I left the gallery and headed straight to the Kitchen, where the rehearsal dinner was going on. The maître d’ ushered me into the private room where the wedding party was seated: Mariel and Carter; Mom; her brother, my uncle Jack, who was going to walk Mariel down the aisle; Jack’s wife, my aunt Ann; my mother’s sister, Aunt Beth; Carter’s parents, Jim and Sandy; the bridesmaids; and the groomsmen, one of whom was Carter’s older brother.
I’d known Carter’s family since we began dating, and I must have wondered a thousand times what it would be like to run into them again. At one point it would have mattered; I would have been embarrassed. Now, as I took a seat, I realized I didn’t feel that way at all. Like water seeking its own level, they’d settled into the right place in my life.
“It’s only a small part,” I overheard Mom say, “but I think it’s going to be fun.”
The word was out. She must have gotten the contract. I was happy for her.
“Wow, Mom, what a surprise,” Mariel said. “I didn’t know you’d auditioned for anything.”
“Let’s toast to Mom,” I said. “To a successful show.”
We raised our glasses and I sipped my Riesling. As I sat there, half listening to the conversations around me, I couldn’t stop wondering what David was doing. He and Ana would be leaving soon for France. Maybe next week.
I pictured them at Le Jules Verne, crisp linens on the table, gleaming silver, Paris glowing through the windows, little buttons of light against a velvet sky. The server bringing Ana a dessert plate with David’s proposal written on its rim and, in the middle, the box with the ring inside. What would he say? Something about how much he loved her, how happy she made him, and how he wanted to be with her forever. Something traditional like that. He’d said she was traditional. She’d say yes, of course. Then he’d slip the ring on her finger. Happy tears from her, big smiles from him. Hugs. Kisses. And on to a lifetime together.
Uncle Jack turned to me and asked how I liked Chicago. I pasted a smile on my face and proceeded to give him my pat answer.
I got home and took Mariel’s wedding gown out of the back of my car. As I was going down the hall, I heard voices in the kitchen, water running in the sink, ice being dropped into glasses, a champagne cork popping. Aunt Ann and Uncle Jack were laughing. “I never did that!” Mom said, but she was laughing too. I didn’t hear Mariel’s or Carter’s voice. I headed up the back stairs and into my room, took the wedding gown from the garment bag, and laid it on the bed.
Mariel was in her bathroom, sitting in front of the vanity. She leaned into the mirror, reapplying her mascara.
“I need to show you something.” I stood in the doorway.
She ran the tiny brush over her lashes. “Hold on a sec. Let me just get this…” Another go with the brush. “There.” She turned to me. “What’s up?”
“It’s in my room.”
“Give me a hint. Animal, vegetable, or mineral?”
I smiled. It was something we used to say as kids, and I hadn’t heard it in a long time. The question was a tough one. Where did fabric fall? It didn’t really fit into any of those categories, although some fabrics came from animals and some were grown, of course. Silk, though, came from silkworms. So was animal the right choice? “I can’t. You’ll just have to come see. But I need to explain something first.”
“Okay.” She picked up an eyebrow pencil and dabbed at her brows.
“Your wedding gown isn’t exactly the same gown it was. I mean, it’s close. It’s definitely close, but…” How could I say this? There was no good way. “Okay, I had Bella alter your gown to make it smaller so it wouldn’t fit you.”
Mariel dropped the eyebrow pencil. “You did what?” I felt the heat from her eyes as she stared at me.
“I was angry with you. About Carter. About the wedding. And then you asked me to be a bridesmaid, to take the place of that girl who broke her leg. I didn’t want to be in your wedding to begin with, and there I was, being asked to sub for someone else at the last minute. That put me over the top. And that’s when I decided I’d be a bridesmaid and be your wedding planner, but my real motive was to sabotage the wedding.”
Mariel sat bolt upright. “Sabotage my wedding?”
I wanted to evaporate into the air, disappear through the mirror, but I knew the only way I could ever have a clean slate was to keep telling her the truth, get it all out there. “The day we were at Marcello’s, I re-pinned your gown so it would be too small.”
“My Valentino! Sara, how could you?”
I held up a hand to stop her. “Bella fixed it, though. She did a really good job. She took some fabric from the train and added it in a couple of places. And she covered the seams with lace. I don’t think you can tell at all.”
Silence filled the bathroom like toxic gas. I stared at the vanity, at a swirly gray spot in the marble that looked like the vortex of a tornado. I wished I were in a tornado. One that would pick me up and plunk me down somewhere miles away. Another continent might be good.
“There’s more,” I said. “I did some other things too.”
“Other things?”
“The seating arrangements, the music, the food—”
“Oh my God, Sara. How could you do that?” Her voice broke. She covered her face with her hands.
“I know. It was terrible of me. Horrible. I’m so sorry. I didn’t want you and Carter to get married then, but I do now. I want that more than anything for you. And for him. I tried to fix everything, to put all the arrangements back the way they were. And I have. Well, all except for the flowers.” I paused. “Do you like mums?”
“I think I’d like to kill you,” she said, the words coming out in a convulsive-sounding whisper.
“I know. But you’d get jail time. Although you’d have a good excuse for the murder.”
“It would be worth it.”
“Maybe. But think about those orange jumpsuits. That’s all you’d ever get to wear.”
There was a long stretch of silence while I waited for her to scream and yell and chase me from the room. But she didn’t.
“Wow,” she said finally. “You really hated me.” There was something in her eyes I hadn’t seen in a while. Something that looked like empathy. “I’m sorry I made you so miserable, that I pushed you that far. I’m sorry I’ve been so selfish.”
“I’m sorry too. For the mean things I’ve done. For not listening to you, not understanding you, not realizing what you’ve been going through. I’m going to be a better sister.”
I took her hand and tugged her off the vanity, and we hugged for a long time. I could feel her tears on my cheek. Maybe she felt mine on hers.