Chapter 22: The Speakers

Brynn stood in the aisle in a white satin gown with a train that took two bridesmaids to hold.

She looked at the box in my hands, at the yellow dress and at my empty good hand.

"Your bag," she said.

I handed it over.

She went through it with two fingers, the license envelope, a lipstick, Margo's spare tissues.

"Where's the poem?"

"Memorized."

"Good girl." She snapped the clasp and gave the bag back. "Gentlemen, the lady is clear. Nobody touches the lectern but her."

The tall man in the badge smiled at me.

"Excuse me," said a calm voice.

Trenton's mother had risen from the front row with her handbag on her arm, and beside her stood the hall's manager, in a gray suit.

"These two," she said, "are not on your staff."

The manager looked at the badges.

"Our staff wear green lanyards, ma'am. I've never seen these men."

"I hired them," Brynn said. "For security."

"Then they will be asked to wait in the lobby." The manager lifted his hand. "Now, please."

Brynn said, "I will not be..."

"You will be the bride in ten minutes," said Trenton's mother, "or you will not. Gentlemen, the lobby."

The two men looked at Brynn.

She looked at two hundred faces that had begun to turn, and she nodded once, tight.

They went.

The key on the green ribbon swung from the shorter man's fist, and Margo's hand came out of nowhere and plucked it away.

"Thank you," she said, and unlocked the sound closet.

Elliot slipped the second red tiger from his sock and passed it to her through the door.

Keep reading free with an account. Start The Scandal Before the Vows from Chapter 1, then sign up free to read the rest of this chapter.