Chapter 2 - THE SLAP THAT SILENCED TWO HUNDRED GUESTS
“Are you okay?”
Thea Tierney barely finished the question before a sharp blow struck her left cheek.
Her head snapped sideways.
For a moment, she couldn't understand what had happened.
Then she saw Avalene Varden standing inches away, her beautiful face twisted with fury.
“Look what you've done!”
The bride grabbed a handful of her ivory wedding gown.
A dark red stain spread across the delicate fabric.
“Do you have any idea what this dress costs?”
Thea's cheek burned.
Her right shoulder throbbed from stopping the wheelchair.
Behind her, Rowena was still gripping the armrests, breathing hard.
“Ma'am,” Thea managed, “the wheelchair was going down the stairs.”
“I don't care about your excuses!”
Avalene pointed toward the ruined champagne glasses.
“You threw an entire tray across my wedding!”
A few guests murmured.
Someone near the dance floor was recording.
Thea glanced at the six marble steps behind her.
Less than thirty seconds earlier, an elderly woman had nearly fallen down them.
Now everyone seemed more concerned about a dress.
“Please,” Thea said quietly. “Someone needs to check her chair. The brake is broken.”
Avalene laughed bitterly.
“Of course it is. And I suppose that makes you a hero?”
“Avalene.”
The voice came from behind the bride.
Callum Varden stood beside the head table.
He had been speaking with his best man when the glasses shattered.
Now his gaze moved from Avalene's raised hand to Thea's reddening cheek.
“What happened?”
“Your waitress attacked me!”
Avalene turned toward him, already crying.
“She threw champagne all over my wedding dress!”
Callum looked at Thea.
Thea opened her mouth.
Merrick Sloan appeared immediately.
“Mr. Varden, I apologize. This employee has been increasingly difficult tonight.”
Thea stared at him.
“That's not true.”
Merrick ignored her.
“She became distracted and lost control of her tray.”
“The wheelchair was rolling,” Thea insisted.
Merrick's eyes narrowed.
“Tierney. Enough.”
Something cold settled in Thea's stomach.
She had seen his shoe near the chair.
She had seen the broken brake.
And she knew Merrick had been the last person standing beside Rowena before the accident.
Callum stepped closer.
“Is the woman hurt?”
“No,” Thea answered. “I caught her.”
“Then why is she sitting beside a staircase in a chair with a broken brake?”
Nobody answered.
Clara Varden emerged from the crowd.
“Callum, darling, please don't turn this into a spectacle.”
His expression hardened.
“Someone nearly fell down the stairs.”
“And fortunately, nobody did.”
Clara glanced at the stained gown.
“But your bride has been publicly humiliated.”
Rowena finally spoke.
“Your bride struck the young woman who saved my life.”
Her voice was quiet.
But it carried.
Callum turned toward her.
For one strange second, he stared without moving.
“Grandma?”
Thea felt his hand brush past her shoulder.
He knelt beside the wheelchair.
“Grandma, what are you doing back here?”
Rowena studied his face.
“I was beginning to wonder whether you remembered I existed.”
Callum went pale.
“I've been looking for you.”
“Not very carefully, apparently.”
He looked over his shoulder.
“Mother told me you hadn't arrived.”
Clara's face lost its color.
“I said I thought she might have been delayed.”
Rowena gave a humorless smile.
“An interesting explanation, considering I've been sitting in this ballroom for nearly three hours.”
A murmur moved through the guests.
Avalene lowered her stained skirt.
“Callum, who is this?”
He looked at her.
“My grandmother.”
Avalene blinked.
“Your grandmother?”
“Yes.”
The bride glanced at Rowena's cardigan, her plain navy dress, and the wheelchair.
Then she looked toward Clara.
“But I thought—”
“You thought what?” Callum asked.
Avalene swallowed.
“Nothing.”
Rowena folded her hands.
“The woman whose life your waitress saved,” she said, “is Rowena Larkmore.”
Silence.
Even the photographer lowered his camera.
Thea knew the name.
Everyone who worked at the hotel knew it.
Larkmore.
The family that had built the original hotel more than seventy years earlier.
The name engraved above the entrance.
The name embroidered on every linen napkin.
Callum stood slowly.
“My grandmother owns this hotel.”
Avalene stared at him.
Then at Thea.
Then at the broken glasses.
“Oh, my God.”
Rowena looked at her.
“Yes. That seems to be the general sentiment.”
For the first time, Avalene appeared uncertain.
“Mrs. Larkmore, I had no idea.”
“I know.”
“I would never have—”
Rowena raised one hand.
“Finish that sentence carefully.”
Avalene stopped.
Rowena's eyes settled on the stained gown.
“Would you never have struck her if you'd known who I was?”
No answer came.
“Or would you never have struck her if you'd known someone important was watching?”
Thea felt every eye in the ballroom turn toward her.
She wanted to disappear.
She wanted her paycheck.
She wanted to finish her shift, go home, and put ice on her shoulder.
Instead, she found herself standing in the center of a family disaster.
Merrick cleared his throat.
“Mrs. Larkmore, we're grateful you're unharmed. I will personally make certain this employee receives appropriate disciplinary action.”
Rowena turned to him.
“Disciplinary action?”
“For creating a dangerous situation.”
Thea couldn't believe what she was hearing.
“Merrick, you were standing beside her chair.”
His expression sharpened.
“Don't make accusations you can't prove.”
“I saw your foot.”
“You saw me trying to move around a service obstruction.”
Rowena looked down at her wheelchair.
“An obstruction,” she repeated.
Merrick went still.
Callum crouched and examined the right brake.
A small metal component hung loose beneath the seat.
“This isn't ordinary wear,” he said.
Merrick shifted his weight.
“Sir, these things happen.”
Callum touched the damaged lever.
“It looks like somebody forced it.”
Clara stepped forward.
“Callum, that's enough. We'll have maintenance inspect it.”
“And the surveillance cameras?”
Merrick answered too quickly.
“The ballroom cameras are being upgraded.”
Callum looked up.
“Tonight?”
“Part of a scheduled system transition.”
Rowena's eyes narrowed.
“Who scheduled it?”
Merrick hesitated.
“Operations.”
“Whose authorization?”
“Mine.”
Thea watched Rowena's expression change.
Not to surprise.
To recognition.
As if another piece of something unpleasant had finally fallen into place.
Then Merrick turned toward Thea.
“Go collect your belongings.”
She stared.
“What?”
“Your employment is terminated.”
Hazel Porter stepped out from behind the nearest table.
“You can't fire her for saving someone!”
Merrick rounded on her.
“Do you want to join her?”
Hazel stopped.
Thea knew Hazel had two children and a mortgage.
She couldn't ask her friend to risk everything.
“It's okay,” Thea whispered.
But it wasn't okay.
She had $1,840 in savings.
Her nursing-school deposit was due Friday.
Her mother's prescription had become more expensive that month.
And Merrick still owed her hundreds of dollars from the tip pool.
Callum looked at Merrick.
“You're not firing anyone.”
“With respect, Mr. Varden, hotel personnel decisions—”
“Belong to the owner,” Rowena interrupted.
She looked directly at Thea.
“Would you help me to the library, dear?”
“Of course.”
“Good. I believe I've had enough wedding for one evening.”
Thea positioned herself behind the wheelchair.
But as she reached for the handles, Rowena caught her wrist.
The elderly woman wore an unusual bracelet.
A narrow gold band with a tiny blue stone shaped like a teardrop.
Thea noticed it because the stone was chipped.
Rowena noticed Thea noticing.
Her expression changed.
“What's wrong?”
Thea shook her head.
“Nothing. It's just…”
“Just what?”
“My mother has a bracelet like that.”
Rowena's hand tightened.
“Your mother?”
“Yes.”
“What's her name?”
Thea frowned.
“Marian Tierney.”
The color drained from Rowena's face.
She looked at Thea again.
Really looked.
At her brown eyes.
Her dark hair.
The small crescent-shaped scar beside her eyebrow.
Then Rowena whispered something so quietly that only Thea heard it.
“Marian had a daughter?”
Thea froze.
“You know my mother?”
Rowena didn't answer.
Instead, she opened the small leather purse resting on her lap.
Her fingers trembled as she removed an old photograph.
The edges were worn.
The colors had faded.
In the picture stood a much younger Rowena beside a dark-haired woman holding a little girl.
Thea recognized the woman immediately.
It was her mother.
And the little girl was herself.
May you like
But the words Rowena whispered next made the room seem to tilt beneath Thea's feet.
“Your mother was supposed to be buried twenty-two years ago.”
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