Cold Feet

Olivia and I were standing in the doorway of our domicile kissing passionately.....

"Donnie Ray, baby, we've got to stop....I've got to put my make up and lipstick back on and get this lipstick off of your face." she said gently...

''Why don't we just skip this wedding and stay here and make love the rest of the afternoon?" I said jokingly...

"You'd love that wouldn't you?  But you know we can't....Now come on let's go down stairs....Bev and Nelson and Josie are waiting..." she said...

"Yeah ,I know..." I laughed...

Downstairs...Olivia's niece, Beverly West and her boyfriend, Nelson East were indeed waiting for us...

along with Josie Boyd, our Office manager...

My wife,Olivia Bennett-Alexander and her niece, Beverly West are two of the city's prominent attorneys...

and me, I'm Donnie Ray Alexander...

Investigator for their law firm and former New Orleans Homicide Detective... A chance meeting between Olivia and I during Essence Fest in New Orleans a few years ago led to me quitting the police force and moving to Philadelphia to work for her as a Private Investigator and marrying her, because I found I couldn't be without her...

The three of us have had some pretty memorable cases In Philadelphia where we lived and in Punta Canta, Dallas, San Deigo, San -Francisco, London ,Maine among other places.

Today however, we were on our way to the wedding of two of Olivia's clients.....Bonnie Sheppard and Eddie Queen...Bonnie Sheppard, Interior Decorator to the well heeled and Eddie Queen, a local singer and actor....Olivia had represented both when she had worked at her previous law firm....When she branched out on her own, they both came with her...along with their nice retainer fees...

''All ready to go Mrs. A." said Josie.

"Where's Paris??" asked Olivia...

"Weddings aren't his thing...He has chosen to sit this one out." said Josie..

''A wise man.." Nelson whispered to me...

I smiled...

I tossed the keys to Beverly...

"You want to drive Shortcake?" I asked..

"Not really....but since I know where the hall is....I guess I should.." she said..."Come on Nelson...." she said.

Nelson sat in the front with her...While I sat in the back with Olivia and Josie.


II-

The hall was huge....Larger than any hall I'd ever been in..... The guests , a virtual who's who of Black Philadelphia Society and a few influential whites too poured into the Chapel....

The nervous groom, Eddie Queen was surprisingly standing outside....He smiled when he saw Olivia...

"Hi Eddie... Why are you standing out here? Cold feet??" said Olivia jokingly...

He hugged her and kissed her on the cheek...

"Livy, baby...I'm so glad you could be here...No cold feet here~!" he said and then he kissed Beverly...

"Bev, my goodness, you've grown into a beautiful woman..." he said..

"Hi Eddie." she giggled....

He looked at me...

"You must be Liv's new husband..." he said.

"I am, Donnie Ray Alexander..."I said and shook his hand...

"Pleased to meet you...." he said..

He then looked at Nelson...

"And you are with Beverly?" he asked..

"Yes...I'm Nelson East, Attorney with Foxworth and associates...." he said..

"Oh My.....Okayyy and this fine young lady..." he said looking at Josie..

"I'm Josie, Josie Boyd...I work with Olivia and Beverly..." she said.

"Beverly is my associate Attorney, Josie is my Office Manager and My Husband is our Investigator.." said Olivia..

He smiled...

"You've got a nice staff Liv.." he said..

''So where is the blushing bride..?" asked Olivia...

Eddie looked at his watch...

"I wish I knew...She's late..." he said.

''We are always late....Women ,I mean...And since you're not supposed to see her until she arrives...I suggest you go inside." said Beverly.

He frowned ,then agreed..

"Ohhhh,I guess you're right..." he said..

Why did I have a feeling I had been through this scenario before....?   It happened at my first wedding...The bride simply did not show up...We waited for two hours....Only then did I find out that she had skipped to San-Francisco....My second wedding was mercifully called off two days before it was to happen...Only Olivia showed up to marry me and even she was late....Thirty minutes...but you understand how I felt..She showed up and we got married..

Olivia looked at us...

"I guess we should go in and be seated.." she said.

We did.....It was a beautiful place...It looked like a museum...

III-

The bride, Bonnie Sheppard showed up....She was a gorgeous woman... She walked in with her five bridesmaids....The groom, Eddie Queen and his best man stood at the front of the hall..He smiled gingerly as he watched her walk down the isle, accompanied by her father....

The pastor began the ceremony....

Like most men....I was oblivious to whatever it was he said until he got to the part where he said....

"Do you Bonnie Sheppard take this man, Edward Lucious Queen to be your lawfully wedded husband, in sickness and in health, for better or for worse....for rich or for poor to love and cherish for the rest of your life....???"

There was a long pause....Too long a pause.....

Then to the shock of everybody....Bonnie Sheppard began crying profusely....

"I'd like to, but I can't...I cannnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnt.....Oh My god!" she cried and turned and ran out of the church....

I was having a moment of De ja vu...To say that I knew exactly how the groom felt would be a terrible understatement....After all this had happened to me two times...being left at the alter...It's embarrassing beyond belief and humiliating....It takes a hell of a man or woman for that matter, to come back from something like this!

There was pandemonium in the hall...People were naturally and understandably shocked.....People were crying, yelling, screaming..and accusing...

His parents were yelling at the brides parents..

"I told you...I told my son not to marry that flaky broad..."

And vice  versa

"Who are you calling flaky? , If anything She came to her senses and realized before it was too late what a loser she was marrying..."

Beverly came running....

"She got in a car that seemed to be waiting...and they pulled off.." she said...

"What? This can't be...I know Bonnie...She'd never do something like this..."said Olivia...

I was busy talking to the groom....

"I know how you feel..." I said.

"How can you know how I feel?" he said..

"Two women walked away from me before I met Olivia...And one just like your bride did today , at the wedding..The other cancelled two days before the wedding...So believe me...I know..." I said.

"Wow....I'm amazed you took a chance on Livy....but then, how could you not? She's so sweet.." he said and smiled..

"Were you two uh having any problems ,uh leading up to the wedding?" I asked...The cop in me coming to life...

"Yeaaaaaaaaahh one problem.....Ralph Jenkins..." he said.

"Who is Ralph Jenkins?" I asked.

"I can answer that...Ralph Jenkins was Bonnie's long time flame....Well until she met Eddie Queen.." said Olivia....."Oh Eddie ,I feel so bad for you.....Maybe I can find Bonnie and talk to her..."said Olivia.

"There is nothing to talk about....One man is responsible for this...Ralph Jenkins and I have had enough....He has humiliated me and caused me international embarrassment....So now...I'm going to make him pay..." said Eddie Queen..

"Now hold on man....You're emotional right now.....Don't go off half cocked man, relax....Chill..."I said ,knowing that I myself couldn't be chill in a situation like this...I wasn't , the two times it happened to me...I just didn't have a clear target or person to blame...Heaven knows what I might have done..


Eddie Queen laughed....

"Chill?  Chill You say?  HAhahahahahahahahah, easy for you to say.....I'm not going to chill....I'm going to find Ralph Jenkins....AND I'M GONNA KILL HIM!" he said and dashed out of the hall and jumped in his car and pulled off...

I looked at Olivia...

"Did you ever imagine this day would end like this?" I asked..

Olivia smiled....

"Sure didn't.." she said.

"Wowww....I don't believe this..." said Beverly....

"Well, this certainly was unexpected..."said Nelson...

"I'll say." said Josie..

The large hall cleared out.....The five of us were the last to leave....We stood there stunned!

IV-

 We found a small restaurant near by and the five of us ordered food..

"I expected to be at the reception eating finger sandwiches and sipping champaigne...."said Beverly...

"Yeah, me too! Bummer....Can you imagine that? I always thought it was the groom who got cold feet.." said Josie..

"You would think." said Nelson...

"Not always..." I said..

''Well, I didn't get cold feet..." said Olivia.

"No baby...you didn't." I said.

We kissed......

"Ahem!  Our food is coming..." said Beverly as our food arrived...

"My phone is ringing.."said  Olivia... "It's Eddie Queen..." she said..

"Hello!" she answered..

"Liv...Liv I'm in trouble....Badd trouble.." said a distraught Eddie Queen...

"Eddie ,what have you done..?" asked Olivia..

"I went over to Ralph Jenkins Apartment....I was gonna have it out with him...Only , he was dead!!!  Somebody shot him...He was lying on his living room floor in a pool of blood..." said Eddie..

"Livy...I didn't kill him...I wanted to...but I didn't kill him....I got the hell out of there as fast as possible.." said Eddie Queen...

"Eddie did you touch anything?" asked Olivia....

"I don't think so...Maybe the doorknob when I went in..." he said..

"Did anybody see you leave that building?" she asked..

"I don't know...It all happened so fast, it all was so confusing.." he said..

"Where are you now?"  asked Olivia..

"I'm at my home...." he said.

"Okay sit tight...We'll be over to see you shortly..." said Olivia..

"Trouble?" I asked..

"That was Eddie Queen...His rival for Bonnie's affection, Ralph Jenkins is dead!!! Shot to death!!! He says he didn't do it...says the man was dead when he got there..." said Olivia..

"Eddie can be a bit of a hot head...but he's no killer.." said Beverly....

"People saw him angrilly bolt out of the hall, He said that he was going to find Ralph Jenkins and kill him..If he touched something, anything in that man's apartment and if somebody saw him or the street cam picked him up this could look very, very bad!" I said..

We sat at the table and ate quietly.....

Without even planning to, Here we were involved in a big case....

(TO BE CONTINUED)