Free The Bride's Curse by Glenys O'Connell

possibly be on such a short acquaintance.
    What turmoil she’d thrown him into. What did she mean by “to see a man who isn’t there”? And he still hadn’t found out for sure whether she had Mary’s wedding dress …
    Brett smiled. Kelly Andrews was unlike any other woman he’d known. And he really was a guy who liked a challenge.

Chapter Six
    Weird as it might sound, the fainting and flashback episode seemed to have cleared Kelly’s brain. She was energized and determined to clear up the twin mysteries that had appeared so suddenly in her life—a cursed wedding dress and a restless, enigmatic spirit.
    And possibly a third, in the delectable shape of Brett Atwell.
    With a lightning flash illuminating the landscape of her mind, she realized the possibility that these weren’t separate mysteries but rather they might all be part of the same package. There was a link between the Old Man on the Bench and Brett Atwell—the Cursed Bridal Gown. The ghost did a quick disappearing act every time Brett appeared. But what was the link? Had Noelia somehow found that connection?
    He was there again, the old man on the bench. Kelly flashed back to the moment the previous evening when she’d seen him waving to her from right in front of her home. A shudder passed through her. Had he been inside her house? Was this ghost an invisible presence in many private aspects of her life? And what, in the name of all that was good and sane, did he want with her?
    Sure, she’d met other restless spirits, but it had been like brushing up against cobwebs. When she had awoken in the hospital, the fallen comrades around her bed had seemed real, substantial as in life. She thought that was perhaps because she had a strong connection to them in life. Since then the contacts had been nothing more than a slight, shivery experience, quickly glimpsed figures, barely intelligible words, and then over. So mild, it had been easy to convince herself that the doctors were right and she was hallucinating. She could dismiss the conversations she’d had with spectral people as figments of her damaged brain.
    But this guy, well, he definitely wasn’t going to be put off so easily. Trying to ignore him brought about that awful flash of pain and fear that transported her back to that terrible time in the desert.
    She averted her eyes, hoping against hope that wouldn’t prompt another shard of pain to slice through her head, and hurried into the store after Noelia.
    Her assistant was waiting for her by the walnut cupboard they used as a counter. With the flourish worthy of a master magician, Noelia pulled out a vintage white beaded bag shrouded in tissue paper. “Do you remember this?”
    Kelly shook her head. It was familiar, but they had handled dozens of these vintage bride’s purses. Why would she remember this one specifically?
    “This came in the same box as that gown. You know—
that gown
.” Noelia gave a little shudder as if she couldn’t bring herself to use the nickname they had given the Cursed Bridal Gown. “Somehow it got separated and not entered into the book with the dress. And do you know what I found inside?”
    Kelly shook her head again, mesmerized by the show Noelia was putting on.
    “Ta-da!” The older woman pulled out a yellowed slip of paper. “This, my dear, is a receipt from a very well-known Parisian design house, dated 1972, and made out to Miss Mary Atwell. No street address, just Derry, Maine. I think we may have found the original owner of the dress. ”
    “Yes,” said Kelly, still not seeing where this was going. “The sale I attended was at an auction house in Derry, and Brett’s last name is Atwell as well. He said he got my name from his sister, who was selling off things belonging to his aunt Mary. It definitely fits.”
    “We have to find out more about this Mary Atwell, and find out why she cursed the dress!” Noelia said.
    Kelly stared at her. “Why would you assume she was the one who cursed the