Chapter 2: The Woman in Gold
The music stopped before I reached the bottom of the grand staircase.
One moment, the orchestra was playing the melody Nathan and I had chosen for our ceremony.
The next, every instrument fell silent.
Hundreds of faces turned toward the entrance.
I stepped into view.
For a heartbeat, nobody moved.
Then someone gasped.
The champagne-gold gown shimmered beneath the chandeliers, its crystal petals reflecting light across the marble walls.
My train flowed behind me, carried by two attendants who had helped me finish the dress just hours earlier.
The pearl flowers along my bodice seemed to glow against the soft gold silk.
My veil fell over my shoulders.
And in my hands rested a fresh bouquet of white orchids.
Not the flowers Brittany had thrown onto the floor.
Mine.
I began descending the staircase.
Slowly.
Steadily.
Every step brought another ripple of whispers through the ballroom.
I heard my name.
I heard someone ask whether the gown was made of real gold thread.
I heard a woman near the front say that she had never seen anything like it.
Then I saw Brittany.
Her smile had disappeared.
She stood beside the altar in my stolen ivory gown, her fingers wrapped around the bouquet she had taken from my dressing suite.
For the first time in her life, she looked uncertain.
Her eyes traveled from my face to the gold bodice, then down the shimmering train.
"What is that?"" she whispered.
I kept walking.
Victoria noticed me a second later.
Her expression shifted from irritation to disbelief, then hardened into something uglier.
"Madison!""
She shouted my name as if I had committed some unforgivable offense by appearing at my own wedding.
I reached the bottom of the staircase.
The attendants arranged my train behind me.
I looked directly at Brittany.
"You stole the wrong dress.""
A murmur passed through the ballroom.
Brittany's fingers tightened around the bouquet.
Several stems snapped.
"Where did you get that?"" she demanded.
I tilted my head.
"I designed it.""
"No, you didn't.""
"Eleven months of work," I replied.
"Every pearl. Every crystal. Every stitch.""
Her cheeks flushed.
"You can't just make another wedding dress overnight!""
"I didn't.""
I let the silence settle.
"This one has been waiting for today.""
Nathan stepped away from the altar.
He looked at me as if he had been holding his breath since the moment he saw Brittany in the ivory gown.
"Madison.""
There was so much relief in his voice that my throat tightened.
He crossed the marble floor and stopped in front of me.
For a moment, neither of us spoke.
Then he reached for my hands.
"Are you all right?""
I nodded.
"Are you?""
He let out a disbelieving laugh.
"My sister is wearing your wedding dress, my mother has apparently declared you missing, and half our guests think we're about to witness the strangest wedding in American history.""
"That sounds about right.""
He squeezed my hands.
Then his expression changed.
"Tell me what happened.""
I looked past him toward Victoria.
"Ask your mother.""
Victoria marched forward.
Her heels struck the marble in sharp, angry beats.
"Don't you dare turn this into a spectacle," she snapped.
I looked at the hundreds of guests already staring at us.
"That seems a little late.""
"You have humiliated this family.""
"No," I said quietly.
"I walked into my own wedding.""
"You disappeared without explanation!""
"Because someone took my dress.""
Victoria's eyes flashed.
"You could have worn something else without making a scene.""
I glanced at Brittany.
"That's exactly what I did.""
A few guests exchanged startled looks.
Nathan released one of my hands and turned toward his mother.
"Mom, why is Brittany wearing Madison's gown?""
Victoria lifted her chin.
"Your sister-in-law was upset. She wanted to feel special.""
"By stealing my fiancée's wedding dress?""
"She didn't steal anything.""
I almost admired the confidence of that lie.
Almost.
Brittany quickly seized the opportunity.
"Madison said I could borrow it.""
I stared at her.
She stared back.
The old familiar expression appeared on her face: the stubborn certainty that if she repeated a lie confidently enough, everyone else would eventually surrender.
I had seen that expression when she denied taking my jewelry.
When she claimed my work as her own.
When she told our parents that I had deliberately excluded her from important moments in my life.
Every time, she had expected me to argue until I looked unreasonable.
Not today.
"Did I?"" I asked.
"Yes!""
"Then tell everyone when I gave you permission.""
Brittany opened her mouth.
Nothing came out.
Victoria stepped between us.
"This is childish.""
"Then it should be easy to explain.""
I turned toward the guests.
"My wedding gown was kept in a locked private dressing suite. Only a handful of people had access to that room.""
Victoria's jaw tightened.
I continued.
"Someone entered the suite, removed the garment bag, and brought my gown downstairs. Brittany is wearing it. I would like to know who helped her.""
A few guests began whispering more loudly.
Nathan looked at his mother.
"Did you know about this?""
Victoria didn't answer.
That silence was more revealing than anything she could have said.
I watched her carefully.
She was a practiced woman.
She could turn an insult into a compliment, an accusation into an act of concern, and a demand into something that sounded like a generous favor.
But she had one weakness.
She could not tolerate losing control in front of an audience.
And now she was losing it.
"Madison," she said, lowering her voice, "you need to stop before you make this worse.""
"For whom?""
"For everyone.""
"That isn't an answer.""
She leaned closer.
"You have no idea what you're doing.""
I smiled faintly.
"Actually, Victoria, I do.""
Her eyes flicked toward the gold gown again.
Something changed in her expression.
Not envy.
Not simple anger.
Fear.
It was brief, almost invisible, but I saw it.
And suddenly, I understood that Brittany's decision to wear my ivory gown had not been entirely her own.
Someone had encouraged her.
Someone had helped her enter the private suite.
Someone had believed that putting her in that particular dress would give them an advantage over me.
I turned toward Nathan.
"Can you ask the estate's security team to bring up the footage from my dressing-room corridor?""
Victoria went rigid.
Nathan noticed.
"Why?"" he asked her.
She recovered quickly.
"This is absurd. We have guests waiting. We should proceed with the ceremony.""
"Not until we know what happened," Nathan replied.
Brittany gave a nervous laugh.
"Seriously? You're going to ruin your own wedding over a dress?""
I looked at the ivory silk stretched across her body.
"A million-dollar dress," I corrected.
Her mouth fell open.
Then she glanced at Victoria.
It was only a second.
But it told me everything I needed to know.
Brittany hadn't understood the full value of what she was wearing.
Victoria had.
And whatever they had planned, it involved more than embarrassing me at the altar.
I turned to the wedding coordinator.
"Please stop the ceremony for a few minutes.""
The woman nodded and hurried away.
Victoria grabbed Nathan's arm.
"You're allowing her to do this?""
He gently removed her hand.
"I'm allowing my fiancée to find out why someone stole her property.""
For the first time, Victoria looked at her son as if she no longer recognized him.
I took Nathan's hand again.
"There's something else you should know," I told him.
"What?""
I glanced at Brittany's train.
"That gown has a history.""
Victoria went pale.
Brittany looked down at the pearls sewn into the ivory silk.
"What does that mean?""
I didn't answer.
May you like
Not yet.
Because before I could explain, the floral wall behind the altar began to move.
