Chương 8
“Laughed.”
“What did Elena do?”
“She wasn’t there.”
“Did Richard hear?”
“No.”
Madison stood.
“Ben knew.”
Claire slid off the counter.
“Maybe.”
“No. Ben knew something.”
“Madison, don’t jump—”
“Daniel said he met Ben at the Marlowe.”
Claire stared at her.
“He didn’t.”
“How do you know?”
“Because Ben was with us.”
Madison frowned.
“What?”
“After the rehearsal dinner. He came upstairs with the groomsmen. We all had one drink in the hospitality suite. I left around eleven-fifteen. Ben was still there.”
“Daniel?”
Claire’s expression changed.
“No.”
Madison sat again.
“Where was Daniel?”
“I thought he was with you.”
“I left at nine-forty.”
Claire reached for her phone.
Madison stopped her.
“Don’t call Ben.”
“Why?”
“Because if he knows something, I want to hear what he says without warning.”
Claire nodded slowly.
Madison looked toward the wedding dress collapsed across the sofa.
She had spent months imagining what it would feel like to take it off after the reception.
Daniel would be impatient.
She would complain about hairpins.
They would order room-service fries even though they had paid absurd money for dinner.
Instead she was standing in a silk robe while her best friend helped reconstruct her fiancé’s movements.
“Bring him to the library,” Madison said.
“Ben?”
“Yes.”
“Richard’s going to eat him alive.”
“Then don’t tell Richard why he’s coming.”
Claire almost smiled.
“There you are.”
Madison looked at her.
“Don’t.”
“Sorry.”
Claire went to the door.
Madison called after her.
“And find Susan.”
Daniel’s mother entered the bridal suite twelve minutes later.
She had been crying.
Madison had changed into dark slacks and a cream blouse Claire found in an overnight bag. Her hair was still pinned for the wedding. Without the gown, the bridal updo looked strange and overly formal.
Susan stopped just inside the door.
“Oh, honey.”
Madison hated the tenderness.
“Did you know?”
Susan closed her mouth.
Madison pointed toward the chair.
“Please sit.”
Susan sat.
Her purse remained on her lap.
Madison took the chair across from her.
“I’m not asking if you knew about Elena.”
Susan looked startled.
“That’s Elena?”
Madison watched the information register.
Real.
Ugly.
Susan had known something but not that.
“What did you know?”
Susan stared at her purse.
“Daniel called me in June.”
Madison waited.
“He said he had done something.”
“What?”
“He didn’t say.”
“What did you think?”
Susan’s eyes filled.
“I thought gambling.”
Madison blinked.
“Gambling?”
“He had trouble in college.”
Madison felt another section of her life shift.
“What trouble?”
Susan looked horrified.
“You didn’t know?”
“No.”
“Oh God.”
Madison leaned back.
Susan pressed both hands over the purse.
“It wasn’t—he wasn’t addicted. Not exactly. Sports betting. He lost money. His father paid it off.”
“How much?”
“Madison—”
“How much?”
“Twenty-eight thousand dollars.”
Madison stared at her.
Daniel had once lectured Madison for forty minutes about carrying a balance on a credit card.
Susan shook her head.
“He stopped. This was years before you.”
“And in June?”
“He told me he had done something that could ruin everything.”
“You thought he started again.”
“Yes.”
“Did he ask you for money?”
“No.”
“What did he ask?”
Susan’s mouth trembled.
“He asked if people could forgive one terrible mistake.”
Madison looked toward the mirror.
The lipstick message was still there.
DON’T TRIP.
DON’T CRY.
DON’T LET RICHARD REDESIGN THE CEREMONY.
She said, “What did you tell him?”
Susan began crying.
“I said yes.”
Madison waited.
Susan wiped her face.
“I told him everyone deserves a second chance if they’re sorry.”
“And then?”
“He said he couldn’t tell you.”
Madison nodded.
“Did you tell him he had to?”
Susan looked at her.
The answer was visible.
“No.”
“I said he should think carefully.”
Madison laughed once.
Susan flinched.
“I was afraid.”
“Of what?”
“That you’d leave him.”
The honesty was almost cruel.
Madison looked at Susan for a long time.
“You liked me.”
“I love you.”
“Then why would you help him keep something from me?”
“I didn’t know what it was.”
“You knew it could ruin our marriage.”
Susan covered her face.
“I’m sorry.”
Madison believed her.
That did not help.
There were apologies that repaired.
There were apologies that simply described the wreckage accurately.
A knock came at the door.
Claire leaned in.
“Ben’s here.”
Madison stood.
Susan reached toward her.
Madison stepped back.
The movement hurt them both.
“I can’t do comfort right now,” Madison said.
Susan nodded and lowered her hand.
Ben was waiting in the corridor.
He looked as if someone had taken his face apart and reassembled it badly.
His bow tie hung loose.
“Madison.”
“Library.”
He glanced at Claire.
“Is Daniel there?”
“Yes.”
Ben stopped walking.
Madison turned.
“What?”
“Nothing.”
“Say it.”
Ben rubbed his jaw.
“I don’t think I should be in a room with Richard.”
“Why?”
“No reason.”
“Good. Then let’s go.”
Daniel was standing by the fireplace when Madison returned.
Richard and Elena had moved to opposite sides of the room.
Madison noticed that too.
Daniel looked at her clothes.
“You changed.”
“Yes.”
He swallowed.
There were a thousand versions of married life hidden inside that simple observation.
You changed.
He had said it outside restaurants, before flights, at home when she came out of the bedroom wearing jeans instead of a dress.
For an instant, Madison could almost feel the ordinary future they had been supposed to have.
Then Ben entered.
Daniel’s face emptied.
Madison saw it.
So did Richard.
Ben looked at Daniel.
“Man.”
Daniel shook his head.
“Don’t.”
Ben looked toward Madison.
She closed the door.
“Were you at the Marlowe last night?”
Ben frowned.
“No.”
Daniel said, “Ben.”
Madison looked at him.
Daniel stopped.
Ben’s eyes moved between them.
“What did he tell you?”
Madison felt something inside her settle.
Not break.
Settle.
“He told me he met you there.”
Ben closed his eyes.
“Jesus.”
Daniel stepped forward.
“Think very carefully.”
Richard laughed softly.
Madison looked at her father.
He raised both hands.
“Sorry.”
Ben looked frightened.
May you like
Madison said, “You’re not in trouble.”
Richard muttered, “Debatable.”
