“It’s coming right off,” I told her. “Everything will be fine. We just have to make sure we get all of it or else Stefan is going to have a full-blown cardiac event.”
Within a few minutes it was like the blue had never been there. The bra was toast, but fortunately it wasn’t the one she’d planned on wearing with her wedding dress.
“See?” I said to her reflection. “Gone. Are you feeling okay?”
“I am,” she said. “This was just a silly bump on my road to getting married.”
Sadie had no idea that another one of those bumps was her groom’s cousin losing her wedding ring. Now was definitely not the time to mention it. “What else can we do?”
“Nothing. You already saved me from having the most humiliating wedding photos ever. I’ll get changed and meet you guys in the other room.”
I nodded and left with Krista, shutting the door behind us. The camera operator closest to us spun his camera in our direction and I fought the urge to put up a hand in front of my face. I reminded myself that this was all being broadcast live and now was not the time to be camera-shy. I smiled instead, hoping he’d lose interest in us.
Mary-Ellen was almost completely back to normal, and I was glad for that. The problem was she had started whining when her face was swollen and apparently hadn’t stopped. At the moment she was loudly talking to her mom and her aunt. “Sadie has everything. Now she gets a rich, handsome husband, too. When is it going to be my turn?”
Before Mandy could reply, Brandy said, “I don’t know why everyone’s making such a fuss. Most marriages end in divorce. What is the point?”
This was just lovely. I walked over and said, “The point is this is your daughter’s wedding day and we’re all here”—I focused in on Mary-Ellen—“to celebrate with her and make sure she has the best day ever.”
That seemed to shut them down, at least temporarily. I didn’t need Sadie to see this later. It would crush her.
I went back to getting my hair finished while Krista sat with the makeup artist. Things generally seemed to calm down and Sadie rejoined us in her satiny white robe. The photographer was taking pictures of the wedding gown on a special hanger and having Sadie stand close to it, looking up at it, looking away from it, everything.
The stylist had just put on the last touches when I got a phone call from a New York number I didn’t recognize. I answered tentatively. “Hello?”
“Is this Rachel?”
“Yes.”
“This is Anton. We’re having a slight problem with someone not being on the list.” I heard a woman’s voice, loudly demanding to be let in. There was a light lunch taking place just before the wedding for the guests to enjoy. The hotel had provided extra security for today. Now that Sadie was streaming live, she had some, shall we say, overexuberant fans who might show up, given that they had her exact location. Everybody wanted to be cautious.
“What’s the name?” I could check with Sadie to see if somebody had been inadvertently left off.
“She says it’s Lilith.”
That name sounded vaguely familiar, but I couldn’t place it. “Let me call you back.”
“Was that Camden?” Krista asked me and the mention of his name made me put two and evil ex-girlfriend together.
Oh no.
“I’ll be right back. Hold down the fort for me.”
At this rate I was never going to be able to finish getting ready for this wedding. I texted Anton back and told him to keep her there, that I was on my way to help.
I wanted to text Camden but couldn’t because his phone might eat my texts, for all I knew. I wondered if he used a horse and buggy instead of a car, too. So I called him and he answered immediately. “Hey, you. There’s good news. That ring finder lived nearby and with her metal detector found the ring in under five minutes.”
Okay, that was great news, but something bad was happening. “Lilith is here. She’s trying to crash the wedding.”
His voice went totally serious. “Where?”
“At the luncheon. Can you meet me there?” I told myself that I didn’t know what she looked like and if she wasn’t still throwing a fit when I got there, I’d never be able to identify her and tell security to keep her far away from the wedding. I totally dismissed the fact that I’d just told Anton to hang around. Much as I wanted to rationalize it to myself, I just wanted Camden to be with me.
“On my way,” he promised and hung up.