Tomorrow Will Be Too Late (34 page)

They were just finishing the last touches, the ceremony about to start
soon
. The dressing room had been full
of
people, Tom’s mother and sister making their own gracious appearance
s
and even sparing a
compliment
or two. To
Kate
,
it seemed they were ready to bury the hatchet, probably realizing that
they had
no way to get Alice out of Tom’s life. Fighting the unavoidable seemed
futile
,
especially since Tom
had
made it clear he would take his bride’s side.

At that moment,
everyone
had
left, only the three of them spending the last minutes of Alice’s single life
together
.

‘I couldn’t have pulled it off without Kate
.
’ Alice grinned, pirouetting around her room until the silk fabric swooshed in a petal
-
like motion, exposing her slender ankles dressed in strappy white sandals. ‘
She’s
been helping me all the way, even though she had a right to be a wee
-bit
preoccupied.’ She smiled
mischievously
, her tone turning conspiratorial. ‘
Did
she tell you
,
Mom
? About her whirlwind romance?’

‘
Oh
, stop it now
.
’
Kate found
it
almost
scary how
well
she
had been
covering up her true emotions in the last week. Smiling and joking while dying inside wasn’t
as
much of a chore anymore. Maybe it was her
survival
instinct, she thought as she
stretched
her face muscles into a semblance of a smile, praying for it to be convincing.

Her mom and her stepdad
had
arrived
the day before
, the tight time schedule leading up to the wedding leaving little time to discuss anything else. And she was very happy about
that
, she thought now, relieved to see her mom distracted with some last minute fix
-
up of her elegant grey dress. In her slim
-
cut dress and fancy hat
,
she could have been their sister,
Kate
thought proudly, a familiar twinge of regret
at being
so far apart stirring in her heart.
T
o have her mom here
would be nice
for some heart to heart chat and maybe even for
a chance
to cry her eyes out. Especially the last one, she thought bitterly, half
-
listening to her sister’s voice. She
’
d done a lot of crying in the last few days, regretting things that couldn’t be changed.

With iron willpower
,
she commanded her thoughts to leave
that
dangerous place, afraid that if she let herself go, her carefully
managed
composure would crumble into a heap of misery too acute to be ignored.
This was Alice’s day
,
and
Kate
wouldn’t allow herself to spoil it, even though the hours ahead would be
just
short of hell.

Glancing at herself in the mirror
,
she saw a confident young woman in a silky blue dress, her long
,
dark hair put into a sophisticated and deceptively easy
-looking
chignon that
had taken
almost an hour to achieve. Her aquamarine earrings and a slim platinum bracelet completed the look. Nobody could tell how many sleepless nights hid behind the made
-
up face, her blush
-
kissed cheeks and concealer doing a great job at hiding her tiredness. Mauve shadows still lingered under her eyes, the lilac
-
colored smudges
impossible to completely erase. She hoped that with Alice’s big day
,
nobody would pay too much attention to her face, overlooking her telltale shortcomings.

She had been a coward, she knew it. The excuse she didn’t want to annoy Alice didn’t really justify her choice to stay mum about what
had
happened the previous weekend. She
had
spent the rest of the time in her house, too miserable to actually get out and about. Plus, she couldn’t handle the thought of Alice inquiring what exactly
had gone
wrong, her sisterly concern sure to vivisect every moment of
Kate’s
failure. It was much easier to play along, acting as if nothing
had
happened and hope to survive long enough for Alice and Tom to leave for their honeymoon after the reception.
Sure,
it involved some evasiveness and lying, but she didn’t dare to think of the alternative option.

It was bad enough to think of Justin
being
somewhere here inside Tom’s family mansion, helping the groom to get ready for the big moment. He had arrived earlier,
but l
uckily Alice was already very busy, too busy to ask questions as
to
why they
didn’t
arrive together or why
Kate hadn’t gone
to
see him right away. Kate had
feared
that playing the
I-
had
-
to
-
stay
-
with
-M
om card might not go down well with her inquisitive sister.
Alice had
swallowed
Kate’s
hazy explanation of Justin being
extremely
busy at work and her weak joke about making up for lost time later.
Not that she had to worry
about
him
trying to get
in touch. If the last week was any indication of how he felt, she could rest assured he didn’t want to see her.

When Alice and Tom return
ed
from their month in
the
Bahamas, Justin would be long gone to his Algerian project, saving her the difficulty
of coming
up with more excuses. And if she
were
lucky, her application for another job in Sidney might be
already
approved
,
as well. It helped that she had
two
year
s’
experience back there, the unexpected opening a blessing in this horrible time.

A knock on the door and a cheerful ‘
Time
to come out, Ally’ interrupted her unhappy musing
. Her
stepfather’s head
appeared
in the crack
of the opened door
. Tall, blond
,
and perpetually cheerful, he grinned with affection at the trio, his pride in Alice and the rest of his women
,
as he called them
,
unmistakable. In his impeccable tuxedo
,
he looked truly impressive, his gentle eyes misting over as he looked at the bride
-
to
-
be.

‘I’ve always wanted to have a daughter to give away,’ he admitted in his slight
Dutch
accent, his blue eyes merry. ‘Today I get my first shot at it.’ He
winked
at
Kate, the hint very transparent.

She could hardly tell him
he would wait
a long time for
that
to happen, if ever. So
,
she smiled brilliantly, picking up her small
,
round bouquet
e
xactly the same as Alice’s, the only differen
ce being
the color of the flowers. While the bridal bouquet had both white and pink roses, hers was purely white, the half
-
unfolded petals exquisitely scented
and absolutely
perfect.

They walked down the elaborately decorated staircase, Kate’s heart beating like
the
wings of a trapped bird. She knew the drill, having practiced it twice already
, the second time
with
Justin’s absence weighing on her mood. They would walk across the large main room to the waiting car taking
them
to the church. It was a bit unusual for the bride to start her journey from her groom’s house, but Alice called it her peace offering for his family, the clan mollified with this added touch of importance.
Tom would be waiting at the church, while his family and friends arrived with the bride.
T
he church was just a stone
’s
throw from their property, making it a short and uneventful ride.

She walked
ahead of
Alice and her stepdad, listening to the oohs and aahs that followed their appearance on the top landing. Even Tom’s mom had tears in her eyes, her enraptured face softened into a smile. In a rush of activity,
Kate
found herself in the car, sharing the comfortable back seat with Sophie and a young man she introduced smugly as her boyfriend. The short ride gave them little opportunity to chat, for which
Kate
was very grateful. One look into
the
heavily made
-
up eyes of Tom’s sister told
Kate
she wasn’t forgiven for snatching away Justin. Boyfriend or not,
Sophie
was still harboring resentment that couldn’t be mollified with
Kate’s
attempts to
compliment
her dress and rather dramatic hat.

So
,
it was with relief that
Kate
welcomed the stately
Jaguar
slowing
down
; she was
eager to escape the stuffy interior and hostile company.

She st
ood
next to
Alice, the music from the dim interior of the church making her teeth chatter in nervous premonition. She knew who would be there, standing at the altar like
a
Templar knight, somber and remote. The moment of seeing him couldn’t be post
poned any longer,
not with Pachelbel’s
Canon
rising and falling in a dramatic crescendo.

So she walked on, aware of the many eyes resting on her, assessing her every move. It might be her sister’s big day, but she had to play her part the best she could, making it her contribution to the celebration.

The church was way too small and the walk to the altar too short, she thought, the distance shrinking frighteningly with each step. She kept her eyes
looking straight ahead,
her feet moving automatically as she tried to calm her frantic heartbeat. It would be rather pathetic if she
were
to faint at her sister’s wedding, the jitters reserved for the bride and groom.

One cautious glance let her see Tom waiting at the altar, his broad
-
shouldered, tall silhouette making her think of Prince Charming. She forced her eyes to stay focused
on
him, his smiling
,
open face soothingly simple. Next to him was another man, even taller and more impressive,
his dark tuxedo and snow-white shirt making the best of the strong, elegant lines of his perfect body. She let her eyes glide over him briefly, returning to Tom before she could really focus on anything but the fact
that Justin
looked even better than in her memories.

Finding her spot at the side kept her busy for a moment, as she watched her stepdad kiss Alice and hand her over to Tom. He walked back to his seat at her mom’s side, his face moved and proud at the same time. She saw her mom press his hand as they sat together, the small
moment of
shared intimacy telling of their loving relationship. Her throat tightened as she realized how much she wished she would be able to share this bond with someone
special
who would love her and support her
through
thick and thin. Someone like…

She let her eyes stray to the man standing on the
opposite
side of their small gathering, their eyes meeting
across
the space. Horrified as she might be, she was unable to look away, the
ir
week apart weakening her resolve to remain remote.