AllFreeNovel
Share Us
Syl looked unsure. Maybe she was just not in the mood to talk about work at a party. Fair, but I didn’t know why she seemed so distant. I was the bride, I should have had her full attention. “I don’t know,” she replied. “It’s not a bad life if you have a good boss, which I do.”
“Cute,” I said.
“You look fucking amazing by the way,” Syl said to me, artfully changing the subject with the highest of compliments, coming from the second-hottest person at the party. She looked amazing as well, if I’m being honest. Syl wore a shocking hot-pink off-the-shoulder bandage dress that made her fake tan really pop. Shenearlyshowed me up, but I’d had professional glam done for the occasion, so fat chance competing with airbrushed skin and mink eyelashes.
“Thanks, Syl. I’m really glad you’re here. I barely know any of these people.”
“Are you kidding? Thank you for inviting me! I’m dying to formally meet Mrs.Case and the wild sister.”
“Calliope?”
“If you ask me, they were asking for trouble giving her a name like that!” She laughed, glancing over at Calliope, who was talking some poor woman’s face off over by the macarons. A bump or two must have been had. “And I can’tbelieveChloe stuck to the dress code,” Syl added. “I’ve never seen her in anything but black when she’s at the office.”
I laughed. “I’m sure it is painful for her to be shrouded in salmon right now, but familial duty calls. Can you believe I’m actually going to be related to these people?”
“No,” Syl said, no longer laughing. “But here you are.”
“I’ll introduce you to Calliope. I suspect she might be a kindred spirit at heart.”
“Oh yeah! She looks like she likes to party.” Syl snorted. She was getting a little judgmental and I couldn’t get enough of it. It was fun to talk a little shit with someone, and as if on cue to rain on my proverbial parade, we were interrupted.
“Well, you must be Miss Sylvia! Finally, we meet in person,” Gale squawked. She approached Syl in a burgundy sheath with an unfavorable hemline smack-dab in the middle of her calves.Burgundy. Technically a shade of red, but surely she must have known that a frock the color of an aged wine was not really the vibe for a bridal shower. Nor was it remotely flattering on her dusty complexion. “We’re so happy you could join us. I know Bea is very fond of you.”
Gale pulled Syl in close, with her fingertips only. One of those half-hearted hugs reminiscent of Haven and likely Gale’s mother. Syl fidgeted out of Gale’s soft grasp, slightly taken aback by the maneuver. She must have been struck by the colloquial touch of a stranger, but I wasn’t surprised. The gauge for Gale’s social cues was almost always off-kilter. “Nice to see you,” Syl said, eyes down at her feet. “Excuseme, ladies. I’m just going to run to the restroom. Does the bride need anything when I come back?”
“Oh, no. I’m just fine here with the maid of honor at my service,” I said, noting the roll of Gale’s eyes. Syl practically sprinted away from us and I couldn’t blame her. I didn’t feel like making conversation with Gale either. Plus, it would be wise of Syl to circulate and network a bit at the party. Perhaps she was taking my advice to heart.
“Are you enjoying yourself?” Gale asked me, insincerity abounding.
“Immensely. Thank you so much for planning such a wonderful event. Now, where’s your mother? I’d love to meet her.” I smiled.
“I’m sure you’ll cross paths. Haven will see to that.” Gale sneered. “Are you thinking of your own mother today?”
“Of course. I wish she could be here,” I said, shuddering internally at the thought. “I’m sure she would have loved the whole thing.”
“You really think so?” She was laughing at me. “Perhaps.” That was cruel. Even for Gale. Her contempt for me was growing, which could be good in theory. Typically, the higher the emotion, the larger the room for error.
“What would you know about it? I noticed you didn’t have much on my lineage in your files.”
Her eyes shifted from her mother at the gift table back to me. “I could tell Collin about your thievery,” she hissed.
“Yes. You could, Gale.” I brushed the side of her arm with my hand, wanting to feel the electricity between us. “But then he’d know you have a whole record of private information about him. And his entire family. And everyone else in this little perverse sect of society. And that might be kind of a turnoff, among other things. The Cases can be litigious.” I pinched her full tricep, wanting her reaction to become more physical, but she didn’t recoil at all. I should have done it harder.
“Assault?” She laughed. “My goodness, Bea. Someone’s getting agitated. And it’s still early!” She flashed her teeth at me, confident. “Don’t talk to me about the Cases. You have no idea what people like us can do to women like you with a wave of our hand. One phone call. But you think you’re special, right? I suppose in some ways you are. For example, I couldn’t file away someone like you just like everybody else.”
She had to be bluffing. I’d seen the files. Everyone was there. Even people I’d never heard of and of course I checked my former aliases—I covered my tracks just in case! I could have screamed. Gale should have been falling weaker with each passing day as the wedding approached, yet she seemed to be growing even more assertive. This grandstanding of hers felt like a tell, but Gale and I were not cut from the same cloth. Was she acting out due to losing or was she actually gaining on me? I looked around for Syl, in need of some grounding.
“I’m ready for a refill,” I said to her, shaking my empty glass in Gale’s direction. I needed her out of my face. She was right, I was getting flustered, and then there was no telling what I might do. Within reason—I wasn’t my mother. I needed to keep my emotions in check. Always. Besides, Gale was the maid of honor. She was supposed to take care of me. At least in front of everyone at the party. She snatched the glass out of my hand with a smile and lumbered away, but I knew she wouldn’t return. Not unless it was poisoned.
I glanced around the garden at the largely middle-aged crowd. They were all so similar. Haven Case. Nora Wallace-Leicester. Their friends. The women all wore Chanel or Diane von Furstenberg or Carolina Herrera, adorned with plenty of diamonds and assorted jewels from their husbands or families, possessing the type of glowing mature skin that only money and microneedling could buy. Whenthey smiled, the skin around their eyes hardly creased, true age only detected by their hands. They all floated down from their ivory towers to attend the bridal shower of the country bumpkin about to infiltrate their personal Mount Olympus by marriage. Ah, well, have another, old girls. Cheers! A handful are always bound to get through over the years. Maybe even one of them, years ago, not that I’d ever know.
Because once you were in, you werein.
Mother would have blown them all out of the water. She was always the most beautiful woman in the room.
I must have had an anxious look upon my face because Syl returned to my side with a bubbly beverage and a sweet burrow into my shoulder. A concerned friend. “Are you overwhelmed?” Syl asked me, stroking my arm softly.
“A little bit. It is pretty ridiculous, right? All of these people are here to celebrate me just because I’m getting married. They don’t even know who I am.”
