Chapter 3: The Woman Holding the Phone

It was Naomi, Grace’s maid of honor and my oldest friend.

Her bouquet lay beside her feet, and a video was paused on her screen.

“Naomi?” Grace’s voice sharpened.

“Put that away.”

“No.” Naomi stepped beside me.

“Hannah deserves to see it.”

Grace reached for the phone, but Naomi pulled it against her chest.

Owen, Grace’s new husband, moved between them.

“What is on that phone?” he asked.

Naomi pressed play.

The video had been taken at my wedding reception.

Daniel and I were dancing in the background while Grace stood beside our gift table, looking over both shoulders.

On the screen, she lifted three envelopes from the card box and slipped them into her handbag.

“That proves nothing,” Grace said.

“Hannah asked me to keep them safe.”

“I never asked you to touch them.”

“You were busy.

Someone had to take care of things.”

Daniel pushed through the guests and stopped beside me.

“We searched for those cards all night.”

Grace folded her arms.

“Then you should have asked me.”

“I did,” I said.

“You told me you hadn’t seen them.”

Mother hurried over, her face tight.

“Not here.

Whatever this is, handle it privately.”

“Why?” Naomi asked.

“So Grace can change the story again?”

Mother pointed toward the tent.

“There are a hundred people waiting.”

“And there were a hundred people at Hannah’s wedding when Grace emptied that box,” Daniel said.

Grace gave a short laugh.

“Emptied?

It was three envelopes.”

Owen stared at her.

“How do you know how many there were?”

Her smile disappeared.

Naomi opened a photograph on her phone.

“Aunt Ruth called me this morning.

The check she wrote to Hannah and Daniel was deposited and then rejected because the endorsement didn’t match.”

She enlarged the image.

On the back of the check, someone had written my name.

“That is not my signature,” I said.

Grace lifted her chin.

“You sign your name differently all the time.”

“No, I don’t.”

“Maybe Daniel deposited it.

Have you considered that?”

Daniel held out his hands.

“I never saw the check.”

Mother took my arm.

“Hannah, please.

Your sister’s reception is about to begin.”

I pulled free.

“She used my name to buy the dress, and now there’s a check with my name written on it.

Why are you asking me to be quiet?”

“Because you always take things too far.”

The words struck harder than Grace’s smirk.

Owen turned toward Mother.

“She has a receipt and a video.

How is Hannah taking anything too far?”

Grace grabbed his sleeve.

“You said today would be about us.”

“I didn’t know ‘us’ was being paid for with your sister’s money.”

The guests nearest us fell silent.

Grace looked from Owen to Naomi, then fixed her eyes on me.

“You want the truth?” she said.

“Fine.

Hannah told me I could take whatever I needed.”

“I never said that.”

Grace pulled out her phone and tapped the screen.

My own voice came through the speaker.

“Take whatever you need, Grace.

I just want your day to be perfect.”

Grace stopped the recording and held up the phone.

“There,” she said.

“Now tell everyone I’m a liar.”

Mother released a long breath.

“Hannah, you owe your sister an apology.”