Chapter 1 - Mom Made Two
My wedding was supposed to begin in fourteen minutes when my three-year-old grandson pulled me away from the ballroom doors.
“Grandpa…”
I looked down.
Toby’s little hand was wrapped around two of my fingers.
His face was frightened.
“What is it, buddy?”
He pulled harder.
“Evelyn hit Mommy.”
Everything inside me stopped.
“What?”
Before he could answer, Evelyn came down the hotel hallway.
White gown.
Diamond earrings.
Perfect hair.
The woman I had planned to marry after two years together.
She saw Toby standing beside me.
Her expression changed.
“Toby.”
He immediately moved closer to my leg.
Evelyn walked toward us.
“He’s been looking everywhere for attention this morning.”
Then she reached down, grabbed his upper arm and yanked him one step toward her.
I removed her hand immediately and moved Toby behind me.
“Don’t do that.”
Evelyn stared.
“Toby lies.”
Behind me, his small fingers pushed something against my palm.
I looked down.
A scratched black USB drive.
“Mommy said Grandpa.”
Evelyn saw it.
And lunged.
I reacted before thinking.
I turned and slapped her.
Hard.
Her head snapped sideways.
She stumbled into the console table.
Champagne glasses rattled.
“Don’t touch Toby again.”
The instant after I struck her, I regretted it.
I could have blocked her.
Stepped between them.
Called security.
I had done something I would later have to own.
But that realization lasted only a second.
Because Evelyn looked at the USB in my hand.
Not at me.
Not at Toby.
The USB.
Then she lunged again.
This time she snatched it from my palm.
Before I could stop her, she hurled it into the champagne bucket.
Water and ice splashed over the console.
The drive disappeared.
Evelyn exhaled.
Actually exhaled.
Relief.
That frightened me more than her anger.
Then Toby reached inside his tiny gray jacket.
He pulled out another USB.
Identical.
“Mom made two.”
Evelyn’s smile vanished.
I took it from him and locked it inside my tuxedo jacket.
“Thomas.”
“No.”
“You don’t know what Genevieve has been doing.”
“My daughter?”
“She’s been trying to destroy this wedding for months.”
I stared.
Then removed the white boutonniere from my lapel.
I threw it at Evelyn’s feet.
“What was Genevieve afraid I’d see?”
Evelyn froze.
A hotel employee appeared at the far end of the hallway.
Behind the ballroom doors, the string quartet was still playing.
Nearly two hundred people were waiting for me to marry the woman standing in front of me.
I looked at Toby.
“Where’s Mommy?”
He pointed toward the elevators.
“Lady took her.”
“What lady?”
“She had ice.”
Evelyn said immediately:
“Genevieve caused a scene. Hotel staff took her downstairs to calm her down.”
My chest tightened.
“Why did she need ice?”
No answer.
“Evelyn.”
“She fell.”
Toby shook his head.
“No.”
Evelyn looked at him.
“Toby.”
He hid behind me.
I crouched.
“What happened?”
He touched his cheek.
Then pointed toward Evelyn.
“Evelyn hit Mommy.”
I stood.
The hotel employee was closer now.
“Sir?”
“Call security.”
Evelyn stared at me.
“Thomas, think carefully before you humiliate me in front of everyone.”
That sentence told me more than she intended.
Not:
Genevieve is okay.
Not:
Toby misunderstood.
Not:
Please listen.
Humiliate me.
I looked toward the ballroom doors.
Then back at her.
“There won’t be a wedding.”
For the first time, Evelyn looked truly afraid.
And when I finally opened the second USB that afternoon, I learned the thing she had been protecting was not some secret affair.
It was much worse for me personally.
May you like
For nine months, Evelyn had been telling my daughter that I wanted distance from her.
And telling me that Genevieve was the one pulling away.
