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ChapterOne
It was Amanda Harris’ wedding day, and so far, everything had gone exactly as she’d planned.
This would have been a blessing for any bride, but for Amanda, who, two and a half years ago, had tried to marry Chris in a “perfect wedding” that had ended in him leaving her at the altar, it was a Godsend. When all that had happened, Amanda had been crushed and had moved to Martha’s Vineyard from Newark to nurse her wounds near the comforts of her mother, Susan, and her cousin, Audrey. But not long after Chris had left her, Amanda had miraculously met someone else. “Life is what happens when you’re busy making other plans,” John Lennon had said. He’d been right.
“Remember how everyone else knew you were in love with Sam before you did?” Amanda’s cousin and dearest friend, Audrey, stood beside Amanda in the glorious and ornate foyer of the Aquinnah Cliffside Overlook Hotel, which had only opened one week ago, smiling at her and gripping her bouquet of peonies nervously. It was five minutes before the double-wide doors would open out onto the beautiful stretch of green field that lined the cliffs. Between lines of white chairs situated on the lush green, Susan would walk Amanda toward the love of her life and the rest of their days together. “You were so resistant to the idea of falling in love with him at first,” Audrey remembered. “But all anyone could do was talk about the way you looked at him.”
Amanda’s cheeks burned at the memory of those first few months when Sam had known intuitively to take things slowly. He’d sensed that Amanda had been damaged beyond belief and was unwilling to leap into romance too quickly. She’d had to be sure he was the one.
“We’ve already been through so much together,” Amanda breathed, eyeing her reflection in the floor-to-ceiling mirror in the foyer, which presented a blushing bride, her hair gleaming, half-up and half-down, just the way she’d requested it.
“Gosh, yes. Thinking back over the past few years makes my head spin. There were babies, weddings, car accidents, romances, sailing trips, and mysterious newcomers to the island. Oh, and never forget, we helped Mom direct that play and got snowed in during the blizzard of winter ‘22. Remember?” As Amanda spun with the list of memories, Audrey paused, her eyes focused on the crowd outside. “It’s going to be hard to wrap my mind around you leaving the Sheridan House for good, though. Max will not know what to do with himself without his Aunt Amanda around. And Grandpa and I will probably spend our days eating cookies and cereal.”
Amanda chuckled. “Noah will be moving in soon. Maybe he can make a salad every now and again?” She was referring to Audrey’s fiancé, who’d made the decision to move into the Sheridan House in the wake of Amanda’s departure. Everything was changing.
“Are you kidding? He’s worse than we are,” Audrey said.
Out on the field, Amanda’s two hundred guests listened to the five-string quintet play “Pachelbel’s Canon” as they settled into their white chairs. Most everyone had arrived an hour and a half ago for pre-wedding cocktails and snacks, swapping stories and compliments as time ticked toward the wedding. In the suite they’d rented for the bride to prepare, Amanda had felt like a celebrity who couldn’t go downstairs for fear of the paparazzi. Still, she’d made sure the staff had brought cocktails and snacks up to her, Audrey, Susan, Lola, Christine, and Amanda’s two best friends from Newark, Brittany and Brooke. Together, they’d spent the vast majority of the previous few hours laughing, crying, and getting their hair and makeup done. Such was the life of a Sheridan woman— awash with every emotion, yet never one to refuse a meal.
Susan, Amanda’s gorgeous mother, wore a periwinkle dress, her hair cascading in gorgeous curls along her shoulder. At forty-seven, the mother of two and grandmother of three was powerful and sleek, a well-known defense lawyer who’d also battled breast cancer and won. Her return to the island three years ago, when Grandpa Wesley had been diagnosed with dementia, had brought everyone else home to mend the wounds from the past. Everyone agreed that Susan Sheridan was the matriarch of the family, their central heartbeat. Amanda loved her more than words. In fact, growing up, she’d wanted to be her mother, so much so that she’d forced her brother to “play” lawyer in the living room of the old house in Newark.
“How are you feeling, honey?” Susan smiled and swept a few rogue strands of hair behind Amanda’s shoulder.
“Like I might faint,” Amanda said with a laugh. “But otherwise, good.”
“I don’t think you have anything to worry about,” Susan assured her, glancing back toward Christine and Lola, both of whom wore beautiful periwinkle dresses and clung to similar bouquets. At forty-four and forty-one, respectively, Christine and Lola were Susan’s beloved little sisters, both of whom had found love on the island in the years since their return.
“Everything is exactly as you planned it,” Lola said. “This is Amanda Harris we’re talking about. She gets what she wants.”
Amanda laughed, her eyes flitting around nervously. It took everything within her not to point out that last time, that wasn’t true— that her fiancé had done everything in his power to flee the ceremony and leave her to explain the circumstances to her guests.But what could she possibly say to explain something like that?Everyone had understood that he just hadn’t loved her enough.It was just that simple.
Suddenly, a figure appeared in front of the double-wide doors that led out onto the lush green grass. He wrestled the doorknob until Lola rushed to open it.
“Noah?” Audrey laughed at the sight of her fiancé, who looked stricken, his face pale. “Noah, did you really not find them yet?”
Amanda’s stomach clenched. “Find what?”
Audrey waved her hand as Noah approached, limping forward like a zombie. Amanda let her bouquet hand fall to her side. Within Noah’s eyes, she saw something very sinister.
“Find what?” Amanda demanded again when nobody else said anything.
Audrey placed her hand around Noah’s arm. “Baby, what’s going on?”
Noah raised his eyes to Amanda. He looked like a student who’d been caught doing something very wrong and now had to confess it in front of the entire class. “The rings are missing,” he explained timidly.
Amanda closed her eyes, feeling the world spin around her. “It’s okay,” she heard herself stutter. “We can just fake it and find them later.” She and Sam had gone out of their way to select the perfect rings for the ceremony, but now they’d have to improvise until after the wedding.It was disappointing, but it wasn’t the end of the world.
But when she opened her eyes, Noah took another soft step toward her. It was clear he wasn’t done yet.
“Noah? What else?” Amanda’s voice jumped nervously.
“Noah, you can’t be so cagey right now,” Susan warned him. “We have two hundred guests out there, ready for the wedding in just a couple of minutes.”
“I can’t find Sam, either,” Noah finished.
Amanda frowned. “What did you just say?”
Audrey leaped toward Amanda, her eyes panicked. “I’m sure he’s somewhere around here. He wouldn’t do this. I mean, come on. It’s Sam!”
