Read Shelly's Second Chance (The Wish Granters, Book One) Online
Authors: L B Gschwandtner
Shelly's Second Chance (The Wish Granters, Book One) (21 page)
The door opened and Shelly
walked through, pushing Ben in a wheelchair. The newspaper had run a story
about the big jackpot winner and her fiancé snatched back from the jaws of
death. It resulted in such a wave of good publicity for the hospital that they
had not only given Ben a few hours away from rehab, but had provided an
ambulance to transport the bride and groom to the ceremony. Ben still looked
pale and shaken in his blue bathrobe, head bandaged, and, when he stood, he leaned
on Shelly’s arm as they made their slow but steady way down the aisle. Despite
the fact she’d be spending her wedding night in a recliner on the eighth floor
of Las Vegas General, Shelly was a radiant bride and Alanna found herself
blinking back tears.
Joe leaned in to whisper.
“Check out the minister. Look familiar?”
“It’s Elvis. Isn’t it?”
“Look closer.”
“Oh my God, is that . . . is
that Morgan?”
“Yeah, it took me a minute to
recognize him in his wig and sequin jumpsuit, too. He really gets around,
doesn’t he?”
The organ had bellowed its
final note and Ben and Shelly had at last arrived at the altar. Shelly looked
at Alanna and gave her a broad wink.
“Do you think you were ever
married?” Joe asked her, his voice a soft whisper in her ear.
Alanna shook her head,
speechless, witnessing the joy on the faces of both Shelly and Ben. Seeing this,
she was even more convinced that her engagement never had the deep connection
she craved.
Joe asked, “Would you ever
want to be?”
The vows were beginning.
Morgan motioned for Shelly and Ben to step forward. Alanna wondered if Morgan
came in some form to every wedding, every birth, every happy or sad occasion.
She felt Joe beside her,
strong and stalwart and smiling, and she thought about the question he’d asked.
Would she ever want to marry? Did her future lie back on earth or in the realms
beyond—or somewhere in this strange in-between world where she and Joe could be,
not quite but almost, together? She wondered if she had the courage and
strength to find her own true destiny.
“I do,” Shelly said and
tilted her head back to receive Ben’s kiss.
Being there at
that moment with Ben and Shelly so radiantly happy, Alanna felt the importance
of what she and Joe had done. They’d worked as a team and wasn’t that part of
the connection she’d been searching for in Delray Beach? Nothing was better
than this sense of purpose, nothing more gratifying than helping move someone’s
life forward in a positive way. Maybe this in between state, this transition,
was her new home. And maybe as long as Joe was there with her, it would be all
right.
Joe’s hand
reached for hers and his fingers closed around her palm. Alanna smiled, happy
in the moment.
Happy in the
moment . . . and so, of course that was precisely when she felt it. The
pressure, that tingling, that strong, familiar sense that they would soon be
leaving. When she glanced at Joe she knew he felt it, too.
“It’s time,” he
whispered. “Are you ready?”
It didn’t matter
if she was ready. The chapel and everyone in it were beginning to slip away.
Alanna nodded and in the last split second Joe bent towards her and his lips grazed
gently against hers. She felt his lips dissolving, and then hers, too, and, as
softly as a sigh, they were gone. Propelled into a faraway city, a different
story, a whole new place where a woman was just beginning to wish.
Look for other titles in The
Wish Granters series:
Carla’s Secret Regret (The
Wish Granters Book Two)
Scheduled release April, 2013
Other books by LB
Gschwandtner
The Naked Gardener (a woman’s
journey with friends)
http://www.amazon.com/The-Naked-Gardener-ebook/dp/B003WQBD82
Page Truly and The Journey To
Nearandfar (a fantasy for middle graders who love adventure and imagining what
might be)
Maybelle’s Revenge (short
stories with a twist)
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