Chapter 5 - HER MOTHER’S FRONT PORCH
Emma called her mother before Nathan could.
“Are you home?”
“Yes. What’s wrong?”
“Lock the door, Mom. I’m coming over.”
There was a brief silence. “Is this about the wedding? Nathan’s mother called. She said you left with another man.”
Emma closed her eyes. Patricia had reached her first.
“I left because Nathan helped humiliate me. I’ll explain everything.”
Her mother’s voice changed. “Come home, honey.”
Sofia advised Emma to give the officers Nathan’s message. One called the precinct near her mother’s house and asked for a patrol car to check the street. Emma watched him make the call. She needed to know someone was going.
At the house in Queens, the porch light was on. Her mother opened the door before Emma reached it.
She looked at Dante’s coat, then at Emma’s face.
“Tell me what happened.”
Emma told her. About the dress. Nathan. The signature. The brick in Mercer Street.
Her mother, Ruth, sat down at the kitchen table. “Your dad tried to tell me something about the Whitmores before he got sick. He said he’d found bills that didn’t match the jobs.”
“Why didn’t you tell me?”
“Because after he died, their lawyer brought me a stack of papers. I thought he was helping settle the company. Then I got a letter saying we owed more than we had. I was ashamed.”
Emma sat beside her. “They used that against both of us.”
Ruth took her hand. “I’m sorry.”
“You didn’t make them do it.”
The doorbell rang.
Through the window, Emma saw Nathan standing beside Patricia. A patrol car waited across the street.
Sofia, who had followed in her own car, stepped onto the porch before Emma opened the door.
“This conversation can happen here with me present,” she told them, “or through counsel.”
Patricia smiled as if they were discussing seating arrangements. “We’re concerned about Emma.”
Nathan’s eyes fixed on Dante’s coat. “Can we talk alone?”
“No,” Emma said.
Patricia’s smile thinned. “You signed a valid agreement. Running around with old invoices won’t change that.”
“Then you won’t mind if Sofia reviews them.”
Nathan looked sharply at his mother. It was the first crack Emma had ever seen between them.
Patricia stepped closer. “Your father’s name is on those invoices, Emma. Be careful what you bring into the light.”
Ruth came to the door. “Get off my porch.”
Patricia turned to her. “Mrs. Walker, you know what your husband did.”
Ruth’s face went white. Emma reached for her, but her mother steadied herself against the frame.
“No,” Ruth said. “I know what you told me he did.”
Patricia walked away without another word. Nathan stayed.
“I was going to fix the dress,” he said.
Emma stared at him. “After you let her cut it?”
“I thought you’d understand that I was still choosing you.”
“You wanted me to thank you for staying.”
Nathan said nothing.
Sofia’s phone rang. She listened, asked two questions, and ended the call.
“The cathedral found the bridal room footage,” she told Emma. “There’s something else on it.”
May you like
“What?”
“Patricia entered after Veronica left. She took a packet from your bag.”
