Chapter 94

#Chapter 94 – Wedding Day The elevator dings and, as soon as the doors slide open to reveal the ballroom, the boys sprint out.

“Wowww!” Ian says, spinning around to take it all in. “It’s amazing!”

“Yeah!” shouts Alvin, “It looks like a crystal palace!”

Evelyn has to admit, it is breathtaking. The room looks almost as if its open to the sky, the only signs of the windows and walls being the mirrored strips that connect the panes. The view from the whole left side of the room is the very top of the waterfall, which just begins to crest over the rocks. Above it rises the first whisps of a rainbow.

“Ian! Alvin!” Victor strides over to them both from the alter at the front of the room, where he has gathered with his groomsmen to make their final preparations. Staff buzzes around the room, putting on all of the finishing touches. About half of the guests have arrived and more spill out of the elevators every minute.

As Victor kneels down to greet the boys, Evelyn notices someone waving at her from the front of the room. Focusing her eyes, she scowls, realizing that it’s Rafe, giving her a smarmy look. Pig, she thinks, scowling as she looks away.

“Are you boys ready?” Victor asks Ian and Alvin, straightening their already-straight ties. “You have a big job today.”

“Yes!” Ian says, ready for anything. But then his face falls. “Wait, what is our job?”

“Yeah,” says Alvin, crossing his arms over his chest and looking at his father narrowly. “You just said we had to walk down the middle part,” he says, gesturing towards the aisle. “You didn’t say anything about a job.”

Victor laughs good naturedly. “That is the job, Alvin. You have to walk in in front of Amelia and make sure she gets to the front of the room okay.”

“Oh,” says Ian, thinking it over. He shrugs. “I guess we can do that.” Alvin nods confirmation.

“Good,” Victor says, straightening to his feet. “I knew I could count on you.” He meets Evelyn’s eyes and gives her a smile. “Thank you, Evelyn,” he says.

“For what?” She c***s her head to the side, curious.

“For getting the boys ready,” he says, looking down at them fondly, and then returning his gaze to her.

“And for all of your good advice last night. I was…I was freaking out a little. But you set me straight.”

Evelyn smiles and gives him a friendly punch on the shoulder, not knowing what else to do. “No problem. That’s what…therapists are for.”

She doesn’t tell him that it ripped her heart out to do it. He doesn’t need to know.

Evelyn and Victor both turn as the elevator dings behind them and the doors open. About a dozen more guests pour out, ooh-ing and ahh-ing at the beautiful room. “Looks like things are getting started,”

Evelyn says. “Where should we go?”

Victor nods to another set of doors beyond the elevators. “The bridal suite is over there. Amelia’s in there with her bridesmaids. They’re probably lining up by now, getting ready for the processional.”

“Okay,” Evelyn says. “Come on, boys, time to line up.”

“Bye, dad!” Alvin says, taking his mother’s hand and waving to his father. Ian waves too, running ahead for the doors.

Evelyn looks Victor over one last time before his wedding. “Good luck,” she says. “You look…well, you look very handsome,” she says, laughing a little. It’s true, after all, and it can’t be inappropriate to compliment the groom, can it?

He gives her a soft smile in thanks and watches her go. He can’t help but think, as she walks away, that she would have been a beautiful bride.

Evelyn pushes open the door to the bridal suite and is surprised to enter a small vestibule, lined with closets that surely hold a variety of supplies. On a table to the left are a series of bouquets, easy for the bridesmaids to grab as they walk out.

Clever, Evelyn thinks, moving forward to the second set of doors marked “Bridal Suite.” They really have thought of everything here.

As Evelyn pulls open the second set of doors, Alvin and Ian dart in. Evelyn pushes the door closed behind them before looking around. When her eyes fall on Amelia, she can’t help the little gasp that escapes her lip.

Amelia is…a vision. Her dress is romantic, with yards and yards of lace and tulle creating a beautiful bell that drifts around her feet, flowing out behind her in a lace-edged train that must be ten feet long.

Evelyns’ eyes take in Amelia’s flawless satin bodice, with its sleeveless sweetheart neckline, and the string of diamonds that grace her throat.

“Oh my god,” she says, looking Amelia up and down. “You look…incredible.”

“Thanks,” Amelia says, shooting her a smile. “You look…” she likewise looks Evelyn over, taking in her simple navy dress and the curls which are loose over her shoulders. Amelia doesn’t finish her sentence, just shrugs and turns her attention back to her friends and the glasses of champagne being handed out.

Evelyn raises her eyebrows and takes a deep breath, but decides to ignore it. Amelia is justifiably distracted today. Moving to a bench in the corner, Evelyn pulls her novel out of her bag and begins to read quietly. She keeps an eye on the boys as she reads. They’re busy being fussed over by bridesmaids who tell them how handsome and clever they are.

“Three minutes!” Says a woman in green, bustling around with a pocket watch and a clipboard. Amelia huffs out an anxious laugh, smoothing her hands over her skirt.

“Do I look all right?” Evelyn hears her ask her maid of honor. Evelyn smiles, remembering her own nerves on her wedding day. It’s a good moment.

Suddenly, there’s a clatter at the back of the room. Evelyn sits up and peers around, seeing that a bridesmaid has fallen down. She stands up, worried.

“Oh my god, BETH!” one of the other bridesmaids says, but her voice is not full of anxiety, just of frustration.

“Did she have too much champagne?” Amelia asks, peering over at her.

“Yeah, she must be wasted, Amelia,” another says, kneeling down next to her and rolling her eyes.

“And you know she hasn’t eaten in like…weeks. She’s wasted.”

“Oh my god,” Amelia says, putting her hands over her mouth. “What are we going to do –“

“One minute!” The woman in green says, “I need everyone in line! If you’re going down the aisle, you’re getting in line now!”

Evelyn can hear a swell of music start from outside the doors. It really is time.

Evelyn makes her way over to the fallen bridesmaid. “Go!” she says. “I’ll stay with her.”

“Ugh, Evelyn,” Amelia says, “you’re a lifesaver.”

Amelia gives Evelyn a swift smile and then lines up at the door. Evelyn nods, kneeling next to the bridesmaid and stroking her hair back. However, Evelyn can’t help but peer back at Amelia, who…well, Evelyn knows Amelia can be callous. But Amelia is unusually blasé about her sick friend, almost…

prepared for it.

The bridesmaid groans, drawing Evelyn’s attention back to her. “Are you okay?” Evelyn asks, worried about the girl.

As the bridesmaid blinks, confused, the other bridesmaids start to filter out the door. Evelyn can see her two boys lined up in front of Amelia; they will be the second-to-last to leave the room.

“I’m…ugh, I feel so sick,” the bridesmaid mutters.

“Too much champagne?” Evelyn asks, giving her a friendly smirk. “We’ve all been there.”

“No,” the woman says, “I haven’t had…anything to drink. Except the energy drink…that Amelia gave me, a few minutes ago…”

“What?” Evelyn peers around the room, starting to worry. What the hell was going on.

“Please,” the woman gasps, “I’m so sick, please stay with me,” she begins to retch and Evelyn reaches for a wastebasket.

“Don’t worry,” Evelyn murmurs, her eyes on Amelia’s tulle gown floating out of the room. “I’m here.”

In the vestibule between the bridal suite and the ballroom, Amelia quickly and quietly presses the lock on the bridal suite’s door. It’s a flimsy thing, and won’t hold long, but she doesn’t need long, not really.

Plus, it’s just a quick push-lock. If she needs to, she can deny knowing that she did it, when the moment comes.

“Boys,” Amelia whispers, crouching down in her wedding gown so that she is eye-level with her soon-

to-be stepsons. “Come here.”

Alvin and Ian are peaking out the door to the ballroom, but turn and come to her when she calls. Amelia listens, hearing the music to the wedding waltz begin outside. She has just moments.

“Come now,” she says, tugging them over to a corner of the room. “We have a special job for you. Do you see the two little swords in the back of this closet?” she asks, pulling a door open. Indeed, two child-sized ceremonial swords are tucked away in the back. She smiles, glad that the staff followed her instructions.

“Now, daddy wants you to carry these down the aisle with you,” she says. “Go in and get them!”

“Cool!” Says Alvin, dashing forward. He is quickly followed by his brother.

As soon as both boys are in the closet, reaching for the swords at the back, Amelia slams the door shut. She pulls a key out of the pocket of her dress, grateful, again, that she thought to instruct her seamstress to include the hidden compartment in the tulle of her skirt. Swiftly, she locks the cabinet as the boys begin to pound on the door from the inside.

Swiftly, Amelia moves away from the closet and shoves the table that holds her bouquet in front of it.

Finally, she tosses the key in the wastebasket at the corner of the room, where nobody will think to look for it until it’s too late.

It’s all the work of ten seconds, plenty of time for Amelia to pat her hair and ensure that everything’s ready before she leaves. She’s banking, of course, on the fact that by the time Evelyn figures out what’s going on, gets out of the room, and gets the boys out, it will be too late – that the wedding will be far progressed and Evelyn will be too busy comforting them to make a scene.

Victor will be disappointed, of course. She’s considered that. But once he sees her?

Amelia smirks, knowing that all thought of his sons will disappear from his mind the moment Victor lays eyes on his perfect bride. She’s been imagining walking down the aisle towards a man like Victor for years, and never did it involve two little rat boys stealing her spotlight. Pleased with herself, Amelia picks up her bouquet and puts on her gorgeous smile.

Just outside the door, her father takes her arm. “Everything all right, my love?” He asks. Amelia listens carefully, but is pleased to discover that once the door to the vestibule has closed behind her she can’t hear the boys screams at all.

“Perfect, daddy,” she says, smiling up at him. All of the guests rise, eager to see the bride.

Slowly, with graceful steps, Amelia makes her way down the aisle.