Chapter 1

Where I'm from, every wedding car flies six lengths of red silk.

If those ribbons stay whole from the start of the day until the reception is over, it means the marriage will be a happy one.

But on our wedding day, I had just brought my fiancée back and stopped in front of my house when her childhood friend suddenly threw himself over the car and tore off the length of red silk from the front.

I moved to stop him at once, but Carmen Hughes caught my arm. "Don't you remember? When you were little you were always taking Morton James's things. You even took a red cape off him once."

"He's just making you give it back now, and borrowing a little luck while he's at it. Don't be so petty."

Morton held up the red silk and shrugged at me. "Actually, Carmen and I had a bet going about whether you'd get mad over something this small."

"See? It's nothing, is it."

I was shaking with anger. "But that's the wedding car! The wedding isn't over yet. How can you tear the silk off it?!"

Carmen's face went sour in an instant. "So what if it's the wedding car? It's not going to stop being the wedding car just because it's missing one piece of red cloth."

"It's one length of red cloth. Do you really have to yell at Morton like that?!"

With that, she pulled the rest of the red silk off herself and handed it to him. "If you like it, tie all of it to your car. He owes you anyway."

Something about it struck me as absurd. I lowered my head and made a call to another woman. "Can you get a wedding car with red silk ready within thirty minutes and send someone over?"

"We're getting married. I'll come collect the bride shortly."

...

Those top-grade red silk ribbons were something only Marilyn Butler had in this whole city, and the ones on the wedding car had come from her too, a wedding gift.

Morton pulled up to his own car and tied all the silk in his hands onto it. "Carmen, doesn't this look good?"

The bridesmaids beside her never minded stirring the pot. "Now there are two wedding cars! Carmen's got two of them!"

The laughter swelled up at once. "Two grooms, two grooms!"

I hung up the phone and looked at Carmen, but she wasn't the least bit angry, and she didn't deny it either.

Carmen smiled and teased Morton. "You? A groom?"

"Back in the old days you'd be a live-in houseboy at best!"

The bridesmaids around them were still egging it on. "Same thing. A live-in husband gets a bit of everything anyway!"

Morton walked back over and gave Carmen a light punch on the arm. "Oh please, do I look like some houseboy?"

Then he cut a sideways glance at me. "The red silk is on my car now. Who the houseboy is here is still up for debate!"

Carmen half raised a hand and pushed him off, but she was laughing. "Fine, fine, fine, it's not you, it's not you. Happy now?"

Morton couldn't hold back the grin. "Frederick Harding, we're just joking around. Carmen says you're big enough not to let it bother you!"

Carmen turned her head toward me. "Frederick, you know how Morton is. I'll deal with him later, I'll teach him a lesson!"

The bridesmaids tittered again. Roughhousing like this was old news to all of them.

I couldn't help remembering how the three of us had been the closest playmates as kids, before Morton's family emigrated abroad.

Later, when he heard Carmen and I had gotten engaged, he came back.

The moment he was back, he started turning up at our place for no reason at all.

Sometimes he even found excuses to stay the night, saying he was only there to mooch off us for food, drink, and a bed.

Right up to the wedding, Carmen shot down every other groomsman I suggested. It had to be Morton.

Carmen and I had fought over it more than once, and every time she said I was born too sensitive, couldn't take a single joke, always ruining the mood.

I told myself we were already at the point of getting married. Let it go.

But now, I wasn't going to keep lying to myself.

As my thoughts came back to me, I was about to speak when I heard footsteps behind me. It was my mother.

She hurried up, asking anxiously, "What happened here? How did the red silk from the wedding car end up on Morton's car?"

Her voice climbed higher and higher. "Do you people know the custom around here? The red silk on the lead car ties in the luck of the marriage."

"All the way until the wedding ends tonight, losing even one length is bad luck!"

"This is a big day. Who told them they could tear this silk off?!"

The scene fell quiet for a moment. Everyone was looking at Morton.

Carmen shrugged and spoke with a smile. "Ma'am, when Frederick was little he took Morton's red cloth. Morton's just getting it back now, that's all. It's no big deal."

My mother went blank for a second, and then her face flushed deep red. "What on earth are you talking about?"

"Do you even know why Frederick took that red cloth back then?!"

"Morton was ten that year. A strange woman came up and coaxed him with a red cape, and he was about to climb into her car with her!"

"If Frederick hadn't run over and snatched that cape away, hadn't dragged him off by force, Morton would have been abducted. Do any of you understand that?!"

Morton's brow creased. "Ma'am, don't go painting everyone as rotten just because your own family is."

"She was my friend. She just thought I was cute and wanted me to be her little cape superhero, and Frederick insisted she was a bad person."

Someone nearby murmured, "Right, how many child traffickers are there really?"

"Frederick just didn't get a cape of his own, so he got jealous and made the whole thing up."

My mother was so angry her hands shook. She stepped forward quickly, reaching for the red silk on the car. "Stop this! Give it back, now!"

Seeing that, Morton hurried forward too.

But after deliberately slamming into my mother, he let himself fall backward first.

"Morton!" Carmen rushed over, and her arm shoved my mother hard out of the way.

My mother stumbled into the flower stand and then dropped to the ground, her wrist hitting the pavement with a dull thud.

The whole place went silent for a second.

"Mom!" I ran over and pulled her up. Her wrist was already starting to swell, and she was in too much pain to speak.

Carmen didn't so much as glance over. She bent down to check whether Morton was hurt.

Seeing that Morton was perfectly fine, Carmen turned her head and said to my mother, "Don't think that just because you're the groom's mother today, you can do whatever you want!"

"Morton is a guest I invited, and you raised a hand to a guest. Is that the kind of manners your family has?"

My heart went cold to the core. I drew a deep breath. "Yes! My mother isn't lucky enough to be your mother-in-law."

"The red silk on the wedding car is gone, and this wedding is off too!"