said, "I know that, same with me too."
Daisy inwardly sighed knowing that she had come really close to revealing Grady's presence in town to James. It just wasn't the right time and she began to wonder if there was ever going to be a right time, all she knew is that she needed to tell him before too long because otherwise it might get really messy.
Chapter 4 previews
James and Daisy go for a walk while Grady continues to stalk, Bridget encourages Daisy to tell James and everyone else, Daisy tells Dylan about Grady, Grady makes his move.