Chapter 1 - The Girl in the Aisle
The organ stopped when the little girl screamed, “Daddy!”
“Who let them in?”
“GET HER OUT OF HERE!”
I turned toward Camille.
“Stop.”
Her face was no longer annoyed.
It was scared.
That was the first thing I noticed.
The second was the silver locket around the child’s neck.
I knew that locket.
The girl stopped ten feet from me.
I crouched.
“Hey. What’s your name?”
She hugged the baby tighter.
“Emma.”
“And the baby?”
“Ava.”
“Where’s your mother?”
Her lips trembled.
“Mommy said if she didn’t come back, I had to find you.”
My chest tightened.
“Me?”
She nodded.
Camille grabbed my arm.
“Alexandre, don’t encourage this.”
Emma looked only at me.
I asked, “Why did your mother tell you to find me?”
The child reached into the pocket of her dress and pulled out a folded photograph.
My hands went cold.
It showed me at twenty-nine, standing beside Olivia on the dock of my father’s lake house.
Olivia was pregnant.
Very pregnant.
I had never seen the picture before.
Emma pointed at me.
“Mommy said you’re my daddy.”
The room went silent.
Not quiet.
Silent.
I heard my own breathing.
Camille whispered, “This is a scam.”
Then Emma said, “Mommy said the lady in red would say that.”
Camille went white.
I looked at her.
She backed away.
May you like
Then, in front of every guest, she shouted, “THIS WEDDING IS CANCELLED!”
And ran toward the side exit.
