Chapter 2 - The Girl Behind My Jacket
I carried June out of the suite while Celia shouted my name. She kept one arm around my neck and the other over her stinging cheek. Her white satin shoes dangled against my tuxedo.
In the corridor, my sister Rebecca appeared with a makeup artist and a security guard. Rebecca took one look at June and moved between us and the bridal suite.
"What happened?"
"Celia hit her. Tessa filmed it. Get the venue manager and tell him the ceremony is off."
Rebecca's expression sharpened. She was an attorney, but she'd been June's aunt long before she passed the bar. "I'll deal with the guests. You get her someplace quiet."
June insisted on sitting inside the coatroom instead of an empty lounge. She said the lounge had too many windows. That was the first sign this wasn't only about the slap.
"Did she hurt you before today?" I asked.
June shook her head, then nodded. "She grabbed me sometimes. When you went to work. She said grown-ups wouldn't believe me because I cry a lot."
I felt sick. Celia had been in our lives for eighteen months. She'd made pancakes shaped like stars. She'd sat with June during thunderstorms. I'd called her patient, thoughtful, a gift after the years we spent grieving Hannah, June's mother.
"You can tell me anything," I said. "Even if you think it'll make me sad."
June looked down at her shoes. "She said if I told, she'd send me to the place where kids don't get visitors."
Rebecca returned with the manager and an off-duty officer hired for the event. She'd asked staff to preserve the hallway security footage and keep the bridal suite locked once its occupants left. Tessa had already tried to slip through a service exit.
"We have to talk to the police," Rebecca said quietly.
I looked at June's small red cheek. "Call them."
May you like
Before Rebecca could reach for her phone, a notification lit mine. It came from Celia, though she was only thirty feet away.
YOU THINK THIS IS ABOUT A WEDDING? CHECK YOUR EMAIL.
