I Was the Genius Couple's Forgotten Bride novel · Chapter 1 of 24
Chapter 1: The Ceremony Is Starting
Nessa walks down the aisle to find her groom and her maid of honor arguing over results on the back of the program, a recorder on the lectern and Lydia's gray notebook open; when the officiant says the ceremony is starting, Calvin says 'one minute, Dee,' and Nessa takes off her ring and walks out; Calvin's text follows: 'Lydia says you'll cool off faster if nobody chases you. She's usually right about you.'
I reached the end of the aisle, and my groom was not looking at me.
Calvin stood at the front with his back half turned, a pen in his hand.
Lydia stood beside him in her maid of honor dress, holding the order of service flat against the lectern.
They were writing on the back of it.
A hundred and twenty guests watched the bride arrive at her own wedding and wait.
My mother sat in the front row with her hands folded on her purse.
"If the decay is that slow, the whole second trial is wrong," Calvin said.
"It isn't wrong, it's early," Lydia said. "Write the interval first. Argue after."
Calvin's little black voice recorder sat on the lectern with its red light on.
He had told me it was for the vows.
Lydia's gray notebook lay open next to it.
I had been walking behind these two my whole life.
At six I zipped their backpacks while they debated textbooks.
At eighteen they went to the best university in the country, and I went to the community college next door.
At twenty-four they finished their doctorates and became the stars of the institute, and I became the woman at its front desk.
"Calvin," I said.
He held up one finger. "Hold that thought, Dee."
Lydia wrote something in the notebook.
She had not looked up either.
The officiant cleared his throat. "Mr. Saltonstall, we're ready to begin."
"One minute," Calvin said. "This is the cleanest result we've had all year."
Somebody in the back row laughed, then stopped.
Lydia finally glanced at me and gave me her warmest smile, the one she used when I burned the rice.
"Two minutes, Dee-Dee," she said. "You know this is how we love you."
I looked at the two of them, bent over my wedding program with their heads almost touching.
I had cooked for them for four years. I had paid the rent on the apartment they both lived in.
I had listened to every one of their arguments and never once been asked what I thought.
I had never said so.
I took off my engagement ring.
It came off easily. I had lost weight during the planning.
I set it on the lectern between the recorder and the notebook.
Calvin glanced down at it, and his pen kept moving.
"Dee, don't. I'm in the middle of something."
"I know," I said. "You always are."
So I stepped out.
I walked back down the aisle alone, past the flowers I had paid for and the guests I had invited.
My mother stood up in the front row and picked up her purse.
She followed me out without a word, and I have never loved her more.
In the lobby I held the heavy door open for the caterer, because that is who I am.
Then I heard heels behind me on the marble.
"Nessa. Nessa, wait."
Lydia caught my arm.
She was a little out of breath and her eyes were wet, and she looked exactly like my best friend.
"Breathe," she said. "Just breathe. He'll finish in ten minutes and come find you. I'll make him. You know how he gets."
"You're my maid of honor, Lydia."
"I am. I'm yours. I've been yours since we were six."
"Then why didn't you look at me?"
"Because I knew you'd be fine," she said softly. "You always are. That's the best thing about you."
My mother stood a few steps behind me, not saying anything.
Lydia's other hand had gone into her bag.
When it came out, it was holding the gray notebook and her silver pen.
"Are you writing this down?" I said.
"Only so I don't forget what you said," Lydia said. "I want to get it exactly right for later."
She smiled at me again.
I was so tired of that smile that I almost laughed.
I let go of her hand, and I took my mother's arm.
"Mom, can you drive? I can't see the road."
"Honey, I'll drive you to Alaska."
In the parking lot I held up the front of my dress so it wouldn't catch in the car door.
My phone buzzed against my hip.
It was Calvin.
Dee, where did you go? We're forty minutes behind. Lydia says you'll cool off faster if nobody chases you. She's usually right about you.
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