Grave Visions(17)

Tamara was one of my best friends. We’d met on the very first case John had brought me in on, and while we’d been far from instant friends—she’d just been appointed head ME at the time and was less than thrilled about some college freshman with no credentials being brought in to examine a murder victim—she was a witch as well as a scientist and eventually mutual respect grew into a friendship. But while we had many shared interests, our view on relationships was drastically different. She’d been with her fiancé, Ethan, for about as long as I’d known her. If all she was suffering from currently was pre-wedding jitters, I definitely didn’t want my relationship-phobic advice to influence her into something she would regret for the rest of her life. Which meant I needed to proceed with extreme caution.

She hadn’t said anything, and I could still hear soft snuffling sounds despite the fact I was pretty sure she was muffling the phone with her palm. Which meant I needed to say something that didn’t drive my foot in my mouth.

“You love him, right?”

“More than anything.”

“And you were waiting for how long for him to pop the question? I’ll be honest here, after he did, you were rather annoying with the sheer glee of being engaged.”

“That’s just it, Alex,” she said with a catch in her voice. “It took him forever to propose, and then after he did, I couldn’t get him to nail down a date until . . . And what if he is only marrying me because . . . And we don’t even know if . . .”

She trailed off again, but I knew what hadn’t been said in her pauses. I knew what had finally prompted Ethan to agree to a date, as well as why this wedding had been planned in a little less than a month. Tamara had unexpectedly begun expecting.

To complicate matters, Tamara had been attacked in the morgue several weeks ago, and had nearly transformed into a ghoul. We’d stopped her life force from being drained away before permanent damage to her had occurred, but no one was quite sure what damage might have been done to the baby she carried. She was still a month short of finding out the gender and seeing if all the organs and bones were forming properly, but we did know the baby was a fighter. He or she had stuck it out, and the baby’s heartbeat still looked good. But while the baby had measured right on time in early ultrasounds, the little one was now falling behind and measuring small.

Tamara was stressed. And who could blame her? Brides were always stressed, and she also had all the uncertainty involved with an unplanned pregnancy and concerns for the health of the baby. And yeah, Ethan may have dragged his feet a little, but the man adored her. He’d proposed long before the baby arrived in the picture.

“Tam, I have no doubts that Ethan loves you and wants to be walking down the aisle with you tomorrow. Even if there wasn’t a baby to consider—”

A sharp sob cut across the phone. Shit. I hadn’t meant it as such, but I’d just broached the fact that the baby might not make it to the point of being a consideration. Foot meet mouth. Geez, I was bad at this.

After a long moment of helplessly listening to her sob, I said, “Is it too early in the day for me to go buy an un-birthday cake and show up on your doorstep?”

She laughed then. It wasn’t exactly a happy sound, but at least it was a laugh. “I’ll pass on the cake. Food still isn’t agreeing with me. Besides, we have a wedding cake and a groom’s cake in two days. I’m going to be stuffed with cake by the time I leave for my honeymoon.” She sighed. “And I’m meeting Ethan for an early lunch soon, so I should probably go get ready. I’m doing the right thing, right? I mean, if you were me, you’d get married Sunday, right?”

I tried to imagine being in her situation. I couldn’t picture it. Of course, my boyfriend was a soul collector other people typically saw only during their last moments of life, and I’d just learned his being with me might lead to his soul crossing over to the other side. I definitely didn’t foresee all our friends and family gathering to watch us get married anytime soon. Besides, vows would be tricky considering I didn’t even know his name, and then there was that whole “until death do you part” complication. Yeah, even if I didn’t have commitment issues, that would never work out.

“I think only you know if it is right for you. If you decide it isn’t right, I’ll support you,” I finally said. “But in that case, I’m totally keeping your wedding gift—it would be amazing in my kitchen.”

“Oh really? Well, I guess that is fair.” Again she gave a weak laugh that sounded a little raw from tears. “Thanks, Al. I actually feel a little better. And it means a lot to me to know you’ll have my back if I borrow your running shoes and turn tail.”