Chapter 1 - The Smile in the Aisle.
The church had been polished until every brass rail and marble tile reflected the soft gold of the chandeliers.
White roses climbed the ends of the pews, a string quartet played beneath the choir loft, and more than a hundred guests waited for Emily Mercer to reach the altar.
Anna Mercer sat near the front in her wheelchair with both hands folded over an ivory program.
At twenty-nine, Anna had learned how to sit still when strangers looked at the healed burn scars along her cheek, neck, and forearms.
She had also learned how to recognize the difference between curiosity and cruelty.
That morning, she had promised herself that nothing would make her leave her little sister's wedding early.
Then Emily stopped beside her.
The bride looked flawless in pearl-white satin, her veil floating behind her and her smile angled perfectly toward the photographer.
For one warm second, Anna thought Emily had come to kiss her cheek.
Instead, Emily leaned down until the veil created a private curtain between them.
"Go sit in the back."
Anna blinked.
Emily's smile never moved.
"You're ruining my perfect wedding."
The words were quiet enough for the music to cover them, but not quiet enough to spare Anna from hearing every syllable.
Anna looked past Emily toward their parents.
Her father, Thomas, stared at the altar as if the carved wooden cross had suddenly become fascinating.
Her mother, Judith, lowered her eyes to the program in her lap.
Neither of them moved.
That hurt more than Emily's whisper.
Anna's gloved fingers closed around the rims of her wheels.
She had spent years making herself easy to accommodate, easy to overlook, and easy to move whenever somebody else felt uncomfortable.
So she released the brake.
The tiny metallic click sounded enormous to her.
Then another sound cut through the church.
A pew creaked sharply in the front row.
Margaret Bennett, the groom's mother, rose to her full height in a deep green silk dress.
Her silver hair caught the chandelier light, and her expression held none of Emily's camera-ready softness.
Margaret looked first at Anna, then at the bride.
"She stays, or we leave."
The quartet faltered.
A violin note died in the air.
Several guests turned completely around.
Emily straightened so fast that her veil slid from Anna's shoulder.
"Margaret," she said through her smile, "I think there's been a misunderstanding."
"There has," Margaret replied.
Her voice remained calm.
"You misunderstood what kind of family you're marrying into."
A murmur moved across the pews.
At the altar, Noah Bennett lowered his hands from where he had been waiting beside the officiant.
His expression changed as he looked from his mother to Emily and then to Anna.
Anna wanted the floor to open beneath her chair.
She hated being watched.
She hated being defended in public almost as much as she hated being humiliated in public.
Emily turned slightly toward the photographer, still trying to control the image.
"Anna was just moving somewhere more comfortable," she said.
Anna heard her own voice before fear could stop it.
"No."
The church went still again.
Emily slowly looked down at her.
Anna's heart hammered, but she locked the brake she had just released.
"You told me to move because you said I was ruining your perfect wedding."
Judith made a faint sound behind them.
Thomas finally looked up.
Noah stepped down from the altar.
Emily's smile vanished.
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And for the first time that day, the cameras were no longer capturing the wedding she had planned.
They were capturing the moment she lost control of the story.
