Free In-Laws & Outlaws by Ally Gray Page A

the other ladies were cooking, just to make sure no one accidentally used something that could hurt Great Granny.”
    Stacy shook her head and frowned, despite the incredible shoulder massage from Nathan taking place at that very moment. It was supposed to be his way of waking her up and energizing her for this horror of a wedding, but instead it was putting her to sleep. She’d only managed to clock a couple of hours of shut eye after meeting with her staff and the happy couple, and she had to imagine that Rod had had even less sleep since he’d worked through the night interrogating the members of the two families.
    “I just can’t believe one of those people would kill an old woman because he had a gambling problem. How much help could that actually be?” Stacy thought back to the elderly women she knew in her own life and couldn’t picture their Social Security checks being all that helpful in a financial crisis.
    “Well, when you’re as loaded as Great Granny, it can solve a lot of problems,” Rod replied. “They may not have looked or acted like they had all that much, but her late husband owned stock in Coca-Cola, and she inherited all his shares when he passed away. Of course, those shares would transfer to her son and his siblings when she passed away, unless she had a will that stipulated otherwise. Turns out, she didn’t.” He cleared his throat and mumbled self-consciously. “You really saved the day with your theory, Stacy. We could have spent months digging all this up, but you came through for us in a big way.”
    “No, Rod, I’ve got to say, you’re the champ here. Thanks to you and those long hours last night, I’ve got a wedding to put on today. You’re the best, I mean it.” Behind her, Nathan squeezed her shoulders a little harder and cleared his throat dramatically. “I’m sorry, on that note, I’m going to have to hang up because my boyfriend takes issue with me calling other men ‘the best.’ I’ll talk to you later, and thanks again!”
    She clicked off her phone and laid it on her desk before spinning around in her chair to face Nathan. He scooped her up under her arms and slid beneath her before cradling her in his lap. He pulled her close and kissed her softly, smiling to himself when he felt the tension in her muscles slowly fade. She wound her arms around his neck and deepened the kiss, but jumped up only seconds later.
    “What are you doing? We’ve got a wedding today! Let’s go, let’s go! Get moving, mister!” she cried, clapping her hands and marching out of her office. Nathan hung his head in defeat for a moment.
    “I’ve created a monster,” he said with a happy sigh before following her out into the bustle of activity going on outside her office at that very moment. He ducked when a large table came down the hallway over the heads of two moving crews, and pressed himself against the wall to avoid being smacked with the long arms of flowers extending from a centerpiece that a florist was carrying. Instead of moving on, he ducked back into Stacy’s office to wait out the storm.
    By the time the somber-faced bride arrived at noon, most of the accoutrements were in place for a beautiful wedding. A simple but elegant gown hung in the bride’s parlor, a replacement of the one that had been destroyed in the police raid, courtesy of the department. A light lunch array of treats had been prepared by Chef Pierre, the in-house head of catering, and was waiting under its silver domed cloche for her to enjoy while she dressed and prepared.
    Instead, Priscilla stood in the middle of the cozy but elegant room and looked around at the emptiness. She turned to Stacy with tears in her eyes, her thin shoulders shaking from the effort of trying not to cry.
    “This isn’t how it was supposed to be at all,” she said as she wept quietly. “None of it was. It was supposed to be the best months of my life, months of showers and parties and good wishes from everyone who knew