The Maid of Honor and the Two Groomsmen No One Seated Beside Her novel · Chapter 20 of 24

Chapter 20: Pie

I braced for three days, and Thursday at four o'clock I walked into the groom's mother's house with a pecan pie in both hands.

Three women from her church stood in the kitchen holding covered dishes.

They looked at me, and at Colt on my left and Jesse on my right, and every one of them stopped talking.

"Ladies," said the groom's mother, from the stove.

"Mama," said Jesse. "You remember Lacey."

"Of course I do. She's the girl."

She took the pie from me and set it on the counter.

I saw her look at the crust and decide not to say anything.

The table in the dining room had been extended with two card tables and a plank.

There were fourteen chairs.

She had put me at the far end, between the groom's great-uncle and a bowl of sweet potatoes.

Three empty chairs sat between me and the boys.

Colt picked up my place card and read it.

He walked it down the table and set it beside his own plate.

Then he took the great-uncle's card and put it where mine had been.

The great-uncle was too deaf to complain.

Jesse pulled out the chair next to mine.

Nobody stopped them.

The groom was already there, with the bride at his elbow, and he gave me a small helpless wave from across the turkey.

The groom's father said, "Hey there," and nodded, and sat down at the head of the table.

Then everyone took hands, and the groom's mother stood up at her end with her pearls on and her head bowed.

"Lord," she said, "we thank You for this food, and for this family around this table, and for the ones who couldn't be here."

Colt's hand found mine under the tablecloth.

Jesse's found the other.

"We thank You for our boys," she said, "and ask that You watch over them, and keep this family safe from women who come in and take what is not theirs."

The room went dead.

Someone's fork rang against a plate.

I opened my eyes.

She had opened hers, and was looking at me down the length of two card tables.

I was thirty-four years old, and I had sat at the bottom of tables my whole life.

I let go of both their hands and stood up.

My chair scraped.

Fourteen people turned their heads.

"Ma'am," I said. "May I say something before we eat?"

"Lacey," the bride said, very softly.

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