SWNOVELS Chapter 39
Chapter 39
Fay leads me downstairs towards the front of the house, where she throws open the doors to the parlor. My eyebrows shoot up and I cover my mouth with both hands when I look inside.
Everything is covered in white–white tulle, white lace, white silk, white satin – hanging from racks, draped over chairs, stacked on the sofa. The only dark spot in the room is Kent, before the fireplace, directing the workers who carry piles of garment bags.
“What’s going on?” Daniel says, peering into the room behind me,
a sandwich in his hand.
“Don’t bring that in here,” Fiona scolds, swatting at him. Daniel
laughs and finishes the sandwich in two big bites, brushing his
hands on his pants to get free of crumbs. Fiona glares at him a
little but then nods, deeming him clean enough to enter.
“Is this…” I say, looking around in awe, a little anxiety roiling in my
stomach as I realize what all of these white things are.
“Wedding dresses!” Fiona says, clapping her hands. “Aren’t they gorgeous? They’re all brought in from Kleinfeld.”
“Now, you come stand here,” Fiona says, pulling me and Daniel further into the room to stand by Kent, “out of the way, while I get everything set up.”
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With that, she bustles away to shoo everyone unessential out of the room. As she works, I look up at Kent.
“Was it like this?” I ask. “For your own wedding?”
He glances down at me but looks back at the room as he answers. “No. We had a small wedding, in Sicily. That’s where she was from.”
I raise my eyebrows, surprised. “Oh,” I say. “Is she…still there?”
I scream at myself, inwardly, for such an awkward question. But come on – I can’t just blurt out is she dead? How did she die? Which is what I really want to know.
Kent looks down at me with a withering look. I work hard to keep my face straight, but I feel so terribly awkward that I open my mouth to say something else – anything else –
Daniel saves me. He links elbows with me and pulls me closer. “My mom died when I was young,” he says casually. “Her marriage to my dad was actually arranged,” he notes cheerfully. “Like ours.”
“Oh!” I say, looking between Kent and Daniel, genuinely
surprised. “Um, was her death…an accident? An illness?”
Kent sighs and looks at me sharply. “If you want to ask, Fay, if I murdered her, or she died in a gunfight, or was kidnapped and
Chapter 39
tortured by my enemies, just be forthright about it.”
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I press my lips together, embarrassed. Because of course, that’s exactly what I want to know. I say nothing.
“Cancer,” Daniel whispers beside me. I feel sadness flood me,
then, and open my mouth to tell him how sorry I am, but he stops
me with a smile. “It’s okay,” he says. “It really was a long time ago. Dad and I are all patched up.”
“Well,” I say, turning to smile at Daniel again. “I guess that’s
something else we have in common. Both of our moms died
young.”
“Rather a macabre thing to bond over,” Kent says dryly, putting
his hands in his pockets. “But you will start a new family soon.”
I wonder at the truth of that, but before I can say anything, Fiona
pulls me forward to try on the first gown.
The fittings take all afternoon. At first it was fun, playing princess, but after a while I get tired of fighting my way through yards and yards of tulle. Daniel and Kent leave immediately as the trials
begin.
Daniel didn’t want to see the dress, insisting that it was bad luck, and Kent only wants to come in once the final selection is made.
He said that if he’s paying for it, he wants final approval.
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Chapter 40