Chapter 3: The Email Behind the Wedding
The event coordinator met us beside the sedan with a tablet pressed against her chest.
Her name was Naomi, and the apologetic smile she had worn all morning was gone.
“Please read it aloud,” I said.
Alexis stepped between us.
“That email concerned wedding logistics.
It’s private.”
“An email carrying my signature and directing my money is not private.”
Naomi opened the message.
“It says, ‘Susan is sentimental and easily confused, so do not contact her directly.
Caleb can be managed if he becomes nervous.’”
Caleb’s head snapped toward Alexis.
“You called me manageable?”
“It was badly phrased,” Alexis said.
“Naomi, stop reading.”
Naomi looked at me.
“Continue,” I said.
“‘Once the ceremony begins, transfer any unused balance to Aster Events LLC.
Susan believes the remaining money will be returned to her, but she doesn’t need to know until after our honeymoon.’”
A chair scraped across the stone terrace behind us.
Several guests turned, but nobody spoke.
“What is Aster Events?” Caleb asked.
Alexis reached for his hand.
“It was going to pay for our honeymoon and the deposit on our house.
I wanted to surprise you.”
“With my mother’s money?”
“She offered us sixty-five thousand dollars.
A gift is a gift.”
“I offered to pay the wedding vendors,” I said.
“I did not offer you whatever remained.”
Alexis’s fingers tightened around Caleb’s.
“You said you wanted us to have a perfect beginning.”
“And you decided that gave you permission to copy my signature?”
“I copied nothing.”
Naomi turned the tablet around.
“The form arrived from your email address at 7:12 this morning.”
“Then someone used my account.”
“Your personal message was attached,” Naomi said.
“It ended with your name and bridal booking code.”
Alexis lifted her chin.
“Caleb had access to everything.
Ask him.”
I looked at my son.
“Did you sign my name?”
“No.” His answer came quickly, but his eyes dropped again.
“Mom, I gave Alexis the folder with the vendor information.
I thought she needed it.”
“What else was in that folder?”
“Your payment schedule.
A copy of your check.
Maybe the bank authorization page.”
Alexis threw up her hands.
“There.
He gave it to me.
Stop acting as if I broke into a vault.”
“You used what he gave you to pretend you were me.”
“I was fixing the mess you created by controlling every payment.”
Caleb pulled his hand away from hers.
“Why didn’t you tell me about Aster Events?”
“Because you panic every time your mother frowns.”
A man’s voice cut through the whispers behind us.
“What is going on with my daughter’s wedding?”
Victor Hale, Alexis’s father, marched across the lawn in a charcoal suit.
Two venue managers followed him, and he held a cream-colored document in one hand.
“Dad,” Alexis said, releasing a sharp breath.
“Susan canceled everything because she didn’t like being asked to leave.”
Victor stopped at my window.
“Mrs.
Carter, you made a binding financial promise.
You will restore these services immediately.”
“I will do no such thing.”
He unfolded the document and pressed it against the glass.
“Then perhaps your lawyer can explain why this letter carries your signature.”
Naomi leaned closer and went pale.
May you like
Victor smiled.
“Nobody cancels my daughter’s wedding.”
