Mail Order Bridesmaid

by Emilia Beaumont

  I shot Anna a quick text as I rode up to the bridal suite of the Savoy Plaza Hotel, hoping to at least get some explanation as to why she hadn’t arrived on time. Maybe my little ruse had gone too far, as well as playing along with her own pretense. But I couldn’t help myself. It was my own way of having a little fun and getting back at her. And it wasn’t all bad, I had arranged for a whole team to look after my bride that morning. But maybe it had all been too much, too real for her? I’d been waiting for her to crack, to blink… and maybe this was her way of telling me I’d won. But then why did it feel like I’d lost?

  As soon as the elevator doors opened on the twentieth floor that accommodated the bridal suite and the rest of the bridesmaids, it was clear that no one was in charge. It was a manic scene; bridesmaids rushed down the corridor, in and out of the neighboring doors, some clinging to the towels, not dressed. Some with their gowns on, but without makeup.

  Oh boy.

  One woman in a bridesmaid dress spotted me as I approached the suite. She let out a huge sigh. “You’re Sebastian, right? Gerard’s best man? I’m Trudy, maid of honor. I didn’t have your number. Thank god you’re here.”

  “Trudy, don’t thank me yet. What on earth is going on? Don’t any of you own a watch? Rochelle was meant to be at the church over twenty minutes ago.”

  She grimaced and said under her breath, “I know, but the shit has truly hit the fan. Maybe you can talk some sense into her?”

  “Rochelle changed her mind?” I asked fearing the worst.

  “Oh, no. Nothing like that… well, I suppose that’s partly true. The heel of her Louboutin shoe snapped right off and she’s convinced herself it’s a bad omen.”

  “All because of a damn shoe? Do you need some super glue?”

  “Don’t look at me like that, like we’re all crazy or incompetent. Besides we tried glue… the thing just snapped off again. And no one else has Rochelle’s tiny feet, not that she’d accept wearing anything other than those ridiculous shoes. And while we’ve been rallying around her, trying to figure out a way to fix this mess, everyone else kinda got behind on getting dressed. It’s a damn disaster.”

  “Let me speak to her. You go get everyone else sorted.”

  “Your funeral,” Trudy said with a shrug and waved her hand gesturing to Rochelle’s door.

  I tapped lightly and not waiting to be told to fuck off, I let myself in. Rochelle sat tear-streaked in front of a dressing table. Used tissues carpeted the floor around her, almost like they’d been placed there in some bizarre wedding ritual. She glanced up at me and almost immediately let out a wail.

  “Why did he send you?” she said, though it was hard to make out the words between her sobs.

  “Ger didn’t send me,” I said and crouched down next to her. “Rochelle, he’s miserable. He thinks you don’t want to marry him.”

  “That’s not true!” she sniffed.

  “Then how about I take you to the church? So you two can finally tie the knot and be so loved up that it makes everyone sick?” I gave her hand a squeeze but she snatched it away.

  “I can’t… You won’t understand.”

  “Trudy mentioned your heel snapped?”

  Rochelle nodded and I thought she was going to cry again. “Everything was supposed to be perfect… and then… and then everything started going wrong. It’s all ruined. I’m already late, why bother?”

  “Trust me. Your special day is far from ruined and there is a man who loves you more than anything waiting for you so he can make you the happiest woman in the whole world.”

  “But—”

  “I know, your shoes. How about you let me worry about that, okay?”

  “What are you going to do?” she sputtered.

  “I’m going to fix everything. Just tell me exactly what make they are and your size.” I picked up one of the broken shoes, the heel no longer with it. That had probably been hurled across the room in fury. “But you have to promise me one thing.”

  “What?”

  “You have to dry your eyes, get your girls back in here, and start to get ready again. Can you do that for me? Pretend that the last few hours never even happened, a do-over. Okay?”

  Rochelle moved the hanky away from her eyes and sucked in a deep breath, then let it out slowly, moving her eyes to meet mine.

  “I can do that,” she said with an apprehensive smile. “But how are you going to—”

  “Rochelle, I’ll get you to the church today, no matter what. I know you and Ger both think I’m a screw-up but let me fix this. Trust me,” I said again.

  She smiled at me then, and for the first time since we’d known each other, I finally thought we’d made progress and that we were a team. Before we’d always vied for Gerard’s attention, jealous whenever he spent time with either of us and not the other. But now I knew where my priorities lay and in a sense, I had to let go.

  I just hoped that my confidence wasn’t misplaced and that I could somehow pull a rabbit from a hat in time. There was only one person that could help me now, and I didn’t know if she would ever speak to me again after our last encounter.

  I left Rochelle and made sure Trudy knew what the new plan was then pulled out my phone to make a call. But just as I pulled the device from my pocket, an incoming call was coming through. Big Jim’s contact details flashed on the screen; I was about to let it go to voicemail when I realized he’d know why Anna had been late, or if he’d already dropped her off at the church while I’d been away.

  “Big Jim, where are you? Where’s Anna?”

  “Er, that’s kinda what I’m calling you about.”

  “Did you pick her up from the apartment?” I said brusquely.

  “Well, yes. But remember when you said to call if she went off the reservation again?”

  “Yes… fuck you never dropped her at the church, did you?”

  “No. We’re up in Montvale again. And this time she made no pretense of where she was going.”

  “So where did you drop her off?”

  “Sunset Hill Nursing Home.”

  “What? But why?”

  “Sir, I don’t know but she didn’t look happy and there’s something else I need to tell you… Unless she’s magically learned how to speak English and is a great mimic of American accents, then I don’t think she’s been honest with you about who she is.”

  I sighed. “Don’t worry about it, Jim. I know.”

  “Oh, fair enough then. What do you want me to do? Go in a find out what’s happening?”

  “No, stay there.”

  I ended the call. This was all I needed to worry about right now, I thought. I already had an almost impossible task of tracking down some designer shoes in what could only be the tiniest size ever made, but now Anna had fled. What had made her run all the way up to Montvale? And to a nursing home to boot… I was determined to find out why and hopefully bring her back in time for the wedding, but first things first: shoes and a conversation I wasn’t looking forward to.

  Deciding that it would be better to do this face to face, I legged it across town to my office building, but instead of getting off at my floor I got off early and walked the familiar route to Sarah’s office.

  “Sir, excuse me, you can’t go in there,” Sarah’s assistant called as she got up from her chair, rounding her desk to try and stop me. But I already had my hand on the handle, pushing the door open. “Hey!”

  “Sarah,” I said as our eyes met. She was behind a table with her lightbox on top, peering over negatives of a recent photo shoot. Sarah groaned, standing up straighter.

  “What do you want?”

  “Do you want me to call security?” the assistant asked.

  “Wait, Sarah, I need your help. Please give me five minutes, I promise you can kick me in the balls afterward if you want to.”

  Sarah waved a dismissed hand in the direction of her assistant. The door clicked behind me.

  “Fine, you get five minutes.” Sarah frowned, “What on e
arth are you wearing? Oh god, you’re not here to…” Her eyes widened and it took me a second to work out what conclusion she’d jumped to.

  Quickly, I shook my head. “No… shit, I’m sorry.”

  “Ah it’s Gerard’s wedding today, isn’t it?”

  “Yes, which is kind of why I’m here. Like I said I need your help. There’s been a bit of a disaster.”

  “Why on earth you need my help is beyond me, Sebastian. You made it clear you wanted nothing to do with me when you proposed to that woman, to make me jealous, but then changed your mind!”

  I squeezed the bridge of my nose, frustrated with the mess I’d made. “Sarah, what I did was childish but…” How could I tell her without hurting her even more than I already had? Perhaps I deserved all the horrible rumors she’d put out about me.

  “But what?” she asked, impatiently putting her hands on her hips.

  “But I do love her. I love Anna. And I’m so sorry if I hurt you. I honestly didn’t mean to. I was an idiot… I am one, and nothing can change that.”

  Sarah gave me a wry smile and sighed as she toured her desk to sit down. I took a chance and sat in the chair beside her.

  “You… in love… well that’s a new one, isn’t it? The moment I kick you to the curb you somehow manage to say the words and throw yourself into a committed relationship.”

  I shrugged helplessly, then gave her hand a squeeze. I was expecting her to recoil but she didn’t. “For what it’s worth, I know I’m a dick and I am sorry.”

  “I know you are. And I guess I am glad you found your happiness. It was for the best, we weren’t good for each other. Took me a bit to figure that out. I’m sorry too, for sullying your reputation. You did deserve it though…” A moment passed as we looked at each other, perhaps both thinking how it all might have turned out differently had we been better to each other. “Well, you didn’t come here to talk, or to twist the knife, I hope, so you better tell me what you’re after.”

  I nodded and began to recall the disastrous day the bride was having and what I needed from Sarah. It was a long shot, but as an editor at a glossy fashion magazine, she would have all the necessary connections to track down a pair of shoes. Or at least I prayed she did. There’d been plenty of times—granted I’d barely listened when she’d recounted her day’s work—but from what I did remember, she used to tell me how sometimes for the shoots they would need to send out search parties for the perfect accessory or piece of clothing to make meticulous photographers happy.

  “Do you think you can work your magic?”

  “Oh honey, you really have no idea,” she said with a confident grin and a wink. “Give me thirty minutes, an hour tops, and I’ll have the shoes on my desk. Or someone will be out of a job.”

  Sarah was about to pick up her phone, presumably to begin the frantic search, but I put my hand up in a halting manner. “One more thing. Is your car in the parking garage?”

  “Why?” Sarah asked, narrowing her eyes.

  I widened my grin, giving her my best sparkling smile. “I have another tiny favor to ask.”

  “Does that mean I get to kick you in the balls twice?” Sarah grinned.

  Twenty

  Anna

  I burst through the nursing home doors like I was Cinderella trying desperately to make it back home before time ran out. I lost my shoe but kept powering onward, pointing to the secured doors and shouting to be let through immediately.

  The receptionist’s mouth dropped open, aghast at my sudden appearance, as she hovered her hand over the button she needed to press to let me through. But she stopped, as if remembering her job. “Miss, like I told you the last time, you need to sign in first.”

  Blocked by the gatekeeper, I stooped to pick up my shoe but instead of putting it back on, tugged the other one off, then confronted Brenda.

  “If you don’t let me in there right now to see my gran, I’ll…” What would I do? Start throwing my heels at her, like mini projectiles? Jump over the desk and hit the button myself? Both of those things would have security here to kick my ass to the curb and I would never get to see Gran when she needed me the most. “Please, just let me in. My gran had a heart attack. Her nurse called me.”

  The tears began to burn again, a couple breaking free and making a run for it down my cheeks. I wiped at them harshly.

  “Like I said—”

  “Fine. There. Happy now?” I said as I scribbled my name on the clipboard. “Open up!”

  I sprinted down the corridor to Gran’s room, dodging around a few elderly inmates that were doing their best impressions of lazy Sunday drivers at the wheels of their walkers.

  Gran’s room was just how I’d left it the day before, except that now by her bedside was a collection of monitors and gadgets, beeping and burping out the occasional chirp. And of course, there was Gran, in her bed, but looking older than I’d ever seen her. The machines looked like they were draining the life out of her, not providing assistance. I rushed to her side and searched for her pale, soft hand beneath the covers.

  “Gran, I’m here,” I whispered. “I’m so sorry it took so long. But I’m here now.”

  Her eyelids remained shuttered to the world but I had to believe she was going to be okay. That she would wake up.

  “Oh, didn’t see you there,” a nurse I didn’t recognize said as she entered the room, her eyes eventually focusing on me.

  “Do you know what happened?” I questioned, hoping to get some answers. How could she have been fine yesterday, talking and joking, and then suddenly this?

  The nurse busied around the machines, logging information on a chart she’d pulled from the end of the bed. “Your grandmother suffered a heart attack a few hours ago.”

  “I know that already, but why? She was fine.”

  The nurse gave me a grim look and I knew right away this woman wasn’t the type to reveal sensitive information. “I’ll have the doctor come in to talk to you when he’s free, okay?”

  I nodded. The nurse was almost out of the room when I quickly added, “When will she wake up?”

  “It’s hard to tell, shouldn’t be too long. But she needs to rest. The doctor will tell you more.”

  She left and I started to sob quietly. I wasn’t ready to face a life with no ties to anyone. My parents were gone. Gran was all I had left. Well, that wasn’t entirely true; there was Sebastian. But I knew I couldn’t count on him to stick around now that I’d stood him up at the altar. I buried my head in my hands. He was never going to forgive me.

  A while later, I heard the whine of the door as it squeaked open on its hinges. Expecting the doctor, I wiped my tear-streaked face and looked up, ready to hear Gran’s verdict.

  But nothing could have prepared me for the face my eyes set on instead.

  “What are you doing here?” I said automatically, the shock taking over my body and thought processes. A second later my brain caught up with what I’d just said, and how I’d said it. My hand flew to my mouth as if I could ram the mistake back down my throat.

  Sebastian, with an eyebrow arched, stood in his grey wedding suit, a golden silk tie around his thick neck, wearing a look of partial satisfaction and horror.

  “I could ask you the same thing, Anna. If that is even your real name. Nice accent, by the way.”

  “Shit,” I muffled through my fingers covering my mouth. The cat was out of the bag, he knew. But how much did he know?

  His expression turned stony, a blank-faced rock that looked impenetrable. I couldn’t glean what was going on behind the cool of his eyes.

  “Well? Are you not going to say anything? Don’t you think I deserve an explanation?”

  “I… I don’t know what to say, Sebastian,” I started. Honestly, I had no idea where to begin. What could I say to smooth over all the lies?

  “For starters, you can tell me your real name, in case the passport I saw is faked too. Did Josephine put you up to this?”

  “Josephine? No, who is that?” I shoo
k my heard, trying to remember if I should know the name, then my mind snagged on a memory. Sebastian had mentioned a secretary, maybe that was her. “My name really is Anna, though. I just needed to get home… I needed the money for my gran’s care. I just neglected to tell you she wasn’t in Russia.” My shoulders sagged from the shame. I’d brought this all on myself.

  He crossed his hands over his chest, the corners of his suit creasing with harsh lines at the inner crooks of his elbows. He didn’t believe me. Why would he? I’d already lied to him so many times. All I knew was that I couldn’t bear to lose him.

  “You lied to me. You pretended to be someone else… Tell me one thing, was it all fake?”

  “Oh god no.” I shot to my feet at the accusation that my feelings for him were but an illusion. “That was all real. The last few days have been the best of my life. Being with you, consumed by you… it wasn’t fake. I promise you that.”

  The lines around his eyes softened, or at least I thought they did. I so wanted him to look at me like I was his whole world again, and would’ve given anything to make that happen, but my mind was a jumble. I felt like I was saying all the wrong things, only pushing him further away.

  “How can I ever trust you, Anna?”

  “I don’t know. I’m so sorry I kept you waiting at the church… It wasn’t my intention to leave you at the altar.” I turned to my gran lying in the bed. “I got a phone call that she had a heart attack and…” I couldn’t continue, I felt my world crumbling around me. My very worst nightmare was happening and I had no way to wake myself up.

  Suddenly Sebastian was there, his arms around me, holding me up. I sank into him, letting him envelop me, his smell comforting and reassuring. I clutched his jacket, never wanting to let go.

  “You didn’t leave me at the altar,” I heard him say above me. I stiffened and stopped crying at this new revelation. “And you look stunning by the way.”