Chương 2
She held it out.
Mara did not take it.
Daniel did.
“This evening is over,” he said.
That caused a second, subtler shock. The engagement celebration had been Evelyn’s gift to Daniel’s mother, Louise Mercer, an old friend whose family had known the Harrows for years. The ballroom belonged to Evelyn. The staff answered to her. Nearly every guest had entered through gates bearing her family crest.
Yet Daniel spoke as if the house were his to dismiss.
Perhaps because he was the only person in the room willing to say what everyone else already understood.
The party was finished.
Louise arrived at Mara’s side, breathless and furious. “What happened?”
Daniel did not answer. He guided Mara toward the doors.
Evelyn called after them.
“Mara.”
Daniel stopped, but Mara did not turn.
“How do you know my name?” she asked.
The silence behind them changed.
Evelyn’s reply came slowly.
“Because Daniel’s mother told me.”
Mara looked over her shoulder.
Evelyn stood beneath the chandelier, one hand closed around the stained shawl. Graham watched her carefully.
It was a reasonable answer.
It did not feel like one.
Daniel got Mara out through the west corridor, away from the main entrance where the valet line had already become a gathering place for gossip. Louise followed, demanding an explanation in a furious whisper until Daniel turned on her.
“Not now, Mom.”
Louise recoiled. Daniel rarely spoke to her that way.
Mara kept walking.
The corridor seemed longer than it had when they arrived. Oil portraits watched from dark frames. In one, a Harrow ancestor stood beside a horse with one hand on the animal’s neck. In another, a child in a white dress held a silver cup. Mara found herself searching the painted face for a crescent beneath the collarbone, though the dress covered it completely.
A staff member opened a side door. Cold evening air touched Mara’s cheeks.
Their car was brought around within minutes. Daniel helped her into the passenger seat, still in his dress shirt and bow tie. His shoulders looked too broad without the jacket. His hair, usually precise, had fallen slightly over his forehead.
Louise approached before he could close the door.
“Mara, I am so sorry.”
Mara nodded because Louise’s apology appeared sincere and because she could not manage anything larger.
Louise looked toward the house. “Evelyn has not been herself for years where her daughter is concerned. That does not excuse this. Nothing excuses this.”
“Did you tell her my name?” Mara asked.
Louise blinked. “Of course.”
“When?”
“At lunch last week. We discussed the guest list.”
“Did you show her a photograph?”
“I suppose I might have. I showed everyone photographs. Daniel never sends enough.”
Daniel opened the driver’s door. “We’re leaving.”
Louise caught his sleeve. “Call me when you get home.”
He removed her hand gently.
The gates of Harrowmere opened before the car reached them. Beyond the stone walls, the road descended through black trees toward the main highway. Daniel drove with both hands fixed on the wheel.
For several minutes, neither of them spoke.
Mara stared at the dark reflection in the passenger window. Daniel’s jacket made her look smaller than she was. She had spent weeks choosing the ivory gown because it made her feel composed, grown, difficult to embarrass. Now she wanted to tear it off.
Daniel reached for the climate control. “Are you cold?”
“No.”
He turned the heat up anyway.
“She knew my name,” Mara said.
“My mother told her.”
“She said it before anyone else did.”
“She owns the estate. She knew who the party was for.”
“That’s not what I mean.”
“I know.”
His jaw tightened.
Mara rested her forehead against the cool glass. “My mother said the mark appeared when I was a baby.”
Daniel glanced at her. “Birthmarks do that.”
“She said it was darker then.”
“Mara.”
“I’m not saying I believe Evelyn.”
“Good.”
She turned toward him. “Don’t tell me what to believe.”
His hands shifted on the wheel. “I’m not.”
“You just did.”
“I’m trying to keep this from getting inside your head before we have facts.”
“It’s already inside my head.”
“I know.”
“No, you don’t.”
The words were unfair. Daniel accepted them without defense, which made Mara want to apologize and resist apologizing at the same time.
Traffic thickened near the Schuylkill Expressway. Red brake lights stretched ahead of them. Daniel’s phone vibrated in the cup holder, then again.
He glanced down.
“Your mother?” Mara asked.
“Everyone.”
“Don’t answer.”
He turned the phone face down.
A minute later, Mara’s phone began to vibrate inside her clutch.
She took it out.
There were eleven messages. Four were from friends who had been in the ballroom. Two asked whether she was safe. One contained a photograph taken just after the shawl fell. Mara’s hand covered her chest. Daniel’s face was visible in profile. Evelyn stood inches away.
The photograph had already been forwarded twice.
Mara locked the screen.
“Someone took a picture.”
Daniel exhaled through his nose. “Of course they did.”
“I don’t want to see any more.”
“Then don’t.”
She looked at him. “That’s not how phones work.”
At home, Daniel checked the sidewalk before opening her door.
Their apartment occupied the upper floor of a renovated brick building in Rittenhouse Square. The doorman, Malik, was arranging packages behind the desk when they entered. He looked at Daniel’s missing jacket, then at Mara inside it, and wisely asked only whether they needed help carrying anything.
“No, thank you,” Mara said.
In the elevator, she watched the numbers change. Four. Five. Six.
Daniel stood close without touching her.
When the doors opened, Mara walked straight to their bedroom. She took off the jacket and laid it over a chair. The gown’s zipper stuck halfway down. She pulled harder and trapped a strand of hair.
“Daniel.”
He was there immediately.
“Hold still.”
The same words Evelyn had used.
Mara flinched.
Daniel’s hands dropped.
May you like
“I’m sorry.”
She closed her eyes. “Just get me out of this dress.”
