The sound startled her. It was the first laugh she had made in months.
By midnight, most of the guests had gone. Some had left apologetic messages. Others had avoided her eyes. A few had quietly thanked her for stopping the evening before anyone else was pulled into the fraud.
Tiffany was still there.
She had changed out of her heels and stood barefoot on the ballroom floor. The wedding dress pooled around her ankles.
Margaret found her beside the tall windows.
“I thought you left,” Margaret said.
“I wanted to.”
“Why didn’t you?”
Tiffany looked through the glass at the dark parking lot.
“I don’t have anywhere to go.”
Margaret said nothing.
“My father owns the apartment where Daniel and I lived. He said I could stay there until the honeymoon was over.”
“The honeymoon that was charged to my account.”
“Yes.”
Tiffany’s hands curled into the dress fabric.
“I don’t know what is mine anymore.”
“That is something you will have to learn.”
“I know.”
Margaret stood beside her, leaving a careful distance between them.
Tiffany whispered, “I was cruel to you.”
“Yes.”
“I kept telling myself you were trying to control me because you didn’t approve of me.”
“I did not approve of the way you treated my son.”
“You should have said that.”
“I did.”
“You said it gently.”
“I thought gentleness would make him listen.”
“Did he?”
“No.”
Tiffany nodded.
