Chapter 11 - The Mother of the Bride.
Diane Vaughn was sitting in the front row of the chapel when I walked in carrying the envelope.
She wore a silver-blue dress and looked irritated rather than worried.
Most guests had moved to the reception hall, but a handful of relatives remained scattered among the white chairs.
Diane stood when she saw me.
"Finally."
"Did you prepare this?"
I held up the packet.
Her eyes moved briefly toward Rebecca, who had followed me into the chapel.
"Those are routine marital protections."
"Routine protections don't come with instructions to get my signature while I'm emotional."
Diane's expression cooled.
"You are a widower with a child and substantial assets."
"And that gives you permission to interfere with my daughter's trust?"
"It gives my daughter the right not to enter a marriage powerless."
Rebecca whispered.
"Mom, stop."
Diane ignored her.
"For two years, Rebecca has been expected to mother a child who rejects her while competing with a dead woman."
"Lily did not reject Rebecca."
"She sabotaged this relationship from the beginning."
I heard Lily behind me before I could respond.
"I tried to be good."
Marisol had brought her only as far as the chapel doors, but she had heard enough.
Diane looked directly at my daughter.
"This is exactly what I mean."
I crossed the distance between us before I even realized I was moving.
"Do not speak to her."
Diane lifted her chin.
"You cannot protect her from every consequence forever."
"She's six."
"And she knows how to make you choose her."
"There is no choice."
My voice echoed through the chapel.
"She is my daughter."
Rebecca closed her eyes.
Diane looked almost offended by the certainty of my answer.
"Then Rebecca never had a chance."
"She had every chance to walk away before forging my name."
Several remaining guests turned toward us.
Diane's face changed at the word forging.
"I don't know what you're talking about."
Hannah stepped into the chapel.
"We have the forms."
Diane looked at Rebecca.
Rebecca did not rescue her.
"And the recordings," Hannah added.
Diane finally lost color.
My phone rang again.
This time it was the police officer at my house.
He told me Vincent had been taken to the station for questioning after I confirmed he had no authorization to enter.
Then he said officers had found something else in the blue folder.
A notarized letter claimed that I authorized international travel for Lily with Rebecca Vaughn.
The notary stamp belonged to a woman named Diane Vaughn.
I stared at Rebecca's mother.
"Are you a notary?"
Diane said nothing.
Hannah answered for her.
"She is."
The officer asked whether I had signed an international travel authorization in Diane's presence.
"Never."
Diane stepped backward.
Rebecca suddenly shouted at her mother.
"You said that letter would only be a backup."
Silence crashed over the chapel.
Rebecca realized what she had admitted.
I looked at her.
"A backup for what?"
No one answered.
Then Gavin walked in holding Rebecca's small leather planner.
He opened it to a page marked with a red ribbon.
"I think I know."
Written beneath our wedding date were two flight numbers.
Nashville to New York.
May you like
New York to Geneva.
The passenger initials were R.V. and L.H.
