Lana uses her abilities to help spirits and humans. No strings attached, Download this FREE short story about her beginnings.
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Will Lana and Tony get any private time?
It’s doubtful with a madman on the loose. One who has a taste for murder.
Chapter One
As Lana walked down the aisle, Tony’s love filled her heart. She was finally here after realizing there was nothing to be afraid of—nothing at all. So why did she want to turn around and run from the church and run for her life? But she wouldn’t. She couldn’t be a runaway bride.
Lots of twists and turns, easy read, enjoyable…
Her footsteps slowed. She felt like she was trudging through deep mud. Then her legs wouldn’t move at all. She looked hopelessly at Tony. The smile left his face and he looked horrified. The look of horror changed to disgust.
She yanked and pulled at her feet without success. What was going on? She tried to cry out, but no sound escaped. She pulled the long wedding dress above her knees and tried to jerk her fashionably heel-clad foot from the carpeted floor. It was impossible. This couldn’t be happening, at least not on the most important day of her life. She moaned and grunted, and then she yelled, “Tony!” Her voice sounded as if it came out through a vacuum in slow motion.
She looked around and everyone was frozen as if paused with a remote control. Everyone except Tony, who gave her a nasty look and walked quickly past her, through the back door, and out of the church.
Someone was in his place, but she couldn’t tell who he was. As if someone pressed play again, her feet began to move. The crowd became active once more, smiling and whispering. Tony’s brother still stood up as the best man to the right of the stranger, who smiled at her as she reluctantly made her way to the altar. She couldn’t stop walking; although, all she wanted to do was turn around and run after Tony.
When she reached the front of the church where the man she loved should’ve been, the strange man turned and took her arm, but his face was blank. Who was he? Lana twisted around to gaze into the crowd. She yelled for help, but everyone just continued to smile at them lovingly—as if this union was the most natural thing in the world. Tony even sat with the crowd now, smiling at her. The scene fast-forwarded, and the ceremony was all over. Everyone rushed to where she and her new husband stood and wished them happiness.
Tony hugged her and said, “This was the right thing to do. You’ll be very happy with Myles. I won’t hold it against you.”
Lana jerked awake and looked at her clock. It was four in the morning. She’d slept for an hour. Her bridal shower hadn’t ended until two. This was to be her wedding day, and she’d just had the worst bride’s nightmare anyone could have. What was she supposed to do now? Call it off? Did this mean that marrying Tony would be the worst mistake of her life? Was her life partner supposed to be this Myles person? Who the hell is Myles anyway!
Nerves? Pre-wedding jitters? That had to be it. And if it weren’t for her psychic ability, that’s all it would mean to her. But she did have premonitions, and her dreams normally meant something. Figuring out what they meant always proved to be the hardest part. Lana wished her aunt Lucy would appear.
The windows blew open. A cold draft swooshed the curtains aside. Lana ran to the window and closed it, then pulled the curtains together.
“You called?”
Lana jumped. Lucy, her ghostly great-aunt, floated around the room smiling. Although Lana had helped Lucy move on a little over a year ago, she still popped back into her life from time to time.
“Lucy…ah, no. I wished for you. You can read my mind now?”
“I always could, honey. So what’s the problem?”
“You don’t know? I thought you could read my mind.”
Lucy floated to the bed, crossed her legs, and hovered above the covers as if sitting on the sheets. “Well, it’s more like a sense. I can sense when you need me sometimes. Your mom and dad say hello, by the way, and they both send their love.”
Lana sat beside her. “You’ve seen them? How are they?”
“They’re both well. Better than when they were alive. But back to you. What has you so upset?”
Lana told her about her dream. “What could it mean?”
“Cold feet perhaps?”
“I thought of that already, but I think it means something more. You know what my dreams are. They usually lead to something I’m working on during a job. But I’m not working on anything at the moment. I put everything on hold until after the wedding.”
“That’s true. I’m happy you’re not backing out of the wedding, though.”
“I didn’t say that.” Lana was up and pacing the floor in front of her dresser.
“You’re kidding, right? You’ve dragged your feet on this way too long already. You’re not going to break poor Tony’s heart.”
“Of course not. I’m just wondering if this is a warning. Am I marrying the right man?”
“How can you ask that? Remember your premonition about you, Tony, and the baby.”
A few months ago when Lana had completed a job helping a ghost move on, who didn’t want to leave and didn’t want the owners of his house living in it, she touched the door handle of her car, and the premonition hit her. She realized what her heart knew all along—Tony was the love of her life and she would be stupid not to set the date for their wedding.
“But what else could the dream mean?”
Lucy placed a finger to her chin. “I got it. This dream has to have something to do with a case you’re going to work on. It’s another premonition. It has to be.” Then she floated over to gaze at Lana’s wedding dress hanging in the plastic bag outside her closet door. “Gorgeous dress. I bet it cost a bundle.”
Lana watched the white-haired woman and thought about how short her aunt’s attention span was. “Never mind that right now. So what should I do? Should I postpone the wedding until I find out what this is all about?”
Lucy flew across the room and stopped in front of Lana. “You’ll do no such of thing. You’ll marry that wonderful man today and be happy about it. Just shut the terrible dream from your mind until you return. You’ll only be gone on your honeymoon for a couple of weeks. Whatever it is can wait until you return.”
“Yeah. You’re right.”
“Ain’t I always, honey.”
Lana laughed. “You bet your…?”
“You bet your what? I’m still your aunt and I won’t hear any nasty words coming out of your mouth.”
“Buns. You bet your buns was all I was going to say?”
They both laughed.
The two women, one auburn-haired and the other gray-haired, blew kisses, and Lucy was out of sight again, leaving Lana to a night of tossing and turning.
