Chapter 5
Mrs. Price met us at the club before it opened.
I had not wanted to walk through those glass doors again. Marcus came beside me, and Priya joined us in a quiet room near the dining hall.
The cake was gone. So were the flowers and the women who had watched Madison hit me. The room looked ordinary, which somehow made it harder to enter.
Mrs. Price brought copies of the invoice and the club’s approval form.
My name appeared beneath a line that said I had authorized the payment as a representative of Grandma’s trust.
I read it twice.
“That’s my address,” I said. “But I didn’t sign this.”
The signature resembled mine if I glanced at it quickly. When I looked closer, the final letter curved the wrong way.
Priya took the copies. “Who supplied these?”
“Richard brought them to our finance office,” Mrs. Price said. “He told the staff the trust was helping with the wedding and that Sarah had approved it.”
“What did the club pay?” Marcus asked.
“A deposit we were supposed to recover from the family account. Richard is on our finance committee. He signed the guarantee himself.”
Mrs. Price sounded angry, though she spoke quietly.
She showed us the security footage from Madison’s shower. I watched myself enter holding the present. I watched Madison strike me and throw the box.
I thought I was prepared. I wasn’t.
Marcus reached toward the screen, but I asked him to let it play. Mother stepped out from the crowd. Her words were not audible, but I could see the moment she looked at my sweater instead of my cheek.
When the recording ended, Mrs. Price turned off the monitor.
“The manager has been removed from duty while the board reviews his response,” she said. “I should have stepped in sooner. I’m sorry.”
I thanked her. Then I asked for a copy to give Priya.
Outside the club, Madison was standing beside my car.
Her wedding planner’s car waited nearby, its trunk open with boxes of favors inside.
“Are you following me?” I asked.
“Dad said you were meeting Evelyn.”
“Then he knows why.”
Madison glanced at Marcus and Priya. “Can I speak to my sister alone?”
Priya went back inside to make a call. Marcus stayed close enough that I could see him, but moved away.
Madison folded her arms. “Daniel’s parents called this morning. Someone told them the club is reviewing the wedding payments.”
“Maybe you should tell them why.”
“I don’t know why. Dad handled the money.”
“You told me you knew he used the trust.”
“I knew he borrowed from it.”
I showed her the invoice. She stared at my name.
“Did you sign anything for him?” I asked.
“No.”
“Did you give him my address?”
“He already knew where you lived.”
“Look at the signature.”
She held the page closer. Her face lost some of its color.
“That isn’t yours,” she said.
“No.”
Madison lowered the page. “He told me you agreed to help. He said Grandma meant the money for both of us, and you were embarrassed to tell me.”
“Did that sound like me?”
“You never tell me anything.”
I stared at her. “You told me I didn’t belong at your shower.”
She looked toward the club doors.
“I shouldn’t have slapped you,” she said.
“I need more than that.”
Her face tightened again. “What do you want me to say? That I believed him because the wedding was easier to plan that way? Fine. I did.”
For once, Madison did not pretend she had been helpless.
I took back the invoice. “Tell Priya what Dad said to you.”
“If I do, Daniel might call off the wedding.”
“That’s between you and Daniel.”
She stepped back. “You don’t know what it’s like to have everything you’ve planned about to fall apart.”
I thought of the hospital bills on my kitchen counter. I had planned to get well and return to my old life. There were days when I still felt frightened by how quickly that plan had disappeared.
“I know,” I said.
Madison looked at me, but she did not ask what I meant.
She got into her car and left.
That afternoon, Priya received notice that the court had temporarily restricted transfers from Grandma’s trust. Dad’s lawyer objected, and a hearing was set for the following week.
Marcus called to tell me. His voice was relieved, but cautious.
“It protects what’s still there,” he said.
“How much is still there?”
“We’ll know when the bank responds.”
Later, Daniel came to the library just before closing. I had met him only a few times. He looked uncomfortable standing among the return carts.
“I’m sorry to bother you at work,” he said. “Madison won’t explain what’s happening.”
“I can’t speak for her.”
“I heard she hit you.”
“Yes.”
He rubbed his hands together. “She told me she lost her temper. I didn’t know it was that bad.”
I wanted to ask how bad he thought a slap needed to be. Instead, I said, “You should talk to Madison.”
“I will.” He hesitated. “If my parents ask you what happened with the money—”
“Tell them to ask the people who arranged the payments.”
He nodded and left.
As I locked the library doors that evening, Mother sent me a message.
I found another form. This one says you took money during the winter you were in the hospital. I’ll bring it to Priya tomorrow.
I called her at once.
She answered in a whisper.
“Are you safe?” I asked.
“I’m at Ruth’s. I’m safe.”
May you like
“Then why are you whispering?”
“Because Madison’s here,” she said. “She’s asking me if your father signed her name too.”
