LITMIR.BIZ

      Chapter Two

      The seat removed and reinstalled, Spence backed away and Jordan got out, sliding shut the door behind him as another vehicle chugged into the parking area and yet another one approached on the access road.

      A tall, angular man unfolded from behind the steering wheel of a conservative black station wagon. His unsmiling face marked with a prominent, hawkish nose reminded Spence of the early Puritans. This impression was confirmed by the clerical collar encircling the man’s skinny neck.

      As Spence and Jordan approached, he introduced himself. “Reverend Joshua Handy. Which of you is Gregory Rosemont?”

      “Neither.” Spence made the introductions.

      The reverend appeared impatient. “Jenny told me I’d have a chance to talk with Gregory before the ceremony.”

      “You’ve never met him?” Spence asked.

      “No.” He looked down his long nose. “Where’s Jenny?”

      “Not here,” Spence said. “Not even her car. I’m guessing she and Rosemont have some kind of chauffeur service up to the gondola. They’re probably both already up at the castle. Need any help with your luggage?”

      Joshua Handy shook his head, and turned back to his hearse-like station wagon. “I’ll manage.”

      Tempted to walk back up the frozen slope and insert himself into the chat Emily and Thea were having, Spence let himself be dragged along with Jordan as the other car pulled into a space near to their own. A tiny dynamo of a woman exited her car. She was overly bundled up for her drive in a puffy parka and a scarf around her throat. Spikes of gray hair poked around the edges of a colorful Norwegian ski cap.

      Her wizened features reminded Spence of a troll. Luckily, her beaming mitigated the harshness. “Hello! I’m Doctor Mona Nance.”

      Spence shook her over-large mitten. “Medical doctor?”

      “Psychologist,” she said.

      Jordan shook her mitten in turn and smirked. “Well, Doctor Mona, you might be real busy this weekend.”

      BREAKING OFF her conversation with Emily, Thea went back inside the stone gondola house. She carefully kept her distance from Spence as the other guests arrived—Travis the hotshot, Dr. Mona Nance and a dour minister who looked as though he was more prepared for a funeral than a wedding. An unusual group! No one but she and Spence seemed to know each other. She glanced at her wristwatch. It was thirteen minutes past the time designated to depart from the gondola house for the ride to Castle in the Clouds. She thought the wedding party was beginning to show signs of restlessness.

      Impatient, Travis repeatedly jabbed the buttons on a cell phone he plucked out of a pocket, trying to reach the castle. He finally snapped the thing closed. “Well, this is a total bummer. I’m not getting through. What’s the deal?”

      Thea wondered if it was really possible Travis had never had that result in the mountains before.

      The Reverend Joshua Handy, meanwhile, was eyeing the gondola machinery that made her nervous too. With long, skeletal fingers, he touched the cogs. “It might be best to take things into our own hands.”

      A brilliant example of good old Yankee ingenuity? Thea shivered. “What do you mean?”

      “Perhaps we’re expected to start this thing ourselves.”

      “I think not.” She was nervous enough about riding in the gondola without adding reckless incompetence to the mix.

      “We should wait,” Dr. Mona Nance counseled. “I’m sure we’ll receive instructions.”

      “Don’t need a lesson book,” Travis said. “You just yank the lever. Like turning on a light bulb. You get it, Doctor Shrink?”

      The wizened little psychologist stepped in front of him. Her small face turned up. Her head tilted back. “Because of my stature, I find that term particularly offensive.”

      “Shrink?”

      “Precisely.”

      The tone of her voice held such authority that even an insensitive oaf like Travis was cowed. “Sorry, ma’am.”

      Backing off, he and the reverend discussed the possibility of starting the gondola, and Thea’s gaze slipped toward Spence. Long legs stretched out in front of him, he sat on one of the stone benches beside his two friends, Emily and Jordan.

      A nice couple, Thea thought, who seemed utterly loyal to Spence. Emily just glowed talking about him, expounding for Thea on what a wonderful doctor he was, brilliant, thoughtful, reverent, not to mention an expert in search-and-rescue who had saved countless lives. Thea thought the lives he had saved probably could be counted, but she wasn’t surprised. She’d never doubted Spence’s competence.

      Still, she found it somewhat hard to believe that he’d reined in his world-conquering ambitions and settled for working in a small town. Was it possible that he had changed? That he’d become even a little less arrogant and self-involved?

      She tried, on the sly, to assess the differences wrought in five years. His features had become more chiseled with strong jawline and high cheekbones. Fine lines crisscrossed his forehead and radiated from the corners of his breathtaking blue eyes. She wished she could see below the surface, to know if the changes in Spence ran more than skin deep.

      Dr. Mona approached and perched on the bench beside Thea. The psychologist’s tiny little legs were so short that her feet didn’t touch the stone floor. “How do you know Jenny?” she asked pleasantly.

      “We work together at the middle school. I teach English and American History.”

      “Sixth, seventh and eighth graders,” Dr. Mona said. “A difficult age. I’m always curious. How do you handle classroom discipline with that age group?”

      “Like a lion tamer. With a whip and a chair,” Thea joked. She felt Spence’s attention on her. “On good days, I enjoy the challenge.”

      “And on bad days?”

      “It’s a struggle,” she admitted. “What about you, Doctor? Are you a friend of Jenny’s family?”

      “Actually, Jenny is my client,” Dr. Mona said. “I know her quite well.”

      Though Thea hadn’t known her friend was in therapy, it wasn’t exactly a revelation. Teaching in an inner-city middle school made for a fairly high-stress occupation, especially after Columbine. It had been in the press recently that teachers in the Denver area suffered significantly more from stress than the already high levels documented nationwide.

      Very likely, Thea thought, Jenny had discussed her fiancé with her therapist as well. Dr. Mona’s professional opinion would be very interesting. “What do you make of Gregory Rosemont?”

      “Mysterious, isn’t he?” Doctor Mona commented noncommittally.

      “Very. What concerns me, though,” Thea admitted, “is that Jenny thinks he’ll come out of his shell after they’re married. You know, become more sociable.” Thea paused. “Do you think that’s possible?”

      “I believe people can change or modify their behavior.” Her cheeks rounded as she grinned. “Otherwise, my work is a sham.”

      Thea

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