Chapter 8: The Morning After the Wedding That Wasn't
Lucy did not go to the wedding.
She stayed in the hotel with Ethan and ordered room service breakfast — eggs and toast and orange juice — and watched her son eat with the focused seriousness he brought to everything.
He was five years old and he ate eggs like it was important work.
She did not check her phone until he was finished.
There were eleven missed calls from Julian.
The first at 7:14 in the morning.
The last at 9:52.
There were no voicemails.
There was one text, sent at 8:30: *Lucy.
Please.
Call me.*
She set the phone face-down.
Edward knocked on the adjoining door at ten o'clock.
He was dressed and had already been out — he set a paper bag of pastries on the table and poured himself a coffee from the room's small machine without being asked.
"Grace called this morning," he said.
Lucy looked up.
"The Marsh family attorney contacted Julian last night," Edward said.
"Apparently the conversation was not pleasant.
Diane Marsh did not appear at the ceremony venue this morning."
Lucy was quiet for a moment.
"The wedding didn't happen," she said.
"No."
She looked out the window.
The sky was a pale, clean blue.
"I don't feel what I thought I'd feel," she said.
"What did you think you'd feel?"
"I don't know.
Satisfaction, maybe.
Or relief." She picked up her coffee.
"Mostly I just feel tired."
"That's allowed," Edward said.
Ethan climbed off the chair and went to the window.
He pressed his nose against the glass and looked down at the parking lot with great interest.
"Grandpa Edward," he said, without turning around.
"Do you have a dog?"
Edward looked at Lucy.
"I have a very old Labrador named George," he said.
"He sleeps most of the day."
"I like dogs," Ethan said seriously.
"Then you and George will get along very well."
Ethan seemed satisfied with this.
He went back to looking at the parking lot.
Lucy's phone lit up.
Not Julian this time.
Grace.
She answered.
"Monday is going to move quickly," Grace said.
"I want you prepared.
We're filing the full fraud claim in civil court at nine.
At ten, I have a meeting with the DA's assistant — the recording from Friday night is the centerpiece.
The threat against Edward is clear and documented."
"What happens to Julian?"
"Civil side: the deed transfer will be challenged and almost certainly reversed given the forensic evidence on the signature.
He'll lose the property.
He may also face a civil judgment for damages — the two years you spent without access to the asset, the financial losses you incurred." A pause.
"Criminal side: the DA will decide whether to pursue forgery and fraud charges.
The recording adds potential criminal intimidation.
I won't promise an outcome, but the evidence package is strong."
"And Diane Marsh?"
"Her family's attorneys have already filed a motion to sever any claim they have against the property.
They're running." Grace's voice was precise and without satisfaction.
"Julian is going to find himself very alone by Monday afternoon."
"He'll hire an attorney," Lucy said.
"He already has.
I received a letter of representation this morning from a firm downtown." A pause.
"They're good.
But they're working with what Julian has given them, and what he's given them is a forged deed, a recorded threat, and a forensic examiner's report."
Lucy looked at Ethan at the window.
"Grace," she said.
"The necklace.
My mother's necklace.
Can I keep it?"
"I've already drafted a separate recovery claim for it as personal property wrongfully retained," Grace said.
"But practically speaking — yes.
Keep it."
After she hung up, Lucy sat for a long moment.
Edward was watching her.
"Tell me what you're thinking," he said.
"I'm thinking about the day I pawned it," she said.
"I stood at the counter and the man gave me two hundred and forty dollars.
I cried in the car afterward.
I told myself I'd get it back when things were better." She looked at her hands.
"Julian knew I pawned it.
He was the one who told me to.
And then he went and bought it back and put it in a box in my house."
"He wanted it," Edward said.
"As a trophy, I think."
"Yes." She was quiet.
"He wanted everything that was mine."
"He doesn't have any of it now."
She nodded slowly.
"Monday," she said.
"Monday," Edward agreed.
Ethan turned from the window.
"Are we going to see the dog soon?" he asked.
Lucy looked at her son.
His face was open and expectant and completely uncomplicated.
May you like
"Soon," she said.
"Very soon."
