Antler Crown, Silent Departure novel · Chapter 3 of 24

Chapter 3: My Shoes Back

Bridget walks the aisle in her wedding dress, takes her shoes back from Poppy and shames Zack in front of two hundred guests, until he whispers that the house account is empty.

The ballroom doors were propped open, and I walked in through them with Dot on my arm.

Two hundred people were standing between their chairs.

Nobody was eating the bread.

The three screens over the head table were black, and the sound system gave one long squeal and went quiet.

I started down the center aisle in my wedding dress.

It was the aisle I had picked the carpet for.

Heads turned in rows as I passed, and somebody from the dental office whispered, "Oh, thank God, she's okay."

Zack stood under the arch with the antlers still on.

He saw me and smiled with his whole face, the same smile he used on customers.

"There she is," he said, loudly, for the room. "Bridge, come on, you've ruined the surprise."

"Which surprise?" I asked.

"The wedding rehearsal. We were just messing around. It was supposed to be funny."

I kept walking.

Lacey came around the head table with her arms already open.

"Babe, thank God. You scared us. Let's go upstairs and fix your makeup."

"Don't touch me," I said, and she stopped.

She looked at the guests, then let her hands fall.

I stopped in front of the arch.

Poppy stood to the left of Zack in a white dress and a veil that someone had pinned crooked.

Her bouquet was shaking.

"Bridget," she said. "I swear, he told me you asked for this."

"I know," I said, though I did not know yet.

I only knew that she had not looked at the guests when the video played. She had looked at the floor.

"I need my shoes back," I said.

Poppy looked down at the silver straps and then at me.

She sat on the edge of the platform and undid the buckles with fingers that would not work.

When she had both shoes off, she held them out in both hands.

"I'm so sorry," she said. "I thought it was a gift."

I took the shoes from her and turned to Zack.

"You told me to wait in the hotel," I said. "You told me you'd do the real ceremony after."

"Because it was a joke, Bridge," Zack said. "Nobody was cheating on anyone. Poppy is my friend."

"You put antlers on, Zack."

A woman near the front made a noise that she turned into a cough.

His father had risen from the front row, a heavy man in a navy suit, and he did not sit again.

"Zachary," he said.

Only that.

Zack's smile slipped sideways, and then he put it back.

"Dad, it was a bit," he said. "Poppy hates weddings. We were going to show her a good one."

"Using Bridget's," his father said.

Dot let go of my arm, which she had been gripping, and walked over to the microphone stand by the head table.

She tapped it twice.

"Good afternoon, everyone," she said. "I'm Bridget's grandmother, and I'll be brief."

Two hundred people sat down at once.

"There will be no wedding today. The hotel has been paid, so please enjoy your lunch, and take your gifts home with you. The ones who brought envelopes can take those back too."

She looked at Zack.

"Not you, young man. You can leave your hat."

Somebody at the back laughed out loud, and then a lot of people did.

Zack pulled the antlers off and held them in his fist.

His face had gone red to the neck.

Malcolm stood beside the arch in his best man's suit.

He had not moved since I came in. He was not looking at his brother, or at me. He was looking at the exit door.

My ring was upstairs on the printed program.

"Lacey," I said, without turning around, "my ring is on the table in the suite. You know the room. You were in it last night."

Her lips went white.

A few guests looked at each other.

I stepped off the platform with a shoe in each hand.

I did not mean to say anything else.

Zack caught my wrist at the bottom of the steps.

He did it smoothly, so that from the back of the room it looked like he was hugging me.

"Bridge," he said in my ear, still smiling. "Listen to me."

I tried to pull away, and he held on.

"You walk out of here and you don't get a dime," he said softly. "The house account is in my name, and it's been empty since Friday."

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