Chapter 2 - Twenty Hours to Pay
My phone started vibrating at 7:14 the next morning.
Lauren.
Mom.
Lauren again.
Richard.
Mom.
An unknown number.
Then Lauren.
I was drinking coffee at my kitchen counter, wearing sweatpants instead of the pale blue bridesmaid robe Lauren had originally ordered for me, when the first voicemail arrived.
“Nora, pick up the phone.”
Lauren didn’t sound like a bride anymore.
She sounded like someone trapped inside a burning building.
“The venue says there’s a problem with the payment. Call me. Now.”
I took another sip of coffee.
A second voicemail followed less than a minute later.
This one was Mom.
“Nora, whatever game you’re playing, it stops immediately. Your sister is getting married today. You will call the venue and fix this.”
No apology.
Not even a mention of yesterday.
Just an order.
I almost admired the consistency.
At 7:31, Richard called again.
Unlike the others, he left a calm message.
“Nora, this is Richard. I don’t know exactly what happened, but the venue says the outstanding balance was expected from you and has now been withdrawn. Lauren says there’s been some kind of misunderstanding. Could you call me?”
Misunderstanding.
That word made me laugh into my coffee.
By eight, I had showered, dressed, and opened my laptop.
I wasn’t going anywhere near the wedding, but I had a strange feeling I was going to need documentation.
I saved screenshots of Lauren’s messages.
I downloaded the venue contract.
I saved copies of my email exchanges with the finance department.
Then I printed the page showing Lauren’s signature beneath the words CONTRACTING CLIENT.
At 8:46, someone started pounding on my front door.
Not knocking.
Pounding.
“Nora!”
Mom.
Of course.
I opened the door but kept the security chain fastened.
She stood on my porch in full wedding makeup, wearing a lavender silk robe beneath a winter coat. Her hair was pinned up in an elaborate style that probably cost more than my first car payment.
Lauren stood behind her.
My sister still had rollers in her blonde hair. Her makeup artist had apparently done one eye before the crisis began.
Richard stood several feet away near the driveway, already dressed in black tuxedo pants and a white shirt with the collar open.
“Nora,” Mom said through clenched teeth. “Open the door.”
“No.”
Lauren pushed forward.
“You canceled my wedding.”
“I canceled my payment.”
“It’s the same thing!”
“No, Lauren. Your wedding is still available. It costs fifteen thousand dollars.”
Her face turned crimson.
“You promised!”
“I promised to give you fifteen thousand dollars as a wedding gift when I believed I was attending your wedding as your sister.”
“You can’t take back a gift because you’re offended!”
“It wasn’t transferred yet.”
Mom slapped one hand against the door.
“This is unbelievable. Your father would be ashamed of you.”
That hurt.
Not because I believed her.
Because she knew exactly where to aim.
Behind them, Richard finally moved.
“Nora.”
I looked at him.
His expression wasn’t angry.
It was confused.
“Can I ask you something?”
“Sure.”
“Why aren’t you in the wedding?”
Lauren spun around.
“Richard, this is not the time.”
He ignored her.
“Nora?”
I looked directly at him.
“Because Lauren removed me yesterday.”
His forehead tightened.
“What?”
Mom immediately cut in.
“She was creating tension.”
“I was at home.”
Lauren stepped toward Richard.
“We talked about this.”
“No,” Richard said slowly. “You told me Nora decided not to come because she was upset about the seating arrangement.”
For the first time that morning, Lauren went completely still.
I felt something shift.
I pulled out my phone.
“Nora,” Mom warned.
I opened Lauren’s text.
Then I turned the screen toward Richard through the narrow space between the door and frame.
He read it.
You’re out of my wedding. Only true blood belongs here.
His face changed.
Not dramatically.
That somehow made it worse.
His jaw tightened.
His eyes moved from the phone to Lauren.
“What is that?”
Lauren folded her arms.
“She’s taking it out of context.”
“What context makes that better?”
Mom stepped between them.
“Richard, everyone is emotional. Your parents have very traditional ideas about family, and Lauren was simply trying to avoid unnecessary explanations.”
Richard stared at her.
“My parents know Nora is adopted.”
Silence.
It lasted maybe three seconds.
It felt like thirty.
Lauren blinked.
“What?”
“I told them months ago.”
Mom’s face lost some color.
Richard continued.
“My mother asked why Nora wasn’t sitting at the family table. Lauren told her Nora preferred sitting with coworkers.”
Lauren looked at me as though I had somehow arranged this revelation.
“You told them?”
“Why wouldn’t I?”
“You said your parents cared about bloodlines.”
Richard’s expression hardened.
“I said my grandfather was old-fashioned about surnames. That was during a conversation about seating cards.”
Mom recovered first.
“Well, obviously somebody misunderstood.”
Richard turned toward her.
“Apparently.”
Lauren grabbed his arm.
“We can discuss this later. Right now we have two hundred guests arriving in six hours and the venue is threatening to cancel.”
“Then we pay them,” Richard said.
Lauren looked down.
That was the second silence.
This one told me more than the first.
Richard frowned.
“Lauren?”
She didn’t answer.
His eyes moved to Mom.
“I transferred my half of the wedding expenses three months ago.”
Mom swallowed.
“Yes.”
“So where is it?”
Lauren’s voice dropped.
“Some costs increased.”
“What costs?”
“The flowers. Catering. Things.”
“I paid forty thousand dollars.”
My eyebrows rose before I could stop them.
Richard turned fully toward Lauren.
“And your mother told my parents the Ellis family contribution was thirty thousand.”
Mom said, “This is neither the time nor the place.”
“It’s exactly the time,” Richard replied.
Lauren suddenly looked terrified.
Not embarrassed.
Terrified.
She turned to me.
“Nora, please.”
It was the first time she had said please.
I wished it mattered more.
“You have fifteen thousand dollars,” I said. “Pay your venue.”
“We don’t.”
Richard stared at her.
“What do you mean, we don’t?”
Lauren’s eyes filled with tears.
“We spent more than expected.”
“On what?”
She said nothing.
Richard stepped back.
Mom began talking rapidly.
“We can solve all this after the ceremony. Nora just has to make the payment, and then everyone can calm down.”
“No,” I said.
Mom stared at me.
“No?”
“No.”
“You would humiliate your sister in front of two hundred people?”
“She removed me from those two hundred people.”
“For God’s sake, Nora!”
Richard raised his voice for the first time.
“Stop.”
Everyone looked at him.
He turned toward Lauren.
“I want an answer. Where did the money go?”
Lauren looked toward the driveway.
I followed her eyes.
A black SUV was pulling in.
Richard’s parents stepped out.
Apparently, the crisis had expanded.
His mother, Catherine Whitmore, walked toward us in a navy coat, her expression composed but severe.
“What’s happening?” she asked.
Mom instantly smiled.
“Just a banking mistake.”
Catherine looked at me.
Then at the chained door.
Then at Lauren’s half-finished makeup.
“I doubt that.”
Before anyone could respond, my phone rang.
The venue.
I answered.
“This is Nora.”
The finance manager sounded uneasy.
“Ms. Ellis, I’m sorry to bother you again, but we need to verify something urgently.”
I looked through the doorway at my family.
“What is it?”
“We received a new third-party payment authorization about twenty minutes ago.”
My stomach tightened.
“I didn’t submit anything.”
There was a pause.
“That’s why I’m calling.”
Everyone on my porch had gone quiet.
The finance manager continued.
“The authorization was submitted in your name, using your billing address and the last four digits of the account information from your original payment proposal.”
My hand tightened around the phone.
“I withdrew authorization yesterday.”
“Yes, ma’am.”
“Then reject it.”
“We already have.”
I looked at Lauren.
She wouldn’t meet my eyes.
The finance manager lowered her voice.
“There’s another issue.”
“What?”
“The electronic form contains a signature.”
I felt the room around me disappear.
“What signature?”
“Yours.”
I stared at my sister through the narrow opening of my front door.
Lauren’s face had gone completely white.
May you like
And suddenly, the question was no longer who was going to pay for her wedding.
It was who had just tried to steal fifteen thousand dollars from me.
