Chapter 2

His words pinned me where I stood.

Someone in the hall was calling out.

"Where's the groom? Come serve the tea!"

Otto turned quickly, pecked the side of my face, and answered aloud.

"Coming."

I hung back at the edge of the crowd, clutching that thick stack of envelopes.

When I opened it, inside were a hundred hundred-dollar bills and a single one-dollar bill.

The amount meant one in a million, the same premium the Hensons had given me with the ceremonial cash gift.

And now Otto had handed that exact same amount to Eugenia.

The sun outside was bright. It was summer, yet the cold soaked all the way through me.

In the hall, Mom and Dad sat in the seats of honor, satisfied smiles on their faces.

Otto passed Eugenia a cup of tea, warning her sweetly not to burn herself.

He tucked a soft cushion under her knees before he knelt down himself with the tea in his hands.

Every gesture was proper and considerate, nothing you could fault.

But watching now as an outsider, I finally saw that the way he treated me lacked the ease he had with Eugenia.

Like there was a pane of glass between us, invisible and unbreakable.

My aunt teased with a laugh.

"Eugenia really knows how to pick. Look how well this husband takes care of her."

Then she turned to look at me.

"Beth, you'd better step it up too."

I answered politely, and out of the corner of my eye I saw the proper smile on Otto's face dip a little.

"Beth's still young. There's no rush."

Everyone in the room burst out laughing.

"This new son-in-law is taking his sister-in-law's side before he's even through the door."

Dad laughed and waved it off too.

"Eugenia's the quiet type. Married off, and that's that."

"Beth's got a lively spirit. If she left the house, her mother and I would probably sit here and cry our eyes out together."

I froze in place, and suddenly I remembered the day I told them Otto had proposed.

There was no joy on their faces, no reluctance either, just flatness.

As if I hadn't said I was getting married, only that I was stepping out and would be back any minute.

"Decide the wedding details yourselves."

"Your dad and I don't have time, and we don't want to help."

Hearing the commotion, Eugenia poked her head out of her room and said she wanted to buy a new computer but couldn't make up her mind.

Dad immediately put on his reading glasses and went online to look things up.

From brand to specs, he checked every detail.

Mom took out her phone and wired her twenty thousand.

"Take this for now. Tell me if it's not enough."

I stood off to the side like a stranger who'd wandered in by accident.

Awkward and out of place.

That day I told Otto about it.

He wrapped his arms around me from behind, his chin resting on the top of my head.

"They treat a fish eye like it's a pearl."

"From now on, you only have to be my pearl, mine alone."

I naively believed him.

Only now do I know there was never anyone standing behind me.

No one in the room was a fool. They all heard the favoritism running under every word.

The pitying looks landed, one after another, on Eugenia.

Across the crowd she looked at me from far off, her back very straight.

She had never been me. She had no reason to feel any shame or loss under those looks.

The firecrackers went off, and the wedding motorcade got ready to set out.

Someone caught my arm.

I looked up. It was Otto.

He steered me into the front passenger seat of the lead car, shoving aside the spot meant for my friend.

"Why are you so quiet today?"

"That's not like you."

My fingers curled slightly, and I tossed off a lie without thinking.

I even made a point of mimicking Eugenia's spoiled tone.

"My hair got messed up. I'm in a bad mood."

Otto let out a laugh. "Such a princess."

Then, with a sweep of his hand, he brought the whole motorcade to a stop.