Chapter 3 - the bride who never visited
Ethan arrived at Margaret’s house that evening carrying takeout from the small Italian restaurant they had visited every year on her birthday.
He found her in the garden, cutting dead leaves from the rosebushes.
“You missed lunch with Serena.”
Margaret kept her eyes on the plant.
“I didn’t know we had lunch.”
“She said her assistant confirmed it with you.”
“No one called me.”
Ethan frowned.
“That’s the third scheduling problem this month.”
Margaret placed the shears in her basket.
“Is it?”
“The dress fitting, the family photographs, and now lunch.”
“I wasn’t invited to the family photographs.”
Ethan stared at her.
“What do you mean?”
“Serena said they were only for the Whitmore family.”
“You are going to be her family.”
Margaret gave him a sad smile.
“Perhaps she doesn’t see it that way.”
Ethan walked beside her toward the house.
“Why didn’t you tell me?”
“Because every time I tell you something, she says it was a mistake. Then you spend the day arguing with the woman you are about to marry.”
“That doesn’t mean you should let her treat you badly.”
“I don’t want to become the reason your marriage begins with resentment.”
Ethan stopped near the red rose arbor.
“You are not the reason.”
Margaret looked at him and saw the boy he had been after Richard’s disappearance. He had been sixteen, trying to act like a man while waiting for a father who never came home.
She had protected him from the ugliest rumors. Richard had been accused of stealing company money before vanishing. Some claimed he had fled. Others believed he had died during a storm.
Margaret had never accepted either explanation completely.
“I need to show you something,” she said.
Before she could retrieve the forged certificate, Ethan’s phone rang.
Serena’s name appeared on the screen.
He answered.
Her voice was loud enough for Margaret to hear.
“Ethan, I’m at your apartment. We need to discuss what your mother did.”
Margaret stiffened.
“What did I do?”
Ethan placed the call on speaker.
“Mom is here. Tell us both.”
Serena hesitated.
“She called my dress designer and demanded that the entire bridal collection be changed to red roses.”
Margaret shook her head.
“I have never spoken to your dress designer.”
“Then why did she receive an email from your address?”
“I don’t know.”
Serena began to cry.
“I am trying so hard to include her, but she keeps sabotaging everything. Your mother hates me.”
“That isn’t true,” Margaret said.
“You told my florist my family had no taste.”
“I have never met your florist.”
“You also told Lila that I was marrying Ethan for money.”
Margaret thought of the frightened assistant.
“Ask Lila to say that in front of me.”
Serena’s crying stopped for half a second.
Then her voice hardened.
“I will not allow you to intimidate my staff.”
Ethan rubbed a hand across his forehead.
“Enough. We’ll discuss this tomorrow with everyone present.”
Serena hung up.
Margaret went inside and opened her computer.
Her email account showed a message sent to the dress designer at two thirteen that morning.
She had been asleep.
The message insulted Serena, demanded red flowers, and threatened to disrupt the wedding.
Ethan read it twice.
“Could someone have accessed your account?”
“I use the same password I have used for years.”
“Then we change it now.”
Margaret watched him inspect the security settings.
There had been a login from a device inside the Whitmore Grand Hotel.
Ethan’s expression darkened.
“Someone at the hotel sent this.”
Margaret took a slow breath and opened the forged continuity certificate.
“There is something else.”
Ethan read the document.
At first, confusion crossed his face.
Then anger.
“I never asked for this.”
“Adrian says Celeste’s attorney submitted it.”
“My mother’s dead husband’s private signature mark is copied beneath my name,” Margaret said. “Someone had access to Richard’s letters.”
Ethan enlarged the signature.
He had seen the thorn-shaped hook on birthday cards from his father.
“Who has those letters?”
“I do.”
“Anyone else?”
Margaret looked toward the locked cabinet in the hallway.
“Last month, Serena came here alone.”
Ethan turned toward her.
May you like
Margaret’s voice fell to a whisper.
“She said she wanted to know more about your father.”
