15 Days Before I Left Him novel · Chapter 11 of 24

Chapter 11: The Back Door

On the morning of the wedding I woke at six without an alarm.

The bridal suite at the lodge had a window seat, a rack of garment bags, and a coffee tray Bea had already raided.

"Eat something," Bea said, handing me a pastry. "You can't commit a felony on an empty stomach."

"It's not a felony."

"It's a little bit of one. Emotionally."

By nine thirty the hair stylist had gone and the room was quiet.

My dress hung on the closet door with its row of tiny buttons.

I did not put it on.

I was wearing jeans, the good boots, and a grey sweater, and I had a duffel bag under the window seat with a corner showing.

I took off the pearl ring first, then the diamond.

I laid them side by side on the dress, on the satin, and put the letter on top.

Bea stood next to me with her arms crossed.

"I'll give it to him at eleven," she said. "Not one minute before. I'll tell him you're getting some air."

"Bea."

"I'm going to cry in a minute, so say it fast."

"Thank you," I said. "For all of it."

She pulled me into a hug that squeezed the air out of me.

"Call me from the road. Send me a picture of any man who looks at you funny."

"I will."

"Go."

Someone knocked.

We both froze, and Bea shoved the duffel behind the curtain with her foot.

Judith came in without waiting, in a pale gold dress and her good pearls.

"There's my bride," she said.

She looked at the dress on the door, and the rings on it, and then at me in jeans.

Her eyes rested on my bare left hand a moment too long.

"You're not dressed," she said lightly.

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