Chapter 2 - The Girl Who Pointed Toward the GardenThe grandfather clock in the entrance hall struck three.
One hour until the ceremony.
Inside Rosemere House, musicians rehearsed a string arrangement while caterers hurried between the kitchen and the reception terrace. Florists carried fresh arrangements of white peonies through corridors polished to a mirror shine.
The wedding continued preparing itself around Sarah, indifferent to the fact that its bride had just accused her sister of burying a missing dress.
Martin recovered first.
"Everyone needs to calm down."
His voice carried the same gentle authority he had used throughout Sarah's childhood.
He looked toward the wedding coordinator.
"Please tell the musicians we're running a little behind."
Then he turned toward Martha.
"Take Harper upstairs. She must be tired."
"No," Sarah said.
Martin stopped.
The word had come out more sharply than she intended.
Sarah drew Harper closer.
"She stays with me."
Victoria folded her arms.
"Sarah, she's five. Children imagine things."
Harper's lower lip trembled.
"I didn't imagine it."
Sarah knelt beside her.
"Sweetheart, can you tell me exactly what you saw?"
Harper glanced toward Victoria, then returned her attention to her mother.
"I was looking for my pink bunny."
"Your stuffed bunny?"
Harper nodded.
"I thought I left him by the flowers. Aunt Victoria was outside. She had a big bag."
"What kind of bag?"
"Green. The rain kind."
"A waterproof bag?"
"I think so."
Sarah waited.
Her daughter looked toward the garden doors.
"She put something white inside it. Then she put the little wooden box in the hole."
Sarah's pulse quickened.
"Did you see my wedding dress?"
Harper considered the question seriously.
"I saw white stuff. Like your dress."
"Did you see the whole dress?"
The girl shook her head.
"No. It was folded."
Victoria gave a triumphant little exhale.
"There. You see?"
But Sarah barely heard her.
"And how did you know it was Daddy's box?"
Harper's eyes brightened.
"It had the blue bird!"
Sarah stared.
A blue bird.
Luke's missing box had been made of dark cedar, with a small brass clasp and a painted blue swallow on the lid.
Sarah remembered it vividly.
Six years earlier, Luke had insisted the box mattered.
He had searched every storeroom and questioned every wedding employee.
After it disappeared, Martin had accused him of exaggerating the loss of an ordinary wooden keepsake.
But Harper had not been born when the box vanished.
"How do you know about the bird?" Sarah asked.
"Daddy showed me the picture."
"When?"
"Tuesday. When we made my family book."
Sarah remembered that afternoon. Luke had helped Harper prepare a scrapbook for kindergarten, with photographs of grandparents, birthdays, and family weddings.
Apparently, he had included a photograph of the cedar box.
Martin stepped forward.
"Sarah, your daughter has clearly mixed together two stories."
Harper pressed closer to her mother.
"I didn't."
"Nobody is calling you a liar, princess," Martin assured her.
Yet the warmth in his voice sounded strangely rehearsed.
Sarah rose.
"Then nobody should have a problem looking in the garden."
Victoria stiffened.
"You're not seriously going to dig up the flower beds because of something a child said."
"The soil is already disturbed."
"Gardeners work here every day!"
"Then we'll find ordinary gardening soil."
Martin placed a hand on Sarah's shoulder.
"You're getting married in an hour."
"And my dress is missing."
"Let the staff search for it."
Sarah looked from her father to Victoria.
For the first time, their concern felt coordinated.
Two people approaching a problem from different directions, but moving toward the same conclusion.
Stop asking questions.
Before she could respond, a familiar voice came from the doorway.
"Sarah?"
Owen Hale stood at the entrance.
At thirty-four, Owen was tall and quietly handsome, with dark hair, warm gray eyes, and the awkward expression of a groom who had been told he absolutely must not see his bride before the wedding.
He wore a charcoal suit with a white rose pinned to the lapel.
"Someone said there was a problem."
Sarah almost cried at the sight of him.
Owen had entered her life two years after her divorce, when she was still convinced marriage was something other people managed successfully.
He had been patient with her fear of promises.
Patient with Harper.
Patient with the painful silences whenever Luke's name came up.
Now he crossed the hallway and took Sarah's hands.
"Tell me."
"My dress is missing."
Owen looked genuinely shocked.
"What?"
"Harper says Victoria buried it."
His gaze shifted toward the older sister.
Victoria looked away.
"That's ridiculous," she said.
Owen did not argue.
Instead, he crouched beside Harper.
"Hey, peanut. Did something scare you outside?"
Harper shook her head.
"Aunt Victoria didn't see me."
Sarah noticed Victoria's fingers tighten around her handbag.
"Where were you?" Owen asked.
"Behind the big flower pot."
"The one beside the conservatory?"
Harper nodded.
"I wasn't hiding. I was looking for Bunny."
Owen stood.
"Then I'd like to look at the garden."
Martin's jaw tightened.
"Owen, you've got guests arriving. Let us handle a family matter."
Owen's response was quiet.
"I'm marrying into this family, Martin."
For a long moment, the two men stared at each other.
Then Martin smiled.
"Of course."
But Sarah noticed that his smile never reached his eyes.
Martha remained by the side table, wringing her hands.
Sarah approached her.
"You've worked here almost twenty years. You know every room in this house. Have you seen my dress?"
Martha hesitated.
"No, Miss Sarah."
"Have you seen Victoria outside?"
Another pause.
"I saw her coming in through the conservatory."
"When?"
"Shortly before two."
Sarah looked at Victoria.
Her sister had told her she spent the entire afternoon arranging flowers in the ballroom.
Victoria's cheeks colored.
"I went outside for some air."
"With a waterproof bag?"
"Sarah—"
"Yes or no?"
Victoria said nothing.
Harper tugged Sarah's robe again.
"Mommy?"
Sarah looked down.
"Yes, sweetheart?"
"The bird on the box was blue."
"I know."
Harper swallowed.
"But Aunt Victoria was crying when she buried it."
Sarah went still.
She looked across the hall.
For the first time, her sister's carefully arranged face seemed to crack.
May you like
And Victoria whispered something Sarah almost missed.
"He wasn't supposed to find it."
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