Chương 3
“Oh, sweetheart.”
She knelt and opened her arms.
Sophie went to her.
Margaret held her without asking questions. Daniel watched his mother close her eyes against Sophie’s hair.
When Sophie finally pulled back, Margaret took a tissue from the vanity and wiped beneath the child’s nose. “There. Very glamorous.”
Sophie almost smiled.
“Am I still a flower girl?”
“You are still wearing the dress,” Margaret said.
“That’s not what it means.”
“No,” Margaret said. “I suppose it isn’t.”
Daniel stood near the window, pressing his palm against the sill.
“What’s happening downstairs?”
“Confusion. Vanessa is in the library with Richard and her mother. The wedding planner has told the caterer not to serve the plated lunch. People are leaving, slowly. Half of them seem to think this is an intermission.”
“It isn’t.”
“I know.”
“Does Vanessa?”
Margaret glanced toward Sophie.
Daniel understood.
“Soph, would you stay here with Grandma for a few minutes?”
Her body stiffened immediately. “Where are you going?”
“To talk to Vanessa.”
“Don’t leave me with her.”
“I won’t.”
“I mean Vanessa.”
“I know what you mean.”
“Promise?”
“I promise.”
Sophie looked at Margaret.
“I’m not going anywhere,” Margaret said. “We can sit right here. We can also steal those chocolates before somebody sensible removes them.”
She pointed toward a silver tray beside the champagne.
Sophie gave Daniel a reluctant nod.
At the door, he turned back. She had already climbed onto the window seat again. Margaret sat beside her, holding the flower basket in her lap while Sophie tried to fit the photograph together.
Daniel went downstairs.
The foyer had begun to empty. Guests gathered coats and gift bags beneath the staircase. An aunt of Vanessa’s was crying near the powder room, although no one seemed to be comforting her. Two groomsmen stood by the front doors, uncertain whether to speak to Daniel. He passed them without stopping.
Vanessa was waiting in the library.
She had removed her veil. It lay across the back of a leather chair, so white against the dark upholstery that it looked lit from within. Richard stood near the fireplace. Vanessa’s mother, Elaine, sat on the edge of a sofa with a tissue folded neatly between both hands.
The room contained the smell of old books and the untouched bourbon Richard had poured.
Vanessa faced Daniel.
“Is Sophie all right?”
“Now you ask?”
Her jaw tightened. “I asked upstairs.”
“You called her name.”
“I was trying to speak to her.”
“She was afraid of you.”
Elaine looked down.
Richard said, “We need to lower the temperature.”
“No,” Daniel said. “You need to stop managing the room.”
Richard’s expression sharpened. “I am trying to prevent this from becoming more destructive than it already is.”
Daniel looked at Vanessa. “Tell me what happened.”
Vanessa drew a breath.
“She came into the bridal suite while everyone was getting ready. She had that picture in the basket. I told her it was beautiful, but I asked her to leave it upstairs because the basket was supposed to hold petals.”
“She says you told her her mother wasn’t part of today.”
“I said Emma was not part of our wedding.”
Elaine closed her eyes.
Daniel stared at Vanessa. “You said that to a six-year-old.”
“I phrased it badly.”
“You tore the photograph.”
“I did not tear it deliberately.”
“You pulled it out of her hands.”
“She would not give it to me.”
“That was your answer?”
“I was under pressure.”
Daniel laughed once, without humor. “You were under pressure.”
“Yes.” Vanessa’s eyes flashed. “I was getting married in less than an hour. My mother was panicking about the seating chart, the florist had delivered the wrong gardenias, your sister-in-law was upstairs taking photographs of Sophie with Emma’s picture as though she were trying to make some point, and Sophie would not listen.”
“Claire is not my sister-in-law anymore.”
“She is Emma’s sister. You know what I meant.”
“I know exactly what you meant.”
Vanessa’s hand moved toward her bracelet. She rotated it once around her wrist.
“She brought that photograph into every fitting,” she said. “Every appointment. Every conversation about the ceremony became a conversation about Emma. The locket, the memorial chair, the reading, the photograph. I agreed to the flowers at the cemetery yesterday. I agreed to Sophie wearing Emma’s earrings when she is older. I agreed to Claire sitting in the second row. Nothing was enough.”
“You agreed?”
“You know what I’m saying.”
“No. I don’t think I do.”
Vanessa looked at her parents, then back at him. “I was trying to have one day that belonged to us.”
“And Sophie’s mother threatened that.”
“Don’t twist this.”
“I’m repeating it.”
“You are making me sound monstrous.”
Daniel’s voice dropped. “You took something from my daughter and tore it while telling her that her dead mother did not belong at our wedding.”
“It ripped because she pulled back.”
“She is six.”
“I know how old she is.”
“Do you?”
Richard stepped away from the fireplace. “Daniel, Vanessa has apologized for losing control.”
“She hasn’t apologized.”
Vanessa looked at her father. “I don’t need you to speak for me.”
Richard’s mouth closed.
She faced Daniel again. Her eyes were bright, but no tears fell.
“I am sorry the photograph tore,” she said. “I am sorry Sophie was frightened. I should have walked away.”
Daniel waited.
Vanessa folded her arms over the fitted bodice of her dress. “But you cannot end a marriage before it begins because of one terrible moment.”
“It wasn’t one moment.”
Something passed across her face.
Daniel saw it.
“What else has she said to you?” Vanessa asked.
The question came too quickly.
“What should she have said?”
“Children misunderstand things.”
“What things?”
“She has been anxious about the wedding.”
“What things, Vanessa?”
Elaine stood. “Maybe we should all take an hour.”
Daniel looked at her. “Did you know?”
May you like
“Know what?”
He turned back to Vanessa. “You told Sophie things would be different after the wedding. You told her we were going to be a real family.”
