“Yes, but you never got your wedding.”
Dan turned from the barbecue and looked at her with a serious gaze. Tracy had told him she and Ben became engaged the same night Sarah disappeared, but that she’d never had the opportunity to plan the wedding she’d envisioned. Instead, and more because she was afraid of losing him, Tracy and Ben got married in a civil ceremony at the courthouse, just the two of them. Two court clerks had served as witnesses. The decision had been a mistake. Her thoughts and actions had remained focused on finding out what had happened to Sarah, and when she could not move on, Ben had. The divorce papers had come in the mail.
Astonished and moved that Dan had remembered, she wasn’t sure what to say.
“I don’t need anything extravagant, Dan.”
“It’s not about what you need. It’s about what you deserve.”
She struggled again to find the right words. She wanted a traditional wedding. She’d always envisioned a traditional wedding. She just never thought it possible.
“And you deserve the wedding you envisioned,” Dan continued. “I know it was a bad time, and I know you’ll never say you were disappointed your engagement and wedding got buried by Sarah’s disappearance, but I also know there is a part of you that still thinks about what that day might have been like.”
“Things happen,” she said softly. “Dreams change.” She moved to him and wrapped her arms around his waist. “I’m happy I have the man of my dreams.”
“And I’m happy with the woman of my dreams,” he said, “but there’s no reason you can’t have the fairy-tale wedding of your dreams too.”
She took a deep breath. “You’ve really thought about this, haven’t you?”
He nodded. “I really have. Look, I don’t want to say I feel bad for you because I know how much you love to be pitied, but I do feel bad for you. I feel bad that you had to go through everything you’ve gone through. I feel bad that it all happened on the night you got engaged, and that you never had the wedding of your dreams.”
His comment made her think again of Andrea Strickland and her horrible life, regardless of whether she was alive, or deceased. Tracy knew, as much as anyone, there were no guarantees in life. Tomorrow was not a given.
She kissed him. “Is that the reason for the lighthouse and the restaurant—the fairy tale?”
He shrugged and smiled, close lipped.
“Because you are truly a prince.”
“Still masculine, though, right? Not the tights-wearing prince who sings and dances.”
She laughed. “Definitely still masculine. Okay,” she said, “but if we’re going for the full-blown fantasy I do have a request.”
“Fire away, Cinderella.”
“How much pull do you have with that Coast Guard commander?”
“You want to get married at the lighthouse?”
“Unless you have access to a castle.”
“I think it will be perfect,” Dan said. “And I just so happen to know that they do allow weddings.”
She chuckled. “You looked into it already.”
Dan feigned ignorance. “Like I said, you deserve the fairy-tale wedding.”
She kissed him warmly, again, and could feel their bodies relaxing into each another. “Dan,” she said.
“Yeah.”
“Turn off the grill so the hamburgers don’t burn.”
“I thought you were starving.”
“I am, but now I’m starving for something better than hamburger.”
CHAPTER 27
The following morning, Tracy and Kins were once again traveling south on the I-5 freeway to Portland. They had worked late putting together a probable-cause affidavit to search Strickland’s Pearl District loft, where he had lived with Andrea and apparently remained. Kins had transmitted the affidavit to Detective Jonathan Zhu in Portland. After talking with Strickland, they would accompany Zhu to a local judge to get a warrant issued. They had no idea what they might find in the apartment, if anything, but stranger things had happened, and it was a stone neither felt comfortable leaving unturned.
Kins had also asked Zhu to run Devin Chambers through Portland’s system. Zhu sent back an e-mail with attachments, and Tracy reviewed them on the three-hour drive south.
“She had two prior arrests in New Jersey in her early twenties, one for check fraud, and another for obtaining prescriptions from doctors under false pretenses. Both were expunged.”
“Sounds like her sister had her pegged,” Kins said.