2: 2

2

The second she saw my mother, Aunt Ava slipped right back into that untouchable air of hers.

"Well, well, sister-in-law, perfect timing. Come see the fine daughter you raised."

"Today of all days, my daughter's big day, and she's got sticky fingers. She stole the hardware Keith's family gave to Tabitha. Three hundred thousand dollars' worth!"

My mother went white with fright, waving her hands, scrambling to explain.

"That's impossible, that's impossible. My Doreen is a good girl, she'd never do something like that..."

Before she could finish, Aunt Ava cut her off with a cold sneer.

"Impossible? All these people heard it. She admitted it herself just now!"

My mother turned to look at me, disbelief all over her face.

All my life I could stand up to anyone's mockery and doubt, but the one thing I could never bear was the disappointment in my mother's eyes.

Facing that look, I forced the words out.

"I did admit it just now, but..."

Before I could finish, Aunt Ava's voice cut across mine again.

"You hear that? We're not framing her. She admitted it herself. So, sister-in-law, tell us how you plan to handle this."

"My brother had rotten luck, marrying a husband-killer like you. Went to his grave young. And the daughter you raised turns out to be a thief."

"Ha. I never should have let the two of you come today. You've dragged the Summers name right through the mud!"

My mother's eyes brimmed with tears, her lips moving as she tried to explain.

But since I'd said it with my own mouth, all she could do was wave a helpless hand, swallowing the humiliation without a single word of defense.

The year I was eleven, my father died of illness. My mother never remarried. She held this family together alone.

But from that day on, she and I were nothing but cold looks in the eyes of these relatives.

Fifteen years have passed. I've made something of myself, put down roots in Seaford City.

I came back this time to bring my mother to Seaford City to live with me.

It just happened to fall on Tabitha's wedding, and when my mother asked, I came with her to the wedding anyway.

All these years, no matter the family gathering or whoever's big occasion, they always called on my mother.

Not because they treated her as family. They just wanted her as free labor.

And even so, she came every single time, answering every unreasonable demand.

She said it was only at moments like these that she felt she was still a Summers, still my father's wife.

Aunt Ava crossed her arms and started up again.

"Wasn't Doreen off working some job in Seaford City? No wonder she came running back so eager for Tabitha's wedding. So this was the plan all along."

"Don't tell me you couldn't make it in Seaford City anymore and figured you'd scrape a little something off my daughter's wedding?"

"Trash is trash. The kind that'll never amount to anything, not in a whole lifetime!"

The murmuring grew louder, the looks at my mother and me more contemptuous by the second.

My mother pressed her palms together and pleaded.

"I'll pay, I'll pay for sure. Whatever it costs, I'll pay it. Ava, please, that's enough."

"The child must have had it so hard on her own in Seaford City. She's a good girl. She'd only do something like this if she were pushed to it with no other way out."

"She's young, she doesn't know better. Let me pay for her, all right? I'm begging you. Let Doreen off just this once."

Watching my mother beg like that, so small, I couldn't stop the sting rising in my nose.

I stepped in front of her, keeping her behind me.

"Mom, let me handle this. Trust me."

With that, I didn't look at any of them. I just took out my phone and dialed the police again.

"Hello, I'm at the ground-floor banquet hall of the Seacrest Grand Hotel."

"Please send officers as soon as you can. There's been a theft here worth three hundred thousand dollars."

3: 3

3

That last call got cut off by Keith before I could give the address.

This time there was no problem.

Tabitha jabbed her finger at me, so furious her hand shook.

"You—you—you! You just can't stand to see me happy! You're dead set on ruining my wedding!"

"They say it's the quiet dog that bites. Doreen, you're really something else!"

I glanced at her, at all that rage.

"Someone here does want to ruin this wedding. It just isn't me."

The moment the words left my mouth, my eyes went straight to Keith.

He already had a guilty conscience.

One pointed line from me, one cold look, and he was up on his toes with panic.

"Doreen, what's that supposed to mean? I've let things slide again and again because you're Tabitha's cousin, and now you're pushing your luck?"

"Everyone here knows exactly what I brought to this marriage. Don't stand there stirring up trouble."

Seeing her precious son-in-law upset, Aunt Ava rushed over to back him up.

"Doreen, you think everyone in this family is stupid? We all know you're just jealous of Tabitha. Who's going to believe a word you say?"

"Everyone here today is somebody who matters. The only two broke nobodies in this room are you and your mother!"

"I'm telling you, if you don't hand that stuff over today, I'll make sure you and your mother never walk out of this hall!"

The relatives had wanted to get in Keith's good graces from the start.

Now that they saw him worked up, they wanted their own moment in the spotlight.

"Keith, don't you worry. We all saw the hardware set you gave Tabitha just now. Of course we believe you."

"That Doreen's been creepy since she was a kid. One look and you can tell she's no good. People like that are just plain rotten. Stealing's bad enough, but she wants to wreck her own cousin's wedding too."

"Her mother's the same, isn't she? Widowed so young, killed her own man off. Who knows how she raised Doreen?"

"Exactly. Says she never remarried, but who knows what filthy business she got up to behind everyone's back."

The more they fawned over Keith, the uglier their words got.

I couldn't stand to hear another word of it, and my voice came out hard.

"Every single one of you who just spread lies about my mother, wait for your court summons."

The relatives froze for a beat, then broke into loud laughter.

"Hahaha, did you hear what she just said? She actually said she's going to sue us?"

"She's so broke she stole in front of a whole crowd, and now she can afford a lawyer? That's the funniest thing I've heard all day."

"A few years working in Seaford City and she didn't pick up anything except how to talk big and put on airs. That's the fine daughter her mother raised."

Aunt Ava didn't want to waste any more time. She stepped right up.

"Doreen, the wedding's about to start. Hand it over, now."

"Otherwise, I'm warning you, forget Keith's family. My family isn't one to cross either. I'll make sure you pay for this."

Watching it all about to spin out of control, my mother, who had held it in this whole time, finally broke.

"Ava, don't back the girl into a corner. I'll pay for it."

"I'll go withdraw the money right now, I'll get it and pay your family back, she's young, don't make things hard for her."

She was already moving toward the door as she spoke.

But the way she moved made them think she was trying to run, and they crowded in to block her path.

"Trying to run, are you? Not a chance!"

4: 4

4

"And who are you supposed to be? You could put up three hundred grand? We'd have to be out of our minds to believe you!"

"Somebody grab her, quick, don't let her run!"

Hands shot out on all sides, clawing at my mother's arms and her clothes.

In the crush, someone shoved her. I never saw who. She went straight into the display stand along the side of the banquet hall.

A porcelain vase came down hard off the top of it, straight onto her head.

Blood poured out at once.

The crowd froze where they stood, stunned by it, no one daring to move.

My eyes felt like they would split. I threw myself at her.

Tabitha, though, acted like she couldn't see my mother bleeding at all.

Still in her white gown, she stood there and broke down sobbing.

"Ruined, it's all ruined, everything's ruined!"

"Doreen, you and your mother ruined my wedding! You two bitches!"

Ava's husband, who hadn't said a word this whole time, couldn't hold it in either.

He strode over, seized me by the hair and slammed me to the floor, then rained slaps across my face, one after another.

He hit me and roared at Ava the whole time.

"Look what you've done. You know what today is, and you still dared to invite these two shameless things?"

"The wedding's ruined now, happy? Don't ever bring your side of the family in front of me again, or I'll divorce you!"

"If the in-laws get angry and drop Tabitha, let's see what you do then!"

The blows left my head ringing.

The sheer difference in size between a man and a woman, plus how fast he'd come at me, left me no chance to fight back at all.

Ava looked all high and mighty, but she didn't dare cross her husband an inch.

She acted like she couldn't see me being beaten, waving her hands in a panic, trying to explain.

"I only wanted her here for free labor, that's all. It's been that way for years."

"I never thought there'd be this big a mess today."

"Don't be angry, I'll handle it, I promise. I'll explain everything to the in-laws, don't you worry."

My cheeks burned, so swollen I couldn't even open my mouth.

But listening to them talk, all I felt was how absurd it was.

Strip it all away and what was it but the fear that their rich catch would slip off?

Seeing me beaten, my mother, with that gash torn open in her head, forgot her own wound and crawled to me on her hands and knees, trying to shield me.

"Her uncle, her uncle, stop, please stop."

"She's still just a child, you can't—"

Before she could finish, Ava's quick hand had grabbed her by the hair and dragged her aside.

"It's all you, you jinx! Look at what the two of you have done today!"

"And you still dare to shield her? A sticky-fingered thing like that, back in the day beating her to death would've been getting off light!"

"Not to mention she ruined my daughter's wedding. You're a woman too, don't you know how much today means to Tabitha? Your family's got a cruel heart!"

My mother's breath had gone thin as thread, not an ounce of strength left to resist.

I fought to get up, but pinned under Ava's husband I couldn't budge.

In the middle of the chaos, at the edge of my vision, I caught sight of Keith and his family.

Remembering, maybe, that I'd already called the police, the three of them looked plenty guilty.

After a glance between them, Keith's father walked up to Ava's husband.

"I say we just call today off. If you can't even sort out your own family's affairs, then a daughter like this, we Butlers wouldn't dare take her."

"Since that's how it is, we'll be going now."

Ava's husband scrambled to his feet to keep them there.

"In-law, listen to yourself, what kind of talk is that, we're all family here."

"Today really was our family's fault. Don't worry, we'll make it right by Keith, I give you my word."

"Tabitha and Keith truly care for each other. We can't let a moment's anger wreck the children's big day."

Tabitha stepped forward then, too, tears in her eyes.

"Keith, what are you saying? You'd break off our engagement just because of my cousin?"

"She's out to make my life miserable on purpose. If you really leave, doesn't that just hand her exactly what she wanted?"

I had no patience left for their filth. All I wanted was to get my mother, already unconscious, to a hospital.

Right then, several officers in uniform came pouring in through the doors of the banquet hall.

"Who called the police!"