Aisling Grimlock 9 Read online

  Grim Vows

  An Aisling Grimlock Mystery Book 9

  Amanda M. Lee

  WinchesterShaw Publications

  Copyright © 2018 by Amanda M. Lee

  All rights reserved.

  No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means, including information storage and retrieval systems, without written permission from the author, except for the use of brief quotations in a book review.

  Created with Vellum

  Contents

  Prologue

  1. One

  2. Two

  3. Three

  4. Four

  5. Five

  6. Six

  7. Seven

  8. Eight

  9. Nine

  10. Ten

  11. Eleven

  12. Twelve

  13. Thirteen

  14. Fourteen

  15. Fifteen

  16. Sixteen

  17. Seventeen

  18. Eighteen

  19. Nineteen

  20. Twenty

  21. Twenty-One

  22. Twenty-Two

  23. Twenty-Three

  24. Twenty-Four

  25. Twenty-Five

  26. Twenty-Six

  27. Twenty-Seven

  28. Twenty-Eight

  29. Twenty-Nine

  Epilogue

  Mailing List

  About the Author

  Books by Amanda M. Lee

  Prologue

  19 years ago

  “You’re supposed to say ‘I do,’ not ‘I guess so.’ Are you trying to make me cry?”

  Jeremiah “Jerry” Collins planted his hands on his hips as he regarded his best friend (and pretend bride) with a dubious look. Dressed in a tuxedo — no, really — he had spent hours organizing the library of the Grimlock house so it would look perfect for his pretend wedding. The fact that his bride refused to play along correctly was simply unacceptable. “You’re ruining all my hard work!”

  Aisling Grimlock was used to her best friend melting down, so she barely blinked when he exploded. Instead, she remained standing in the center of the room — flowers pilfered from her mother’s garden held in one hand — and openly glared at Jerry. “Why are we even playing this game? It’s stupid.”

  Jerry’s eyes flashed. “You’re stupid.”

  “You’re the biggest stupid ... guy ... in the world,” Aisling fired back.

  “Oh, well, that’s great.” Jerry threw his hands into the air in exasperation. “I can’t believe you’re ruining my wedding!”

  The noise from the library was so fierce it drew looky-loos. The first was Cormack Grimlock. Aisling’s father thought he should have been surprised to find his only daughter dressed in a white gown and pretending to marry a boy. But because it was Jerry — a boy he was genuinely fond of — Cormack was more curious than annoyed.

  “What are you two doing?”

  Jerry jolted at the sound of Cormack’s voice, his face instantly flushing with color. “Hello, sir. We were just ... playing.”

  “Uh-huh.” Cormack wasn’t convinced as he folded his arms over his chest and flicked his eyes to Aisling. She was a tiny terror, one he spoiled rotten even though he denied it at every turn. She was the only girl amongst four brothers. She was also the youngest. In Cormack’s mind, that meant she deserved to be spoiled ... and overprotected to the point no boy would want to marry her. “This isn’t your usual type of game.”

  “It was Jerry’s idea.” Aisling’s annoyance was on full display as she gripped her flowers tighter. “He said he was sick of me picking all the games and wanted a shot at deciding what we should do.”

  Cormack smirked. Aisling was, as always, a bossy little thing. She liked to take charge and make the rules when it came to playing games. She preferred the same games her brothers played — zombies, cowboys, Space Invaders, Jedi knights — but Jerry was another story. He preferred quieter games. Lily, Aisling’s mother and Cormack’s wife, insisted Aisling compromise when Jerry came to spend the night. That meant playing games she hated.

  “I guess I’m confused.” Cormack pushed himself away from the wall and walked into the library, pursing his lips when he took in the folding chairs and flower petals. “Where did you get the chairs?”

  “They were in the attic closet,” Aisling replied. “Jerry said we need chairs for our guests even though they’re invisible. Apparently it’s rude if people don’t have a place to sit.”

  “Ah.” Cormack’s lips curved. “And the flowers?”

  Aisling’s expression shifted. “Oh, well ... .” She trailed off without answering. “You should play with us.” She was good at changing topics, an ability that was fully on display now. “We need someone to walk Jerry down the aisle.”

  Cormack tilted his head as he regarded his youngest child. “You want me to walk Jerry down the aisle?”

  Aisling nodded without hesitation.

  “Aren’t you the bride?” Cormack challenged. “The bride is the one usually walked down the aisle.”

  Aisling shrugged. “I think it’s more important to Jerry.”

  “Really?” Cormack shifted his eyes to his daughter’s best friend. They’d been inseparable since kindergarten. Even though Jerry wasn’t yet ten, Cormack had a feeling he understood exactly how Jerry’s life was going to play out. It was good he had Aisling to fight with and for him. It was also good Aisling had him to smooth her rough edges, because growing up with four brothers made Aisling the sort of girl who would need help with her edges.

  “She doesn’t play right,” Jerry lamented as he sank into one of the chairs. He looked tired, which wasn’t difficult to understand given the number of chairs in the room. “I don’t understand why she doesn’t want to be the bride.”

  “I don’t want to be the bride because I’m never getting married,” Aisling said. “Being a bride is stupid.”

  Cormack lowered his massive frame into a chair and fixed his daughter with a questioning look. “Why don’t you want to get married?”

  “Because boys are stupid.”

  “That’s a good answer.” Cormack grinned at her. “In fact, that’s a very good answer, kid. Boys are stupid. I want you to remember that when you’re fourteen ... and sixteen ... and twenty ... and don’t forget it when you’re thirty either.”

  “Mom says I will change my mind and like boys at some point,” Aisling supplied. “I think she’s lying. I think that’s like when she said I would eventually like asparagus. That’s never going to happen ... and neither is the liking boys thing.”

  She was so serious Cormack couldn’t stop himself from chuckling. “Oh, Aisling, you make me laugh.”

  “I’m not trying to be funny.”

  “That only makes it funnier.” He patted the chair next to him and watched as Aisling climbed into it. “I would like to believe that you’ll stick to your guns and hate boys forever.”

  “I will.”

  “I doubt karma will be that good to me,” Cormack countered. “At some point, I’ll have to pay for spoiling you.”

  “That’s how the universe wanted things to be. Spoiling me was a good idea.”

  Cormack’s chuckle was quick and throaty. “Somehow I knew you would say that. But it’s not true. I’m going to pay for spoiling you. I don’t know how or when, but it’s coming.”

  “And you think it’s going to happen with boys?” Aisling didn’t look convinced. “Why?”

  “There will come a time when you go boy crazy,” Cormack replied without hesitation. “I can already see the beginning signs, like when you watch that show with the vampire with the soul. You get all moony when you see him.”

  Aisling balked. “I don’t get moony.” She
looked to Jerry for confirmation. “Tell him I don’t get moony.”

  “I don’t know what to tell you, Bug.” Jerry was blasé as he stretched his legs out in front of him. “You do get quiet when Angel is on television. I don’t blame you. He’s great.”

  Cormack slid Jerry a sidelong look. “You like him, too?”

  Jerry held his palms out. “I don’t know. I guess I’m supposed to like Fred or Cordelia because they’re girls, right?”

  Cormack stilled. This was a sticky situation. He wouldn’t change Jerry for anything — the boy had a giving heart and put up with Aisling, which meant he was practically a saint — but he didn’t want to insert himself in a conversation that he figured was best shared with Jerry’s overprotective mother. “Wait ... Fred is a girl?”

  “Winifred,” Aisling automatically answered.

  “Okay.” Cormack cleared his throat. “I think you two are allowed to like whoever you want when it comes to Angel. There are no rules.”

  “Well, I don’t like Angel because he’s a boy,” Aisling clarified. “I like him because he’s an awesome fighter and he kills bad guys. That’s what I want to do when I get older ... kill bad guys. Screw all this wedding stuff.”

  Cormack was reminded of why he stopped to interrupt the game in the first place. “Watch your language. Look, you might change your mind, Aisling. There’s a very good chance you’ll decide that you want a fancy wedding like Jerry has set up here.”

  “I don’t think so.” Aisling was adamant as she swung her legs. “This dress itches, the flowers make my eyes water, Jerry kept trying to get me to wear a tiara — which is so not going to happen — and I don’t like the idea of anyone giving me away.”

  Cormack arched an amused eyebrow. “You don’t?”

  “Mom says I’m not property and to remember that when I’m older,” Aisling replied. “She says I’m my own person and no matter what other boys say I don’t need permission from anyone to do what I want.”

  “I believe your mother threw in a caveat there,” Cormack noted. “You need permission from her or me to do what you want until you turn eighteen.”

  “I was hoping you would forget that part,” Aisling added ruefully, causing her father to smile.

  “I can guarantee you’re not going to get that lucky, kid.” Cormack patted her knee. “As for the marriage stuff, I would like to believe you’ll wait until you’re thirty and let me pick your husband when it’s time.”

  “No way!” Aisling made a face. “You’ll pick Jerry. We’re friends, not ... you know.”

  Cormack bit back a chuckle. While he had no doubt Jerry would forever be in Aisling’s life — he was the best friend any father could’ve asked for his daughter — he held no illusions that Jerry and Aisling’s friendship would turn into romance. Jerry had a different path in front of him, and it wouldn’t always be easy. In some ways, that made the bond Jerry and Aisling shared much stronger.

  “I won’t pick Jerry,” Cormack assured her. “He’s too good for you.”

  Jerry beamed. “Ha!”

  Aisling rolled her eyes. “Then you’ll pick someone boring,” she argued. “You’ll pick a guy who works in a library or something.”

  “And what’s wrong with working in a library?”

  “I want to marry someone exciting, like an FBI agent.”

  “You want to marry Fox Mulder,” Cormack said. “You’ve got a crush on him, too.”

  “I do not!” Aisling’s voice turned screechy, one of her tells when lying. “I don’t like boys. They’re stupid.”

  “Fine.” Cormack held up his hand in a placating manner. “You don’t like boys. I get it.”

  “It took you long enough,” Aisling grumbled.

  “I still think you’ll change your mind,” Cormack persisted. “It’ll happen in a few years, and then you’ll bring your first boyfriend home. Don’t get attached to him, by the way. I know how teenagers think. That first boy you bring home will be a walking hormone and I’ll have to bury him in the backyard for being handsy.”

  Aisling giggled. “Can I help bury him?”

  “Absolutely.” Cormack nodded. “That’s a lot of work for me to do on my own. You know how my back acts up when it comes to manual labor.”

  “Okay.”

  “I’ll probably hate the second and third boys you bring home, too,” Cormack explained. “You might slip a boy in that I do like, but he won’t last because the second you figure out I don’t hate him he’ll become odious to you.”

  Aisling furrowed her small brow. “What’s odious? Does that mean stinky?”

  “Not quite, but close enough.”

  “So, you’re saying that you’ll never like any boy I bring home but Jerry,” Aisling surmised. “Is that right?”

  Cormack smiled as he smoothed Aisling’s flyaway hair. It looked to him that, at some point, Jerry had tried to put a veil on his daughter and she’d fought the process. Ah, well, she never liked being constrained. “I probably won’t like any of the boys you bring home,” he agreed. “That’s the way of the world when it comes to fathers and daughters.”

  “So ... you really don’t want me to get married,” Aisling noted. “If you hate all the boys I’m going to bring home, you agree that I’m never going to get married.”

  “No, that’s not what I said,” Cormack countered. “I said I will hate most of the boys you bring home and that you will end up hating the ones I like. That’s only up until a point, though. Eventually, you’ll stop bringing home the wrong boys and bring home the right one. Then I’ll definitely be unhappy.”

  Aisling face was pinched as she absorbed her father’s words. “Who is the right one?”

  “Yeah,” Jerry echoed. “Who is the right one?”

  “The one we both like,” Cormack responded. “Oh, I’m sure I’ll be disagreeable and try to hate him, but I have no doubt you’ll eventually find a guy who fits and then I’ll be sad for a different reason.”

  Aisling stared into his eyes. “Why will you be sad?”

  “Because then you won’t be my little girl any longer. You’ll be his ... big girl.”

  Instead of reacting with sadness — or even a muttered curse, as Cormack expected — Aisling merely shook her head. “I’ll always be your girl.”

  “You will?”

  “Yeah. You get me omelet bars. You give me licorice when Mom’s not looking. Oh, and you play zombies with us.”

  “I do all those things. You’re right.”

  “You’re also going to walk Jerry down the aisle so we can stop playing this stupid game,” Aisling added, hopping to her feet. “You won’t do it because you want to. You’ll do it because we want you to.”

  “Really?” Cormack thought about arguing on principle but the look on Jerry’s face told him that wasn’t an option. “You’re right.” He was smiling when he got to his feet. “I will gladly walk Jerry down the aisle. You’re going to need flower petals to throw at him to finish off the ceremony.”

  “I was thinking popcorn,” Aisling countered. “It’s more fun and then we can eat it.”

  “I like the way your mind works.”

  “Everyone does,” Aisling agreed, grabbing her bouquet from the chair before lifting her chin to snag Cormack’s steady gaze. “I don’t think you have to worry about me finding the right guy. You and my brothers will scare him away long before it gets to that point. I’ll always be here with you, so ... don’t be sad.”

  She was rarely sweet, so Cormack instinctively reached out and clasped her hand. “If you choose the right guy, nothing that ever happens with this family could scare him away. I know it sounds impossible now, but something tells me you’ll find him.”

  Aisling shook her head. “I don’t like boys. I keep telling you that, but you won’t listen. It’s just going to be Jerry and me forever.”

  “That would be nice.” Cormack straightened Aisling’s dress. “As I said, though, karma always comes back to bite you when it’s least expected
. That will happen to me because it happens to everyone.”

  “Well, it’s not going to happen today.” Aisling gestured toward Cormack. “I need to start the music. You should get in your position.”

  Cormack mock saluted. “Yes, ma’am.” He grinned as he moved to Jerry. “Are you ready to walk down the aisle?”

  Jerry nodded, his lips curving. “Yeah. She’s wrong, you know. She’ll find the perfect boy.”

  “How do you know that?”

  “I’ve seen him.”

  The simple statement threw Cormack for a loop. “You’ve seen who.”

  “The man she’ll end up with.”

  “How have you seen him?”

  “Mrs. Grimlock showed me in a dream, but she said I had to be quiet about it because Aisling would fight it if she didn’t think everything was her idea.”

  “That’s very wise.” Cormack stared into Jerry’s solemn eyes for a long moment. “How often do you have this dream?”

  “I don’t know. Not often. It’s like I’m not supposed to remember after I dream it, but I do.”

  “And you dreamed about Aisling’s wedding?”

  “No, I dreamed about all of us in the future,” Jerry explained. “I saw us ... and we were all together. The new guy, too. And a few girls I’m sure belong with Cillian, Braden and Redmond.”

  “I’m sure they’ll go through a few girls,” Cormack agreed readily. “What did Aisling’s boyfriend look like?”

  “I don’t know. I didn’t see his face. I just saw him when he saved her.”

  “Saved her from what?”

  “The bad thing.”