Chương 3
“No,” Noah said.
Ethan looked at him.
“I said it went under the white stuff.”
Claire felt a cold tightening in her stomach.
“What white stuff?”
Noah pointed at her gown.
“The dress.”
Ethan shook his head.
“You didn’t say that.”
“I did.”
“Noah.”
“I did.”
The word cracked.
Ethan stopped.
Noah looked at Claire.
“You were walking past the little hallway with Tessa. Your dress was all behind you. I saw something dark go across the floor. Then your dress went over it.”
Claire looked at Tessa.
The coordinator had become very still.
“What hallway?”
“The one by the kitchen doors.”
Tessa crossed to the window.
“Show me.”
Noah pointed down toward the service side of the conservatory.
“Where the plants were.”
Tessa’s expression changed.
Not panic.
Recognition.
“Margaret.”
Margaret blinked.
“What?”
“The woodland greenery.”
Margaret’s mouth opened, then closed.
Ethan looked between them.
“What woodland greenery?”
Tessa turned.
“The extra fern and branch installation your mother requested yesterday.”
Margaret straightened.
“I requested greenery. I did not request a snake.”
“I’m aware of that.”
“Then why are you saying my name like that?”
Tessa ignored the tone.
“Those crates came through the garden service entrance this morning.”
“They were inspected.”
“By whom?”
“The gardeners.”
“Your gardeners.”
Margaret’s face flushed.
“They maintain twenty acres.”
“At the lake property.”
“Yes.”
Tessa closed her eyes for one second.
Claire said, “Someone needs to explain this.”
Margaret stood.
“The florist’s original design was too bare near the rear glass wall. I asked whether we could bring some cut greenery from our place outside Pine Ridge. We have acres of fern and mountain laurel. It cost nothing, it matched the arrangements, and—”
“You asked me,” Tessa said. “I told you outside plant material had to be inspected by the florist before it entered the conservatory.”
“It was greenery, Tessa.”
“It came from rattlesnake habitat.”
Margaret’s eyes hardened.
“You don’t know where that snake came from.”
“No. I don’t. Which is why nobody should be making conclusions yet.”
“You just made one.”
“I identified a possible source.”
Claire looked at the bouquet again.
She was tired of objects.
The bouquet.
The dress.
The chair.
The serving tray.
The ring.
Three hours ago every object in the day had been chosen to mean something.
Now they were only things that had been near danger.
Noah whispered, “I tried to tell Dad.”
Ethan stood.
“Buddy, I heard you.”
“No.”
“I did.”
“You heard words.”
The room went silent again.
Noah’s face tightened as though he regretted speaking.
Claire stared at him.
Ten years old.
Mustard cardigan.
One shoelace loose.
He had just said the truest thing anybody had said since the wedding stopped.
Ethan looked as if he had been struck.
Noah turned back to the window.
Tessa’s phone buzzed.
She checked it.
“Animal control believes it’s a timber rattlesnake.”
Margaret sat again.
Tessa continued.
“They’re removing it from the property. The conservatory is closed until the venue completes a safety inspection.”
Ethan looked at her.
“Closed for how long?”
“I don’t know.”
“The ceremony?”
Tessa hesitated.
Claire noticed the hesitation before she noticed the question.
Ethan had asked about the ceremony.
Not because he was callous. She knew him too well for that.
Because Ethan responded to chaos by locating the next item on the schedule.
Claire had watched him do it after his father’s funeral, when he had stood in the kitchen in a dark suit asking who had the parking validation tickets while Margaret cried over a stack of condolence cards.
She had once admired that about him.
His ability to keep moving.
Now Noah stood twelve feet away because Ethan had kept moving past him.
Tessa said, “We cannot hold the ceremony in the conservatory today.”
“The terrace?”
Margaret looked up.
Claire turned toward Ethan.
He saw her expression.
“I’m just asking.”
“Why?”
He stared at her.
“Because we have one hundred and forty people outside.”
“So?”
“So they came for our wedding.”
“They can go home.”
Margaret said, “Claire.”
“No.”
“I only meant—”
“I know what you meant.”
Ethan took a step toward her.
“Can we talk privately?”
“Noah stays.”
His eyes shifted to his son.
Noah looked at the carpet.
Ethan lowered his voice.
“Claire, we’ve spent a year planning today.”
“I know.”
“We can move everyone to the manor ballroom. We can do something simple. We’re all shaken up. I’m not pretending we’re not.”
“No.”
“You don’t even want to discuss it?”
“I don’t want to marry you in forty minutes while your son thinks you don’t believe him.”
The words were out before Claire could soften them.
Ethan’s face changed.
Margaret looked away.
Noah looked up.
Ethan said, “That’s not fair.”
Claire’s hands tightened around the blanket.
“Probably not.”
“I made one mistake in a completely insane situation.”
“You made the mistake before the situation became insane.”
“I thought he was nervous.”
“He was.”
“I thought he was trying to delay the ceremony.”
“Was he?”
Ethan looked at Noah.
The boy said nothing.
Ethan asked, “Were you?”
Noah’s jaw tightened.
Claire almost told Ethan to stop.
Then Noah said, “A little.”
Ethan spread his hands.
“There.”
Claire stood.
The blanket slid from her shoulders.
“There what?”
“He was scared about the wedding. He’s been scared about the wedding for weeks. He hid the seating cards on Tuesday.”
“I put them in the garage.”
“You hid them.”
“I moved them.”
“Without telling anyone.”
Noah shouted, “Because Grandma kept saying if everything stayed perfect then nothing could go wrong!”
Margaret recoiled.
Noah’s face went red.
“I thought if it wasn’t perfect, maybe people would stop saying it.”
Nobody spoke.
Noah wiped his eyes angrily.
“I didn’t want Claire to go away.”
Claire felt her throat close.
Margaret frowned.
“Why would Claire go away?”
Noah looked at her as if the answer were obvious.
“People go away after big things.”
Ethan sat down.
His knees seemed to stop holding him.
May you like
Claire knew then that the wedding was over.
Not postponed for an hour.
