Vows and Debts

The door wasn't locked. I pushed it open with my grandmother's pin still in my hand and found my fiancé's hand in my sister's hair. Bianca's back was against the headboard. Her hands were fisted in the sheets. Nathaniel's hand was on her throat, his hips moving against hers. The pin slipped out of my fingers and hit the floor. That sound was the first thing that stopped them. Nathaniel's head snapped up. He shoved off her, dragging the sheet over himself a second too late. "Mia. Wait. It's not what it looks like." "It's exactly what it looks like." My voice cracked in the middle of it. Two years. Forty minutes before the wedding. My own sister. Bianca didn't reach for the sheet. "You weren't supposed to walk in like this." "Should I have knocked? Made an appointment to find out you've been sleeping with my fiancé?" "It meant nothing," Nathaniel said. "I swear it meant nothing. I was going to tell you. You have to believe me." I didn't believe him. I didn't believe anything anymore. No tears yet. No screaming. Just my hands shaking so hard I could barely pick the pin back up off the floor. I walked out before either of them could watch me cry. I went straight to find my parents. I wanted someone on my side. My mother was in the hallway outside the bridal suite, dressed, pearls on. My father stood beside her in his suit. "Nathaniel's in there with Bianca." My voice broke on his name. "Right now. I just watched it." I waited for my mother to push past me down the hall. I waited for my father's face to change. Neither of them moved. "Mia." My mother's voice was quiet. "Sit down. Let's talk before you do something rash." "You're not surprised." She didn't answer right away. "How long have you known?" My voice rose into something close to a scream. "How long have you known and let me plan a wedding?" "It isn't as simple as you think." "How long, Mom!" My father answered instead. His voice didn't shake at all. "Your engagement was never about you, Mia. I owe the Whitfields more than I can repay. They wanted the alliance through whichever daughter would secure it best." "And you decided that was Bianca." I was shaking so hard I could barely get the words out. "So this wedding was never mine. You let me believe it was for two years." "Don't be dramatic. You'll still have a place in this family." "Will I." The tears were still coming, but my voice had gone cold underneath them. "Tell me. Will I." Neither of them answered that. Down the hall, the string quartet had started playing in the garden. The guests were arriving for a wedding that belonged to my sister now. "Go home," my mother said. "Change. We'll talk later, when you're calmer." I turned around and walked out the front of the manor, past the chairs set up for two hundred guests, past the photographer checking his camera. Nobody stopped me. Theo,my best friend was near the gift table when I crossed the lawn toward my car. I saw him turn to me. He tried calling out,but i kept walking away. By the time I reached the end of the driveway, my phone buzzed. Theo. I saw you leave,are you okay. I'm not going to ask what happened in front of everyone here. I'm coming to your place. Don't argue with me about this. I didn't argue. I didn't have the strength left to. I sat in the driver's seat for a long minute before I could make my hands work the key. On the passenger seat next to me was the painting I'd finished two nights ago and never told anyone about, a small canvas I'd planned to give Nathaniel as a wedding gift. Something only I would have known meant anything. I hadn't shown it to a single person, the same way I hadn't shown anyone most of what I painted, because the one time I'd tried, years ago, my mother had glanced at it for four seconds before asking whether Bianca had decided on her recital piece yet. I looked at it now and felt something close to relief that I hadn't given it to him after all. I didn't know yet that the worst part of this week hadn't happened yet.