Chapter 48
Forty-Eight
Eva, who had spent years managing other people’s crises with the calm efficiency of someone who believed that nothing could surprise her anymore, simply stood there and thought, well, that’s new.
Because there were flyaway arches. There were collapsed ceilings. There were brides who hesitated. And then there was this. Even Eva, had she wanted to, could not save a wedding from this.
Mary, swaying slightly in the middle of the room, had both hands pressed dramatically to her chest now, as if she were the one who had just been jilted at the altar.
‘I didn’t want to say anything,’ she was insisting to everyone and no one. ‘I thought it would just go away. But guilt doesn’t go away, does it? It festers.’
‘Mary,’ Aria hissed.
‘I’m owning it!’ Mary shot back.
Kelly, who’d been quiet till now, finally sputtered out her statement on the matter. ‘You are not a good bridesmaid.’
On the stage, Adam had finally begun to react, which was, frankly, overdue.
‘That’s not…’ he started again, louder this time, turning toward Mary. ‘That’s not…’ He laughed nervously. ‘If you’ll just…’
He didn’t get any further. Because his father had stood up, strode up to the platformette, and grabbed Adam by the ear.
Adam was horrified and stunned. ‘Ow! Dad! What are you doing?’
‘What am I doing?’ Harry repeated, steering his son off the stage like he was fifteen and had just been caught sneaking in after curfew. ‘What are you doing?’
Adam’s mother was watching it all with a long-suffering sigh, but no comment.
‘I didn’t, this isn’t—’ Adam twisted, trying to extricate himself with what little dignity remained available to him. ‘Can you let go?’
‘No, I cannot let go,’ his father said, tightening his grip slightly for emphasis. ‘Not until you explain why a bridesmaid is announcing your extracurricular activities at your own wedding.’
‘She’s making it up!’ Adam tried.
Eva felt that defence might have had a shot if he’d tried it right away. But everyone had watched his face when the news broke, and everyone knew this dickhead had shagged his fiancée’s bestie.
Across the room, Mary started up her apology tour again.
‘I just think honesty is important,’ she was saying, gesturing wildly enough that her drink sloshed dangerously close to the rim. ‘And if this is the reason, if this is why Maddy said no, then she deserves the truth!’
‘It’s not why,’ Maddy tried to say, but her voice was completely drowned out.
‘And I take full responsibility,’ Mary continued, now crying in earnest. ‘I mean, Adam was there too, obviously, but I started it. I was rather upset I hadn’t been chosen as the maid of honour, and then I found him in the bathroom, and he started telling me how much this cost and how he wasn’t even sure it was what he wanted… ’
‘MARY!’ several people said at once.
Hannah suddenly stood. ‘Okay!’ Hannah clapped her hands together loudly, stepping forward with the determined brightness of someone refusing to acknowledge reality. ‘Okay, everyone, let’s just take a breath. This is clearly a misunderstanding, and we don’t need to… overreact.’
‘He slept with a bridesmaid,’ someone in the back supplied helpfully.
‘We don’t need to focus on that,’ Hannah snapped, without missing a beat. ‘What we need to do is reset. Right? We’ve had interruptions all day, emotions are high, people have been drinking…’ She shot a pointed look at Mary. ‘Some more than others.’
‘I’m not drunk,’ Mary said, immediately undermining her entire argument by swaying.
‘And we just need to get back on track,’ Hannah pressed on. ‘Maddy, Adam, if you could just—’
Eva admired Hannah’s commitment. It was like watching someone try to put out a house fire with a folded napkin. In other circumstances, she might have tried to hire the woman.
On the stage, Maddy hadn’t moved. She wasn’t reacting like the rest of them. She just stood there, watching it all unfold like it had nothing to do with her anymore.
Eva watched Maddy exhale slowly. Then, without announcement or drama, she stepped down off the stage, dragging the veil headband from her hair and dropping it absently as she went.
No one noticed. There was too much else to track. Adam, pink-eared, still being held hostage by his father. Mary attempting to apologise to Kelly now, Kelly backing away as if she could outrun reality. Hannah insisting that they could absolutely continue if everyone would just cooperate.
But Maddy was leaving. So Eva followed.