The night before my first wedding, we stayed together, did photographs before the ceremony, we put on the show. But with Jackie, everything was about creating a perfect marriage, not a perfect wedding. She couldn’t care less about taking professional photos, and she didn’t even seem that upset when her dress was stolen. What Jackie cared about was being with me, and starting our married life together. There was no way I was letting some crazy person ruin it.
Eric and I decided to go to the police station and file reports on everything that happened, including going all the way back to Jackie’s poisoning. It had eaten up most of our time, and I still had the ring situation to address. The police were as helpful as they could be, I referred them to Mrs. Fields to try to identify the woman who had picked up the dress, but other than that, there were no other suspects.
Once that was done, Noelle, who was a marine biologist, met up with us for a hunt to find rings. She’d suggested going to pawn shops, as that was one of the few options open at that time of the evening. It was getting late and while I would have liked to go ring replacement shopping earlier, reporting everything to the police had to be top priority.
“Do any of these grab you?” Noelle asked as we sifted through a tray of someone else’s lost hopes and dreams.
“To be honest, this is depressing.”
“What’s depressing about it? It’s a literal buffet of options,” Eric replied.
“This entire tray of pawned rings is a reminder of people who had to sell their shit.” I found the whole process both daunting and disheartening. None of these rings were ours and as much and I tried to convince myself it didn’t matter, it did.
“Your grandparents’ rings will make their way back to you, Jacob. You have to just have a little faith,” Noelle said, trying to reassure me.
“Even if they don’t, they’re just a symbol. What you have with Jackie is special, and that’s what matters, bro.” Eric was right. I knew he was, but it was just frustrating for things to not go as planned.
I settled on two rings that sort of looked like they went together. Unsure if hers would even fit, I bought them anyway for what was an absolute steal, and shoved them into my front pocket. I planned to put them in the ring box when I got back to Eric and Noelle’s house.
Once they were safely tucked away, I settled in for the night, emotionally exhaused from the snafu. All I wanted to do was wake up and marry Jackie. I’d hoped the worst was behind us, and decided I needed to hear my soon-to-be-wife’s voice one more time before calling it a night.
There was a lot of commotion in the background when she picked up, and I could hear what sounded like a two-way radio. “Jackie, what’s going on?”
“Someone broke into the flower shop.”
“That’s it, I’m coming home. Are you okay?” I scrambled around the spare room I was in to gather my things. It was unbelievable to me that another incident had happened, and I wanted to make sure the police on scene knew about all the other things I had reported earlier. It had become very clear someone was out to stop the wedding or, at the very least, punish us.
“I’m fine, Jacob. But the flowers for tomorrow…” She trailed off.
“Are you serious?” Running my hand down my face in exasperation, I took a moment. Flowers meant everything to Jackie. Not only were they her livelihood, but she talked about them like they were little people. Giving them a drink, feeding them, sending them to new homes. They were important to her, and my heart broke, because no matter what she said, I knew that was the last heartbreaking straw.
“I’ll be right there. Is Lydia with you?” I asked.
“Yes, she’s here. And Ella came as well. We’re all fine.”
“Okay, please ask the police to stay, I want to speak with them.”
“I will,” she replied.
“I love you, baby. I’ll be there soon.” I wanted to reassure her, but I was at a loss myself.
“I love you too.”
When I arrived back home, there were two police cars parked on the street in front of the flower shop. Eric and Noelle decided it wasn’t a good idea to drive myself, so they drove.
“It doesn’t look bad from the outside,” Noelle said, a hopeful tone in her voice.
“I suspect the real damage is inside.” I took a deep breath and hopped out of the car. When I walked inside, Jackie was sitting on a stool at her counter across from a police officer. Another uniformed officer was walking around, taking pictures.
“Jacob!” Jackie spotted me and ran over, throwing herself into my arms.
“Tell me what happened,” I said, holding her tight.
“Everything for the wedding was destroyed.”
I pulled away and walked with her back to the counter and the officer seemed to be waiting patiently. Lydia and Ella were standing near the front counter where Eric and Noelle had also stationed themselves when they walked in behind me.
“It looks like someone managed to pick the lock and let themselves in. These older storefronts aren’t that hard to get into if you have a little practice lock picking,” the officer chimed in. “I’m Officer Anderson. I was just finishing up getting a statement from your fiance.”