After knocking a second time, Alix quietly opened the door, to see Jordan’s grandmother sitting in the rocking chair by her bed, her Bible in her lap. The shawl Alix had knit was draped around her shoulders. It looked as if the old woman had been reading her Bible and fallen asleep.

“Grandma,” Alix whispered, trying not to startle her.

Sarah Turner didn’t respond.

Kneeling in front of her, Alix reached for Sarah’s hand and swallowed hard when she discovered the fingers were stone-cold.

Alix knew that Grandma wasn’t asleep.

She was dead.

She’d died that morning, reading her Bible and wearing her prayer shawl.

Sobs filled Alix’s chest and she laid her face against Grandma’s lap as she struggled for composure. When she could breathe evenly again, she lifted her face, gently touched the old woman’s cheek and rose to her feet.

Alix stepped quietly out of the bedroom, closing the door behind her. The first person she saw was Jacqueline.

“Please find Jordan for me,” she whispered brokenly.

“What’s the matter?” Jacqueline asked.

“Just get Jordan. Please.”

Jacqueline started to tell her it was bad luck for the groom to see his bride before the wedding, but Alix’s expression obviously stopped her. “I saw him a little while ago. I’ll look around.”

She left, returning with him a few minutes later. Jordan frowned when he saw Alix still wearing her housecoat and slippers. He was in his tuxedo. “Is something wrong?”

Alix nodded and took his hand. Together they entered his grandmother’s bedroom. Jordan knew instantly.

“I think she’s been dead a couple of hours,” Alix told him. Her voice faltered, and when she could speak again, she asked in a hoarse whisper, “What should we do?”

Jordan sat on the edge of his grandmother’s bed and lowered his head as the realization hit him. “My grandmother loved you, Alix. I don’t know why the Lord chose to take her home this morning, but He did. Everyone’s here. It seems to me that this was exactly what Grandma was waiting for—to see us happy and to have all her family around her. We’re getting married today. Grandma would want us to. Her love is here.”

Jordan stood and wrapped his arms around Alix, then briefly buried his face in her shoulder. “I’ll tell my parents.”

While Jordan went in search of his family, Alix removed her wedding dress from his grandmother’s door and slipped into it. She went out into the kitchen, beckoning to Jacqueline and Tammie Lee. They found a private corner, and while she explained the circumstances, Tammie Lee fastened the buttons in the back of Alix’s dress.

Larry and Susan Turner rushed into the house and Jordan brought them to the bedroom, where Alix joined them a few minutes later. Jordan’s mother had dissolved into tears.

Jordan placed his hand on his father’s shoulder as Larry slumped on the bed.

“What about the wedding?” Susan jerked up her head. “We can’t cancel it at the last second like this. We’ve already canceled it once and—”

“Mom, it’s all right. Alix and I have decided to go through with the ceremony.”

His mother sniff led loudly and nodded.

“She went so peacefully,” Larry whispered. He looked down at his mother, her Bible open on her lap, and a fleeting smile touched his lips. “When my time comes, I want to leave this earth just the way she did.”

“Oh, Larry,” Susan cried. “How can you say that? You’d think your mother could have timed it better, wouldn’t you?”

“We don’t make those decisions, Susan,” her husband reminded her. “It was God’s timing.”

“I don’t care whose timing it was, it was bad.”

Larry simply shook his head.

“Are you up to performing the ceremony?” Jordan asked him.

Larry nodded.

“We can’t have the wedding with your mother’s body in the bedroom!” Susan dabbed at her eyes with a tissue she’d extracted from her purse.

“I’ll contact the sheriff,” Alix said, taking control. She could tell that Jordan’s family had all they could do to deal with their shock and grief. “The sheriff will send the coroner.”

As Alix talked to the sheriff’s office, Jordan’s family—his older brother, Bret, his uncles, aunts and cousins—came to bid their grandmother farewell. How ironic that a day meant for joy should be so full of sorrow…and then joy.

The sheriff’s patrol car arrived at the same time as the musicians. The rows of chairs had started to fill up with wedding guests.

Alix met the sheriff, whose badge identified him as Lyle Carson, and led him inside the house. The bedroom was crowded with weeping family members. She could only imagine what it must look like, a bride in her dress and gown leading him to the body.

He removed his hat and asked Alix a few questions, as she seemed to be the only one capable of answering. The coroner came shortly afterward and it was Alix who answered his questions, too.

While he examined the body, Alix ushered everyone out of the bedroom and directed them to join the other guests.

“Larry,” she said to her soon-to-be father-in-law, “you need to go to the tent now with Jordan and Bret.” Bret had flown in from California and was standing up as Jordan’s best man. “I suggest you tell our guests what’s happened. Perhaps you should call for a moment of silence and then say a prayer.”

Larry nodded and followed her instructions.

Taking Susan’s hand, Alix guided her out of the room, whispering reassurances as she went. Jacqueline came to their side, and Alix asked her to help Susan repair her makeup.

The rest of the family moved slowly toward the tent.

The photographer wandered aimlessly around, looking confused and uncertain. “Take a bunch of random shots of the wedding,” Alix told him. “As much as possible, avoid getting any of the emergency vehicles.”

He nodded.

Colette approached her. “Is there anything I can do?”

“Thank you for asking, but I can’t think of a thing.”

The musicians began to play the wedding march and Colette gave her a swift hug. “Go,” she said with a warm smile. “You’re about to become a bride.”

“Your guests have been apprised of the circumstances,” Reese whispered when he met Alix outside the tent. “It was handled beautifully by Jordan’s father.” He offered her his arm as he prepared to escort her down the aisle. His smile revealed his pride. “I have to say, Alix Townsend, you’re really something. I don’t know of anyone who could’ve dealt with this crisis as well as you have.”

Alix smiled shakily. The music continued and with her head held high, she walked toward her groom.

On her side of the aisle were all the people Alix loved. Lydia, Brad and Cody, who squirmed until he saw her and then waved frantically. Carol, Doug and Cameron sat in the second row. This was the first time Alix had seen her friend in a maternity dress. Elise and Maverick were there, and Bethanne and Annie, along with Susannah, Joe, Chrissie and Colette. She saw her friends from the French Café, too.

Alix could hardly believe how many friends she’d made these last few years. It’d all begun the day she’d impulsively crossed Blossom Street and signed up for a knitting class. Who would’ve guessed that such a simple decision would forever change her life?

As she stood beside Jordan and they exchanged their vows, Alix saw the love in her husband’s eyes and knew it was a ref lection of her own. As soon as the ceremony was over, Jordan kissed her. His father announced them as Mr. and Mrs. Jordan Turner, and there was a moment of sustained applause.

Everyone made an effort to celebrate, despite the sadness of that morning. They enjoyed the meal, the music, the conversation with family and friends. At around 7:00 p.m. Alix and Jordan were leaving for Victoria, British Columbia, where they’d have a two-day honeymoon.

“Are you sure we should go?” Alix asked after they’d cut the cake and made a final round of their guests.

“We should,” he insisted. “Dad and I talked it over, and we decided to hold Grandma’s funeral on Tuesday, the day after we get back.”

“Okay.” Under no circumstances did Alix want to miss it.

As she changed out of her wedding dress and into comfortable traveling clothes, Susan Turner joined her.

“Oh, Alix,” she whispered and snapped open her purse to search for another tissue. “I don’t know what we would’ve done without you today.”

Alix was uncomfortable with the praise.

“You took care of everything.”

“I didn’t do—”

“Yes, you did.” Susan touched her arm. “You kept your head, you held the family together, you and Jordan made crucial, on-the-spot decisions.”

Alix shifted from one foot to the other. “Speaking of Jordan, I’d better go find my husband.” Calling Jordan her husband for the first time seemed momentous to Alix. Until now, the meaning of that word had been abstract, impersonal, describing a role, not a man.

Now it meant Jordan.

Husband.

Alix had never realized how intimate it sounded. Intimate and yet public—a declaration of love and belonging.

“I won’t keep you.” Susan hugged her tightly. “I hope we can be very good friends, Alix.”

Alix hugged her in return. “It’ll be nice to have a mother,” she whispered.

CHAPTER 37

Colette Blake

After Alix and Jordan’s wedding, Colette returned exhausted to Elizabeth’s home. They had a quiet dinner of shrimp salad later that evening. Neither of them spoke much. With every day that passed, their hope diminished. It was only a little after nine when Colette excused herself and climbed up the stairs to bed.

Surprisingly, she fell asleep almost right away, only to be awakened abruptly by Elizabeth at around ten. “Colette,” the older woman said excitedly, coming into the bedroom and turning on the overhead light. “Christian’s been found! He’s alive!”

Colette immediately sat up and blinked against the bright light and the shock.

“He’s on the phone,” Elizabeth told her.

“You mean now?” Colette cried, thinking this must be part of some wonderful dream.

“Yes, yes! He’s waiting to talk to you.”

“Oh, thank God, thank God.” Tearing aside the sheets, Colette leaped out of bed and raced down the stairs so fast her bare feet slipped on the carpeted steps. Breathlessly, she grabbed the hallway phone.

“Christian? Christian!”

“Colette?” He sounded as if he was phoning from the moon. She heard an echo, and his voice seemed tinny and distant.

“Yes, yes, it’s me! Are you all right? Where are you?” She dashed away tears of relief and joy.

“I’m okay,” he said, “and anxious to get home. I’ll land tomorrow night. Will you be there? I have so much to tell you.”

“Yes, yes, I’ll come to the airport. What time?”

He gave her the airline and flight number while she frantically searched for a pen and paper to write it down. When she had all the details, she repeated them back to him.