Just after midnight, I stood outside the gates of Rosefield. My wedding petticoat was hidden beneath the delivery jacket, its hem streaked with mud. I raised my hand to knock several times but couldn't make myself do it.
The door opened from the inside.
My mother took one look at me and asked nothing about the wedding. She pulled me into the house.
"You must be hungry now. Eat some."
My father went upstairs without a word and turned on the heat in my old bedroom.
I sat at the kitchen table and told them everything. When my father heard that DeLuca guards had stopped me outside the ceremony hall, he reached for his phone to call the police. I quickly explained that the side lounge had never been locked and no one had prevented me from leaving.
"I'll have a lawyer deal with the flower
