But now, years later, she knew how wrong she’d been. Marrying Kent had brought her more under the control of the families—and made her more unhappy.
It had taken her a few moments to adjust to the transition and she heard Kathy’s voice in her head, telling her what she needed to do was run away. She sent a bridesmaid to get the limo driver to come to her. He said that yes, her bags for the honeymoon were in the trunk, and he’d been told to take the newly wedded couple to a nearby hotel. There wasn’t to be a honeymoon as Kent couldn’t be away from work for long. Elise gave the driver a check for five grand and told him that in about an hour she wanted him to drive just her to the airport. He smiled as if this kind of thing happened all the time, and said he’d be glad to. She’d then booked a one-way flight to Bangor, Maine, on her cell phone.
After he left, her heart was pounding, but she was also exhilarated. She was going to do it! She looked at her left hand. No wedding ring. On impulse, she asked one of the girls where Carmen’s room was, making it sound like she truly cared about the help. Cared enough to strangle her, she thought, but kept smiling. When the girls didn’t giggle or exchange knowing looks, Elise was relieved. At least it didn’t seem as though they knew about Kent and Carmen.
It was only by accident that Elise found out that the limo driver had betrayed her. Just as she was about to leave for her triumphant scurry out of the church, one of the bridesmaids burst into the room saying that there had been a bomb threat. They all came to a halt. The girl had reached the conclusion that there was a bomb because Elise’s father had called a security company and they’d come quickly.
“There are men with guns standing in front of the church doors. And you should see the limo! There’s a guard in the front seat and one in the back. And I just saw two more security men waiting for the elevator. I think they’re coming up here.”
For a moment, Elise’s heart seemed to stop. When it began again, it was in her throat.
Think! she told herself. What would Olivia do? She wouldn’t stand for this! Elise thought. She’d probably say she wasn’t going to—
Okay, Elise thought, I’m not Olivia and never will be. But she knew of one place where it was guaranteed that no one would look for her.
Turning, she smiled at her bridesmaids and said that she’d like to be alone for a while. “To pray,” she added, knowing that that would clear them out quickly.
She closed the door behind them, waited about two minutes, then opened it and ran out. There were some hotel guests in the hall who ooohed and aahhed at the bride in her big white dress. Elise grabbed all forty pounds of the skirt and hit the stairs just as the elevator dinged.
Kent had rented his pregnant mistress a suite at the top of the hotel. No doubt he’d told Carmen that he needed her there. That he couldn’t get through the wedding to the bland Elise without the lusty, fiery Carmen nearby. Oh yes, if people were looking for Elise, the last place they’d look was in Carmen’s room.
She pounded on the door harder. What if Carmen was gone? What if—?
Finally, Carmen opened the door. Her pretty face was nearly green with morning sickness and it got worse when she saw Elise. “What are you doing here?” Her voice was a sneer.
Elise pushed her way into the room. “I’m running away and you’re going to help me do it.” She shut the door behind her.
“I’m just the gardener’s sister,” Carmen said. “I can’t—”
Elise glared at Carmen’s stomach. “Do you really want to go that way? You want to turn me over to them so I can marry your boyfriend?”
Carmen’s only reaction to that revelation was a couple of blinks. She put the chain on the door. “Your father called in men with guns. You’re in a lot of trouble.”
When Elise sat down on the bed, the dress billowed up so high that she got a mouthful of it. Sputtering, she said, “I’m not going to be bullied into a marriage that I don’t want.”
The green look was beginning to clear from Carmen’s face, and for the first time Elise thought of it from her side. She was here to attend the wedding of a man whose child she was carrying. Elise’s voice softened. “I need to borrow some clothes and you have to help me find a way to get out of here.”
Carmen’s lips tightened. “My clothes won’t fit you.” She gave a pointed look at Elise’s much flatter chest.
“You’re going to be catty now?” Elise said. “Really?”
Carmen gave a shrug, as though it didn’t matter what she did. For a moment, they stared at each other. Then Carmen picked up her cell and called her brother. She told him, in Spanish, that he needed to come to the hotel right away, that it was an emergency. She listened, then hung up.
“My brother will be here soon,” Carmen said. Neither her eyes nor her voice had softened. She was still looking at Elise as though she were the enemy. Not Kent, who was playing the women against each other, but Elise.
She started to say she’d heard the call, but it dawned on Elise that this was years earlier. No one knew that she’d learned to speak Spanish. Nor did anyone know that she and Alejandro were friends. The first time around, they didn’t meet until after she was married. “So Diego is coming for me?” she asked.
“No. He’s out of town. My younger brother, Alejandro, will be here as soon as he can, but it’ll be at least an hour. He’s one of the men who’s been working at your father’s house for a month.” She looked Elise up and down in contempt. “If you plan to sneak out, you need to change now. My brother has to work for a living. He doesn’t have all day to wait for you.”
Elise was trying to steady herself as she grasped the facts. Alejandro was coming for her!
She turned away from Carmen, pointed to the buttons down the back of the dress, and reluctantly, Carmen began unfastening them. When the dress was unbuttoned, Elise managed to step out of the thing and let it drop to the floor. She was glad she’d worn her yoga pants.
Reverently, Carmen picked the dress up and put it on the bed.
As Elise took a robe off a chair, she looked at the way Carmen was smoothing the dress. It was as though she was imagining her own wedding. Softly, Elise said, “What is it that you like about Kent?”
Carmen didn’t turn around, and when she spoke, her voice was quiet. “He makes me laugh. He’s generous, always doing things for me.” She straightened her shoulders, then turned to look at Elise. “And the sex is great.”
Elise stifled the hurt that she felt. “He sounds like he is truly in love with you.”
“Yes, he is. And I’m in love with him.”
Elise nodded toward the dress on the bed. “It must have hurt to see him planning his wedding to marry me.”
Carmen grit her teeth. “I wanted to kill you. No offense.”
“None taken.” Elise went into the bathroom and closed the door. For a moment she leaned against it and tears came to her eyes. Generosity, laughter, fabulous sex. She’d seen none of those in the years she’d been married to Kent.
She pushed away from the door and wiped her eyes. What was wrong with her? Why couldn’t she just stand up to all of them? Why couldn’t she look into her mother’s eyes and say she was not going to marry Kent? Not going to spend her life with a man who didn’t love her?
But then what? Elise had no money. She had a useless education that had prepared her for being a wife to an executive. She’d studied art and poetry, and done lots of exercise to keep herself fit. If she defied her parents, she knew of no one who’d risk their wrath to take her in until she could get on her feet. And that thought terrified her. What could she do?