Chapter 18: Council of Pearls

The Council of Pearls sat in the old chapel, under a ceiling painted with moons, on twelve chairs in a half circle.

The women all wore pearls.

The twelfth chair had a place card on it that said POPPY, in gold ink.

"I'm not sitting there," I said.

"It would be unwise to refuse a chair at the first hearing," said the eldest councilwoman. "It looks like a decision."

"It is a decision. I'll stand."

I stood in the middle of the chapel floor, in my sister's dress, with my hem fixed at last and my legal pad in my hand.

Lucan stood behind my left shoulder and did not touch me.

I could feel him not touching me from six feet away.

Dottie and Frankie sat in the first pew with a plate of biscuits, which the old woman had passed along the row from her folding chair at the back.

Odette sat at the end of the half circle, in silver gray, with her hands folded and a pot of tea at her elbow.

She poured herself a cup.

She did not look at me.

"Poppy Thackeray," said the eldest councilwoman. "You came to this pack by accident, and you came to this hall by marriage."

"Both of those are accurate."

"The council asks one thing of every bride. Do you have anything to say first?"

"Yes. I'd like to file a receipt."

There was a pause.

I tore a page from the pad and carried it forward and put it on the table.

It said: Council chair, declined. Allowance, declined. Portrait, declined. Tea, paid, $5.00. Offered by O. Holst. Witnessed by D. Wetherington.

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