Chapter 16 - THE WEDDING
By six o’clock Friday evening, the church was full.
Politicians.
Businessmen.
Old family friends.
People who had feared my father.
People who feared me.
People Leonard Vandermark believed he owned.
Celeste walked down the aisle wearing a dress that probably cost more than Delia had earned in two years caring for my mother.
Leonard walked beside her.
He smiled when our eyes met.
I smiled back.
Ewan watched from a private room beneath the church.
Delia sat beside him.
Sofia was with them.
My mother watched through a secured video feed from the estate.
Victor had agreed to testify.
Vincent stood in the second row.
Jonas stood at the back.
Federal agents waited outside.
Celeste reached the altar.
“You came,” she whispered.
“So did you.”
The ceremony began.
I heard almost none of it.
Then we reached the vows.
The priest looked at me.
Before I could speak, Leonard stepped forward with the blue folder.
Everyone laughed softly.
He made a joke about lawyers never respecting romance.
Celeste smiled.
A table was brought forward.
The agreement lay open.
Leonard handed me a pen.
“There,” he said quietly.
“Page nineteen.”
I looked at Celeste.
“Before I sign, I have one question.”
Her smile remained fixed.
“Now?”
“Now.”
The church became quiet.
I turned toward Leonard.
“Did you know my brother was alive when you prepared this?”
No one moved.
Celeste’s smile vanished.
Leonard stared at me.
Then laughed.
“I’m afraid wedding nerves are getting to you.”
“Answer.”
“Ewan died six years ago.”
A door opened beside the altar.
Delia entered first.
Gasps moved through the church.
Then Ewan appeared in a wheelchair.
Leonard Vandermark stopped smiling.
Celeste stepped backward.
Ewan’s eyes locked on hers.
The entire room felt the hatred between them.
I put the pen down.
“My brother would like to object.”
Leonard turned toward the exit.
Two federal agents entered.
Then two more.
Celeste looked at me.
“What did you do?”
“I learned your favorite trick.”
“What?”
“I locked the doors.”
Her face changed.
I picked up the microphone from the altar.
“Six years ago, my brother was declared dead after the Pier 44 fire.”
Murmurs filled the pews.
“He wasn’t.”
Ewan rolled forward.
“Someone tried very hard to make sure he was.”
Leonard shouted, “This is absurd.”
I looked at Jonas.
He pressed a button.
Audio filled the church.
My father’s voice.
Leonard’s.
Victor’s.
Then Celeste’s.
I can lock the east door myself.
Every person in the church heard it.
Celeste’s face emptied.
She looked around at hundreds of people.
No allies stepped forward.
I looked at the woman I had almost married.
“The nurse you dragged across my mother’s floor?”
Delia stopped beside Ewan.
“She was already family.”
Celeste whispered, “Matteo.”
“No.”
I removed the wedding ring from my pocket.
“You wanted a signature.”
I placed it on top of the contract.
“Here’s your answer.”
Then Ewan did something none of us expected.
He pushed himself out of the wheelchair.
His legs trembled.
Delia reached for him.
He shook his head.
One step.
Then another.
Celeste stared.
The dead man she had helped trap inside a burning building was walking toward her.
Ewan stopped three feet away.
He lifted the letter board.
One sentence was written across it.
YOU SHOULD HAVE CHECKED THE DRAIN.
Celeste began to cry.
Not from guilt.
May you like
From fear.
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