Page 42 of Call Off the Dark

The Pacific Northwest was earthquake country, but they were usually so small you didn’t even feel them. Helen had felt only a couple of minor earthquakes in her life, so they weren’t on her list of wedding concerns. The possibility of rain during the ceremony? Yes. The earth ripping open? No.

The wedding and reception were taking place at a sprawling two-story oceanfront inn two hours from Seattle on the coast. It was a warm and breezy August day, and they were going to say their vows on the lawn with views of the Pacific Ocean during the golden hour before sunset. Today’s sky was dotted with puffy clouds in the deep blue, and the air smelled crisp and fresh. Helen had enough hairspray in her updo that it should hold with the ocean breezes, which was important since they weren’t going to do any couples photos until after the ceremony. She didn’t want Tyler to see her in her wedding dress until it was time.

Mother Earth had other ideas though.

Helen had just sent her three bridesmaids out to check on things when the room began to shake.

Unless the ceiling caved in, there was nothing to fall from above, so Helen sat on the bed and waited. The deep rumbling sound made it seem as though the earth was groaning. The large second-story windows overlooking the ocean trembled, and just as she was starting to feel a wash of dread, it was done.

That wasn’t so bad, she thought. Hopefully the glass centerpieces on the ballroom tables hadn’t tipped over.

In a way, it was a disappointment that almost everyone Helen loved had experienced the earthquake together, and she’d been with no one. Any moment, her bridesmaids would come bursting back into the room, buzzing with excitement over it. She hoped they had thought to check the glass centerpieces first.

It couldn’t have been more than two minutes before she heard a loud knock on the door and then Tyler’s voice. “Helen?”

She went to the door and spoke through the wood, laughing a little. He must have run up the stairs and down the hall to check on her. “Honey, I’m all right. It wasn’t that bad. Is everything okay in the ballroom?”

“It’s all fine. But we have to go.”

“What?”

“I know. I’m sorry. Can you open the door?”

“I’m in my dress, Tyler!”

“Helen.” He had a strange tone, both pleading and firm.

So Helen opened the door, but she stayed hidden behind it. She peered out at him with one eye, trying to hide her hair and makeup.

Tyler, handsome in his black suit, smiled apologetically. “How do you feel about doing our ‘first look’ right now in the hallway?”

She felt a lurch in her chest. They weren’t supposed to see each other until she appeared at the end of an aisle lined with white hydrangeas as he stood waiting at the altar. Something had to be seriously wrong.

“Hold on.” Helen hurried to grab her purse and phone from inside the room. By the time she stepped into the hallway, her heart was pounding.

Tyler’s apologetic expression was instantly replaced with one of wonder as he took in the sight of her. “Oh, Helen.”

“Do you like it?” Helen said in a rush as she felt her eyes get shiny. There wasn’t time to savor it though. “Why are we in the hallway? Just tell me!”

Tyler’s eyes turned shiny too, and he took her hand. “You are so gorgeous. I don’t know how I got to be so lucky,” he said. And then he breathed out. “But we need to go to higher ground.”

“Higher ground?”

He led her down the hallway. “We shouldn’t stay at sea level after an earthquake. Just in case.”

“Oh my God! Is a tsunami coming?” Helen looked out a window as they passed by it and caught a glimpse of the ocean, its waters choppy and rippling. “Shouldn’t we just stay on the second floor?”

“Some tsunamis are taller than that.”

Helen shuddered. Memories of TV images from the Indian Ocean tsunami and the more recent one in Japan overwhelmed her.

“I told everyone to go to the lighthouse on the bluff.” Tyler smiled at her. “We’ll call it a pre-celebration. It’s just a precaution.”

Downtown Seattle was on the shores of Puget Sound, and the sound was made up of narrow inlets of water. Because Seattle wasn’t situated on the wide-open ocean, the risk of tsunamis was lower, so Helen had never thought much about them. But now they were exposed, right on the coast.

“How long do we have?” she asked.

“We have forever together. The rest of our lives.”