They’ve decided to get married, even though that’s not something cats usually worry about. It’s my fault, really, for bringing it up in the first place.
Now they’re expecting a lavish affair, and they’ve graciously voluntold me to plan it. They’ve also given me less than a week to do so.
Yeah… This would be a difficult task to complete within the given timeframe for a simple, run-of-the-mill human wedding. A magical cat wedding, however, comes with so many added complications that my job as their pro bono wedding planner is practically impossible.
First and of foremost concern, I have to find a way to herd cats from their hidden night city, Nocturna, over to our mortal realm. I also need to make sure no non-magic folk stumble upon the celebration and start asking questions.
I can’t exactly stop showing up for my shifts at work, and I can’t take vacation since I’m not going anywhere. Elderberry Heights is a small town, which means the gossip mill is always churning. There’s no way I could avoid someone spotting me during my fake-cation and then reporting back to my boss at the coffee shop. And that would bring questions I have no possible way of answering. I’m not the best at lying, and I’m not exactly allowed to share the truth about what my cat is, either.
This means somehow, I need to figure out a way to do it all, no matter how much it seems I can’t.
Who needs sleep anyway?
Haha.
Sigh.
“Will you turn that down please?” I asked Merlin for at least the fifth time that afternoon.
“Relax. It’s almost over,” my cat said, snuggling closer to his intended on the couch as the two watched yet another wedding rom-com on my iPad.
While I was hard at work making the actual preparations, Merlin had made it his mission to study up on human wedding customs via some top one-hundred list he’d found online. And as distracted as I’ve been this past week, I realized too late that he’d used my credit card to purchase them all, even the ones he could have watched for free via Netflix.
Add together the cost of all those movies plus the various wedding bric-a-brac, and this whole thing was costing me an arm and a leg—or maybe a kidney. Those were still worth good money on the black market, right?
Honestly, there was no way I could have ever hoped to afford all this if I wasn’t already living rent-free in the house my grandmother gifted to me when she retired to the Florida Keys. Whatever tiny savings buffer I’d built up had now been obliterated, and I was afraid to find out how much of my future income I’d lose when my next credit card statement came due.
At least I knew my cats were madly in love and would stay together for the rest of their nine lives. And since I was single and planned to stay that way for the foreseeable future, I wouldn’t have my own wedding to bankroll anytime soon.
“Oh, Gracie!” Merlin cooed a short while later, his green eyes wide with wonder. “Come look at this. Jane has twenty-seven bridesmaids. Do you think we should add some more, too?”
“No!” Luna and I shouted at the same time.
He balked at the both of us and then casually licked a paw.“It was just an idea. I’d hate for our wedding to be upstaged by a human one.”
“It’s Hollywood,” I explained with a heavy sigh. “It’s not real.”
“Don’t worry, dear. Our wedding will be perfect,” Luna purred. “Isn’t that right, Gracie?”
“Right,” I said, then bit my bottom lip before I could add anything else to that statement. Talk about pressure!
Both cats watched me as if waiting for me to finally crack. When I couldn’t take it for even another second, I threw my hands up in the air. “All right. I’m going outside to finish setting up for tomorrow. It’s a little after five, which means, Merlin, you’ll need to head over to Nocturna to escort the guests in a couple of hours.”
He actually had the audacity to yawn.“Yes, yes, I know.”
I turned to the all-white cat.“Luna, stay inside. I want the venue to be a surprise for tomorrow. So no peeking!”
She nodded pertly.“You have my word.”
“Good. See you guys in a bit.” I moved toward the door and slid my feet into my favorite pair of flip-flops.
“Hey, Gracie,” Merlin called from where he still lounged on the couch. “What are we doing for my bachelor party? Should I wear anything special?”
My mouth fell open.“Your what?”
“I know some humans like to hire a stripper, but I hope you haven’t done that for me. First of all, hairless cats are gross. Second of all, naked humans are even grosser. And most importantly of all, I only have eyes for my Luna.”
And with that lovely visual, I ran outside and slammed the door behind me. For once I was happy the cats weren’t trying to offer any help.
2
I took one last stroll through the beautiful wedding garden I had prepared, enjoying the fresh air and relative silence. As a former garden witch, Luna loved to be among nature. Our tiny suburb boasted mature trees and well-kept lawns, but not much else. Creating this special place in the backyard was my gift to her. I’d even managed to find some of the herbs she’d once kept for mixing potions and planted those in the far corner of the yard where they were less likely to get trampled by guests.
Putting that together for her was the easiest part of this whole thing. I still had the list of ingredients Luna had used to bind the ghost of her former familiar to our property.
Long story there, and another thing I had to worry about. With so many guests arriving later that night, would our resident specter see this as the perfect opportunity to cause some misery for us all?
The best I could do is hope that Virginia would remain in line. She’d been drained of all her magic, but that didn’t stop her from being mighty irritating. I would never forgive her if she undid all my hard work and spoiled the big day.
Of course, this was another reason we were having the wedding outside. Virginia couldn’t cross the threshold of our house, which meant she couldn’t ruin the ceremony.
Unlike most wedding planners, I wasn’t at all worried about rain. If drops threatened to fall, Merlin could easily create a barrier to keep us dry. That was one of the perks of having a sky witch in residence. On the downside, though, he’d once summoned lightning while inside and blasted a hole through my roof.
I couldn’t help but laugh as I added purple wisteria to the wedding arch I’d constructed to serve as their altar. I wanted to make sure each of the flowers I chose meant something, and wisteria was said to keep demons away. I didn’t know whether demons were even real, but I figured the wisteria couldn’t hurt. And now it looked gorgeous with the lilacs, white roses, and sprigs of lavender I’d added to the arch earlier that afternoon.
“You’re forgetting chrysanthemums,” a strange voice said from across the yard.
I turned toward the sound and spotted a mostly black cat with a small white patch on his chest.“How did you get here before the portal opened?” I asked in surprise.
He tilted his head and squinted his eyes, as if I confused him somehow.
“From Nocturna?” I prompted.
He shook his head but made no move to join me at the altar.“Oh, I’m not from there,” he relayed. “And I came by early to see if you needed any help. It’s a good thing I did, too. Otherwise, you would have forgotten the chrysanthemums.”
Suddenly, a puff of glittery pink surrounded the black cat, obscuring him from view. I hardly had time to wonder about where he’d gone, because a few seconds later, the pink fog reappeared right beside me, quickly dissipating to reveal the cat and a basket full of white flowers.
“For fidelity, loyalty, and friendship,” he said, motioning toward the flowers with his nose. “Chrysanthemums.”
“Right. Thanks.” I bent down to grab the basket. Surely, I could fit these into the arch somewhere. It’s not like I had spent the better part of an evening designing this thing by hand. What was one last-minute addition from a bossy stranger?