Chapter One
Most women dream of finding and marrying their soul mates.
Not me.
My soulmate wasn’t Mr. Right; he was Mr. Wrong, and hiding from him was becoming much more difficult every single day.
“Honor, are you paying attention?” my sister, Faith, asked, pulling me out of the rabbit hole where my thoughts had led.
“Of course, I am,” I said, shifting from one foot to the other and lifting the pamphlet, which was the stand-in for the bouquet of flowers I’d be holding at the wedding.
If Faith wasn’t convinced, she didn’t say. She turned back to the preacher and Keaton, her soon-to-be husband for the remainder of the important practice instructions, which had been a month in the making.
My family didn’t believe in long engagements. They also didn’t believe in making sure their soon-to-be spouses didn’t have any irritating habits like forgetting to put the cap on the toothpaste or leaving the toilet seat up. They’d learn soon enough.
I’d been fortunate—well, unfortunate—to have lived with a boyfriend once in my life. That was enough experience for me to know I coveted my personal space.
I’d never understand the girls’ willingness to accept the guys without digging in deeper and knowing more. They’d told me the heart knew what it wanted, and mine was telling me to run without ever looking back.
My heart might be defective, but it would never be broken.
The preacher cleared his throat and returned his gaze to my sister and Keaton. “When we get to this point in the ceremony, I’ll guide you through the vows and exchanging of the rings, and then comes the magical moment…”
I held in my chuckle. Magical? Hardly. More like biological. The honeymoon phase would last until one of them forgot to take out the trash or pick up after themselves.
I refrained from commenting out loud so all of my sisters didn’t kill me.
They each had their guy, no matter how they’d come to find them. I envied most of them for finding a version of normal to our own personal weirdness. Except Faith, of course. She kind of got screwed, knowing her man was just as gifted. It was the price for falling in love, I guessed.
“You may kiss your bride,” the preacher announced.
The smooch Keaton laid on Faith wasn’t pretend. It was heated and hungry. Keaton pulled her closer, took her deeper, to seal the fake deal.
“Save some for the honeymoon,” Nina called out with a chuckle.
I glanced at my watch, stifling my yawn. I was cutting it close.
Mercy nudged my arm and shook her head in blatant disapproval.
I stuck out my tongue and crossed my eyes before turning back to the happy couple with a smile plastered on my lips.
It was odd that the groomsmen were my sisters’ boyfriends. Keaton shared that cop mentality with most of them. Dating a Bennett sister was like signing up to join a crazy club.
He didn’t have many friends. I get it. Neither did I, so when they all headed back up the aisle to end the practice, and I took Jimbo’s arm for him to usher me out, I knew it could be worse.
Jimbo was tolerable. He was my sister’s best friend and the one person I wasn’t worried would think he’d get lucky.
We sauntered down the aisle like we were out on a Sunday stroll, and I did the fake wave like I’d just won a beauty pageant to the empty pews that would hold wedding guests in two days’ time.
“Seriously, Honor?” Faith asked. She’d been watching when I hadn’t realized we had an audience.
I cleared the smile from my face. “Are we done?”
Faith sighed. I knew that sigh. The one that said she was disappointed with me for whatever reason. All my sisters had mastered the sigh of annoyance and had used it on me at one point or another in my life.
“Are we keeping you?” Faith asked.
“Of course not,” Gwen answered, wrapping her arm through mine in a tight hold that reminded me I was breaking her rules.
Rules that I hadn’t agreed to.
Rule number one was the only one that mattered. Well, that and Gwen’s rule number two, which was that she’d beat us to a pulp if we didn’t follow rule number one.
Rule number one stated that the sister getting married was meant to feel special during the entire process and we were not to insinuate it was a time suck. A rule I should feel bad about breaking.
But I didn’t. God knew I had to go through this process several more times in my future.
“I need to go. You understand, right?” I asked, slipping my arm free of Gwen’s and stepping out of her reach.
“Sure,” Faith answered, and Keaton put his arm around her and pulled her close. If Keaton had been on the clock, he might have thrown me in jail for upsetting his bride-to-be.
“I’ll be at dinner. I promise,” I said, half walking, half jogging for the door.
As soon as I cleared the building, I let out a sigh of relief as I unlocked my car door and yanked it open.
“One day, he’s going to catch you,” Mercy said, appearing by my side. She was fast for having a bum ankle after being chased by a lunatic and falling. I hadn’t even heard the sound of her crutches striking asphalt as she approached. I was that tired.
“Who’s going to catch me?” I asked.
“The man that drew the short end of the stick and is getting saddled with you.”
“You say the sweetest things,” I said, slipping behind the wheel. “But today isn’t the day it’s going to happen.”
“Honor, when are you going to stop running?” Mercy asked.
“Either never or when he quits chasing me,” I answered while turning the key and slamming my door shut.
Even then, never might not be long enough.
Chapter Two
Mercy
“We need to do something.” Gwen walked up beside Mercy. Sweat from the morning heat dotted her forehead.
“She’ll never listen to us,” Mercy complained. “She doesn’t believe in happily-ever-after.”
Mercy and her sisters were different in their own ways. Their abilities were each as unique as the sister who had them. Changing their stubbornness, however misguided, would be like trying to blow up a mountain with dynamite the size of a toothpick.
Wind caressed their faces as the sun dipped behind some angry-looking clouds.
“Are you doing that?” Gwen asked, glancing up to the sky.
“Nope.” Mercy shook her head. The rain that was coming hadn’t been Mercy’s ability in action, more like Mother Nature’s, and judging by the storm headed their way, Mother Nature wasn’t happy either.
Gwen nudged Mercy’s shoulder. “We didn’t believe in love either, but look at us now. We got sucked in like couples on Valentine’s Day.”
Their sister, Honor, was more than just fighting the inevitable. She was taunting it and teasing it with candy, only to yank it away. One day she wouldn’t be quick enough, and she’d get bitten.
Mercy didn’t want to think about how she and her sisters would have to pick up the pieces in the aftermath, but Gwen was right. It was time Honor gave in so she could be happy too.
“I think we should interfere,” Mercy said, unable to hold her tongue any longer. They were sisters. They were supposed to care.