In-Laws & Outlaws Read Online Free Page A

when a wrinkled old hag on her side of the would-be church leapt to her feet in a rush. All eyes turned to her as she threw her hands to her throat and clawed at her own neck for a moment before collapsing, falling in the aisle and almost completely blocking it. The bride continued to walk, unfazed by the woman’s dramatic display, and coldly stepped over the writhing old woman in order to reach Porter.
    “Great Granny always said this wedding would happen over her dead body. I’m glad to see she’s a woman of her word,” Priscilla said loudly, with a sardonic smile. She continued walking towards the altar, her eyes and smile fixed on Porter. He looked around her nervously once or twice as various members of the old woman’s family crowded around her body and began to shout.
    “This isn’t a game! There’s something wrong! Somebody, call an ambulance!”
    Stacy fidgeted nervously for a moment, her natural instincts towards crisis management and flawless organization fighting to override her decision to put these crazies in their respective places. She exchanged glances with Porter, who shook his head no. She looked to Priscilla for reassurance, but the bride simply refused to be swayed. The wedding rehearsal was a go, even if the old lady on the floor was not.
    As people continued to climb over the chairs to get to the woman, Priscilla and Porter looked at each other lovingly before telling the minister to continue. He eyed the fray happening behind them, but nervously began his explanation of how the ceremony would come about.
    Finally, Stacy could stand it no longer. She waved in the few members of her security detail and told them to handle the crowd, most of whom did not appreciate being physically lifted and hoisted away, although Stacy noticed that a few of the women didn’t seem to mind being carried considering who it was doing all the lifting. But as they hauled off the troublemakers, Mr. Giudice, the head of security, signaled to Stacy that something was seriously wrong.
    “I don’t think this is another trick, Miss East,” he explained when Stacy finally came closer. “She’s not lookin’ so good, and I swear to ya I don’t mean that like some kind of old lady joke. Look at her.”
    Stacy bent closer, and sure enough, the woman was starting to turn gray. She nodded to the head of the security detail to call for help, instructing him to make sure his guys kept a close eye on the various guests just in case. Then she waved to Tori to take the bride and groom back to their waiting room in case this was another trick.
    The ambulance arrived in minutes, the police were hot on their heels. The assembled crowd turned ugly, especially once it was discovered that the finger foods on hand to be nibbled before the rehearsal got underway—provided by the groom’s family, of course, as was the traditional rehearsal dinner arrangement—were not peanut-free as stipulated in all the wedding contracts and planning. Great Granny, better known as Sammy to those who knew her, was deathly allergic to peanuts, as she had oh-so-dramatically managed to prove only moments before.
    “I swear them sandwiches didn’t have no peanuts!” the groom’s mother wailed. “I made ‘em myself this morning!”
    “Well, somebody came along and poisoned my granny!” the bride’s father screamed back, spit flying from his mouth as he yelled in a rage. “I knew not one of you was to be trusted, and now you’ve gone and committed murder!”
    “I’m telling’ ya, we didn’t have nothing to do with it!” she fired back, lobbing a vase at the man’s head. Stacy wondered about the wisdom behind convincing someone you didn’t try to kill his grandmother by trying to kill him with a floral arrangement, but decided to let it go.
    “Miss East, the police are here,” her assistant said softly, standing close enough to her elbow to whisper but still using her boss’ formal name since clients were present. Stacy turned and