The Bride's Curse Read Online Free

the pin that did it. Are you going to say the pin’s cursed? Are we about to experience an invasion of cursed bloodletting pins now?”
    She’d intended her words to be humorous, an attempt to disperse all this talk about curses and other nonsense. Instead, they had the opposite effect. Noelia looked as if she was going to burst into tears.
    “You need to get rid of that gown. I don’t care what you say, Kelly, there’s something wrong with it.” Noelia blew her nose noisily, a ruse to stop her boss and friend from seeing she was close to tears.
    Mortified, Kelly hugged the other woman. “Oh, Noelia, I’m sorry. I didn’t realize how seriously you were taking all this. Come on, sit down and I’ll make us a cup of coffee. Then we’ll talk this through.”
    A few minutes later, they sat facing each other on the Victorian dining chairs, coffee mugs in hand and a plate of Noelia’s favorite chocolate digestive biscuits between them. “I know you think this is all too weird, Kelly, but I couldn’t sleep for thinking about it last night. In Sicily where my family comes from, people believe in curses and the evil eye. My grannie often talked about what it was like when she was a girl, before the family came to America. Yes, I know, for an All-American twenty-first century girl, it’s easy to dismiss these things, but the old people knew a lot. My grannie used to say there are more things in Heaven and Earth than this world dreams of.”
    Kelly bit her lip. If only she could tell Noelia, who was her friend as well as an employee, the truth about her own personal demons. Or spirits. For a brief moment, she was tempted to confide in the older woman about the Taliban bomb blast, the noise, the flying shrapnel, the choking dust, the cries, the pain … the visions. The moment passed before she could pull together the courage to try to explain the inexplicable.
    “I keep thinking, over and over again, what would happen to you if this store should go out of business? I know it means so much to you, much more than just a way to make a living.” Noelia softened her words with a smile.
    Kelly smiled back, but her eyes filled with tears at her friend’s concern. “I hate to see you so upset. Tell you what … I’ll put the dress way at the back of the store where only someone really looking will find it. That way, maybe if there is a curse, it will be the dress choosing the bride it wants to be worn by, and the curse will be broken.”
    Noelia nodded gratefully. “Put it way to the back, though. Hide it so it can’t be found except by someone it chooses. I know you must think I’m a silly old broad, but—”
    “Not at all. You’re my friend and I hate to see you upset. Are you sure the dress was the only thing you were losing sleep over? Are your children okay?”
    That brought a big smile. “Yes, they’re fine. I think Alex might announce his engagement soon. He’s been going out with this lovely girl for a year now and they’re very good together.”
    Kelly smiled. “That’s wonderful, really. Just know that Wedding Bliss’s services will be there for you at a deep discount—like zero cost—when they’re ready to tie the knot.”
    “That’s very sweet of you. Thank you.” Noelia snagged the last cookie, then gathered up the pretty china plate and cups to put them away in the small kitchen area in the store’s back room.
    True to her word, Kelly draped the vintage gown on a padded hanger and tucked it away in a shaded corner of the store furthest from the door.
    “That’s a good spot—no-one can actually see the dress unless they’re really looking. I just hope that dress is out of here before—”
    The silver bells above the door jangled as a customer came in, and Noelia’s words were lost.
    The customer was model slim, her dark hair perfectly styled in the just-out-of-bed fashion that takes hours to arrange, and wearing a suit Kelly guessed was Oscar de la Renta.
    Oh my gosh, are those Jimmy