“You stopped trying to make me leave,” I said.
“Both of you did.
Why?”
Mom’s face reddened.
“Because Madison said to let you stay.”
Derek turned toward his wife.
“Why would you suddenly want her to stay?”
Madison’s eyes darted around the room.
Nobody helped her.
Not even Mom.
Finally she said, “I was angry.
I wanted to teach her a lesson.”
Aunt Carol stared at her.
“By having her arrested?”
“I wasn’t going to have her arrested!”
Dad snapped, “Then what exactly did you think would happen when you accused her of stealing a diamond bracelet and I called the police?”
For the first time all evening, his anger wasn’t aimed at me.
Madison began crying.
They weren’t quiet tears.
They were furious, frustrated tears—the kind that came from losing control of a room she’d expected to control completely.
“You don’t understand,” she said.
“She always makes everything about herself.
Tonight was supposed to be mine.
Five years of marriage, our family, our celebration.
Then she barges in because she can’t stand not being included.”
I stared at her.
“You excluded me deliberately.”
“Yes!” she shouted.
“Because I didn’t want you here.”
There it was.
No miscommunication.
No intimate gathering.
No confusion.
Just the truth.
The officer explained that deliberately placing property in someone’s belongings and making a false accusation to police could have serious consequences.
Because Kloe was a child and the accounts needed to be documented carefully, he separated the adults and took statements.
The party disintegrated around us.
The photographer packed away his equipment.
The caterers moved quietly between half-eaten trays.
Guests who’d spent the first part of the evening avoiding my eyes now approached me one at a time.
Aunt Carol apologized.
Uncle Tom did too.
Hannah hugged me and whispered, “I should’ve said something sooner.”
I told her she had already done more than most people in that room simply by telling the truth.
Dad remained near the fireplace, looking ten years older than he had when I arrived.
Eventually he came toward me.
“Emma.”
I waited.
He rubbed his jaw.
“I shouldn’t have said those things about your career.”
That wasn’t enough.
He seemed to know it.
“Or your apartment.
Or your car.”
Still not enough.
Finally he said, “And I shouldn’t have assumed you took the bracelet.”
