Chapter 4

Trixie looked at Honey. She knew they needed help on this. She knew who to talk to, even though she had a feeling she would regret it.

* * * * *

That night when Brian came to the farm after work, Trixie told him they needed to go to the Manor House after dinner. He didn’t ask any questions. She had also called Mart and Di and they were going to meet them there after having dinner with Di’s parents.

After dinner, Brian and Trixie made their way to the Manor House. Instead of going inside, they went down to the gatehouse, which they had turned into a clubhouse when they were younger. They walked in and saw Honey was already there. But she wasn’t alone, Jim, Mart, Di and Dan had also arrived.

Trixie watched her eldest brother move over to Honey and give her a kiss. They sat down with his arm around her shoulder.

"I call this meeting to order," she said.

"Isn’t this a little old?" Jim asked. "We’re adults now. We don’t need to keep doing this."

"If you don’t want to be here, you can leave," Trixie said. She was not in the mood to deal with him.

"Jim, just listen, please," Honey said putting a hand on his arm.

Jim sat quietly as Trixie began. "I called everyone together because we’ve stumbled on a case."

"Does this have anything to do with the missing veil?" Dan asked.

Trixie nodded. "I found a note by Honey’s dresser yesterday." She looked pointedly at Jim. "The veil was taken."

"Who would want to take it?" Di asked.

"That’s what we need to figure out," Trixie said.

She told them about what happened starting with the first note. As she told them about the other notes, she saw Brian tighten his hold on Honey. She placed the notes on the table so the others could see what had been written. She also told them about the surveillance earlier that day.

When she finished, Dan asked, "Why are the notes being left for Honey?"

"I don’t know," Trixie said. "But we also need to find out who."

"And nothing came from your surveillance?" Mart asked.

Trixie shook her head. "I watched her car for an hour. I didn’t see anyone go near it."

"Did anything obstruct your view?" Dan asked, the police officer in him taking over.

"There was a van and it was only there for about a minute. That’s when the note must have been left. I should have realized it."

"It’s all right," Honey said. "We just need to find the person now."

"Do you have any ideas?" Dan asked.

Honey shook her head as Trixie looked at her best friend. "Honey, I hate to ask this because I know it seems absurd, but I want to rule out the possibility."

"Go ahead."

"Honey, did you date anyone other than Brian while in high school?" Trixie asked even though she knew the answer, but needed the reassurance.

"How dare you ask that?" Jim asked raising his voice. "That’s not important now. She’s engaged to your brother. If she dated someone else, it’s no concern of yours!"

"If she was dating someone else, that person could be behind all these notes!" Trixie said raising her own voice.

"You’re crazy!" Jim yelled. "You’re just trying to ruin their relationship because you can’t seem to handle one of your own!"

"As if you can talk," Trixie spat back at Jim. "I haven’t seen a single girl knocking on your door."

"You...," Jim began.

"KNOCK IT OFF!" Honey yelled interrupting them both.

They looked at her as she stood up. She said, "I’ve had it with both of you. Forget helping me. I don’t need it. And I don’t need you at my wedding either."

"Honey," Trixie began.

"QUIET!" Honey yelled as she looked at Trixie. "You will not be my maid of honor and you won’t be attending my wedding."

"Now, Honey," Jim began trying to placate his sister.

"Don’t you start either." Honey turned to look at her brother. "Brian may have asked you to be his best man, but you aren’t anymore."

She collected the papers Trixie has set on the table to show the others. "I’ll deal with  this myself."

Chapter 5

Honey turned and left the gatehouse with Brian following close behind. Dan, Di and Mart quickly followed them.

Trixie looked at Jim. He was as shocked as she was. Their fighting had hurt the one person they cared a lot about. She had a feeling she really messed up this time. Without a word, Trixie got to her feet and left the gatehouse, making her way back to Crabapple Farm.

I can’t believe this, she thought. But I’m not really surprised. I just can’t believe she dismissed me as her maid of honor. We’re best friends. I’m supposed to be there to help her prepare. Honey is just upset. I know I was out of line for fighting. She has enough to deal with. I shouldn’t have added to it by arguing with Jim.

She entered Crabapple Farm and made her way up to her room. She knew she had to do something to make this up to her best friend. As she walked down the hall, she grabbed the cordless phone and went into her room. She dialed the number that went directly to Honey’s room. The phone rang and rang.

Trixie knew Honey wouldn’t answer until she was ready.

* * * * *

All night long, Trixie tossed and turned in bed. honey’s comments kept repeating through her head. She tried to think of a way to fix this mess with her best friend. She didn’t want to miss one of the most important moments in her life or her brother’s. She knew she had to come up with something.

When the sun came up the following morning, Trixie had been up for a couple hours. She showered and dressed and was downstairs sitting at the kitchen table. An hour after sunrise, Trixie heard footsteps coming down the stairs. She turned and watched Brian enter the kitchen. She was surprised to see him there and figured he had been up late talking with Honey.

"Morning," she said as he went to the refrigerator.

"Morning."

She realized something was wrong with her brother. "Brian, talk to me."

Her brother grabbed the juice and faced the counter."

"Please, Brian."

He turned and glared at her. She could tell by the way he crossed his arms over his chest that he was angry. And she felt it was mostly to do with her argument with Jim.

"Do you have any idea what problems you caused with your ‘conversation’ with Jim?" Brian finally asked.

Trixie remained quiet.

Brian continued on. "Honey almost cancelled the wedding."

"What?"

"She was so angry at the two of you on top of everything else she’s been going through. She felt it would be easier to call it off what to deal with all this."

"But you were able to convince her that the wedding should go forward, right?"

"After some time she agreed to get married." Brian took a breath. "Trix, I’m...You know, never mind. What I have to say can wait. I’m really angry at you and Jim. If I say anything right now, I’m going to regret it."

"Brian, I’m sorry this happened."

"I am too." Brian grabbed the juice and put it back in the refrigerator. "I’m going to work."

"See you later."

"Bye." Brian left the house.

Trixie looked at the table. She knew she was partially at fault. She knew Brian and Honey should be enjoying the days leading up to their wedding, not trying to be peacemakers between their siblings. She needed to do something.

Chapter 6

Two hours later, Trixie made her way toward Ten Acres Academy, Jim’s school for boys. She could see the front of the building was three stories high. She moved to the front door hoping Jim was already there because they needed to talk.

As she reached the door, a voice asked, "What are you doing here?"

Trixie turned to face Jim. She took a breath. "I was hoping we could talk."

Jim stared at her for a moment. "Come on in."

He moved past her and opened the door. He ushered her inside then led her to an office. She sat down in an armchair as Jim moved around to the other side of the desk and sat down. He put his arms on his desk. "What do you want to talk about?"

Trixie took a breath knowing she had to get it over with. "Jim, I want to apologize for the way I talked to you last night and for the other day. My comments to you were uncalled for and I’m sorry."

"I’m sorry too," Jim said leaning back in his chair. "I also said some things that were inappropriate. I apologize."

"You know, maybe we need to set some ground rules for when we are together. We have to think about our friends and families. When we fight, we are hurting them."

"I hate to admit it, but you’re right. What do you suggest?"

"There’s no way we can just avoid one another. Maybe we just have to remember others before we say anything to each other."

"That sounds fair."

"Well," Trixie said getting to her feet. "I better get going."

"Do you have to go?" Jim asked. "If you have some time, I’d like to give you a tour of the academy."

Trixie smiled. "That would be nice."

Jim got to his feet and led her out of the office. As he showed her around the academy, she noticed that he was still the same Jim she had known when she was younger. She felt comfortable with him, but knew there was no way they could get back together. They were too different and would end up hurting one another. She felt it was better that they stayed apart.

* * * * *

After the tour, Trixie thanked Jim for showing her around and left Ten Acres Academy. She made her way to the road and started walking toward Crabapple Farm. As she walked, she thought about Honey’s problem.

Even though Honey told us she would deal with this on her own, there’s no way she can, she thought. I need to figure this out and soon so Honey can have her perfect wedding. I have to do this to make up for yesterday. I wouldn’t be surprised if she never spoke to me again, but this is the only way I can make this up to her.

Now, who would want to ruin the wedding? And what could the reason be? Honey is one of the most generous, kindest people around. There’s no one that I know of what would have reason to hurt her. But she received all the notes. If someone was trying to ruin the wedding, both of them would be getting the notes. There has to be more clues somewhere.

I know Honey won’t want to see me, but there has to be something in the notes that I missed. There may also be something about the box of roses Honey may recall that she forgot to tell me about. There has to be something that will tell us who is involved.

Trixie looked down the road and noticed a car was stuck in the ditch. She laughed to herself, "Someone wasn’t watching where they were going."

As she got closer, she realized the car seemed familiar. She looked at the license plate.

This is Brian’s car, she thought.

To be continued

TBH Fan Fiction