Paper Promise: The Substitute Bride - Chapter 8: Chapter 8

I looked down at my new shoes as I walked, at which point I remembered my mother, an excellent dancer who always told me that a woman should never look at the ground while walking.
I instinctively lifted my chin.
At the top of the stairs, I saw the room full of guests, bankers, politicians, and some artists. I needed to stay calm.
“Breathe in. Breathe out. Don’t show fear,” I repeated softly, holding onto the banister tighter than I intended.
Margareth looked at me in surprise and came over to me.
“Laura, you look wonderful,” said Margareth, her eyes scanning my dress with an admiration that I couldn’t decipher whether it was genuine or rehearsed.
“Thank you,” I replied, nervously adjusting the bracelet on my wrist. “I’m so nervous I can hardly breathe.”
She moved closer, the scent of jasmine invading the space between us. “Where’s my brother?”
I looked away to disguise my discomfort.
“In his room... that room.” The words came out loaded with meaning that only the two of us understood.
“Come and receive the guests with me; Mom is very busy,” she commanded softly, entwining her arm in mine with an intimacy that caught me off guard.
I could never decipher Margareth completely. Her behavior towards me was unpredictable - at times as sweet as honey on a summer’s afternoon, at others as acidic as pure lemon on an open wound. This inconstancy kept me constantly on my toes, like a wild animal sensing a trap.
She guided me through the hall with the grace of someone born to navigate these social seas. The guests parted to let us pass, some bowing slightly, others just watching with that ill-concealed curiosity of high society.
“This is Frederick Miller,” announced Margareth, stopping in front of a tall man with brown hair and piercing eyes that seemed to absorb every detail in my appearance.
I was acutely aware of everyone watching, judging my every action, waiting for me to fail and reveal my inadequacy.
“Nice to meet you, Frederick,” I managed to say, holding out my hand with a firmness I didn’t feel internally.
He held my hand longer than was appropriate.
“James is truly a lucky man,” he declared with a smile that revealed perfectly aligned teeth, ”to have found such a rare gem.”
“Hey,” Margareth warned him, her tone light but her eyes suddenly sharp as blades.
Frederick laughed, releasing my hand to wrap around Margareth’s waist in a possessive gesture.
“But I’m more,” he whispered, pulling her close in a hug that subtly broke the decorum of the room.
At that moment, all the pieces fell into place. The way they looked at each other, the familiarity of their touches, and the tension; Frederick wasn’t just another important guest - he was Margareth’s new boyfriend. And, for the first time that night, I realized that perhaps I wasn’t the only one under some kind of trial.
“Laura, my dear,” my mother-in-law called me. “Come and meet the senator. He’s been a prominent supporter of the family business for decades.”
“Senator, this is Laura, James’ wife.”
The senator, shaking my hand with surprising force, replied, “It’s a pleasure to meet you at last. You look a lot like your mother.”
“Did you know my mother?”
“I didn’t know her personally, but I saw a few of her shows, an excellent dancer.”
While we were talking about the weather and the latest exhibition at the city museum, my eye caught a familiar movement at the far end of the hall. James, in his impeccably tailored suit, entered discreetly through a side door. He wasn’t alone. A woman in an emerald green dress accompanied him - her red hair fell down her bare back.
The image made my stomach clench.
“Excuse me,” I muttered, interrupting the senator’s wife in the middle of a story about her trip to Paris. “I need to check something in the kitchen.”
I couldn’t explain why I followed James. Maybe it was the way his fingers brushed the woman’s back as he led her out, or maybe it was the smile she threw over her shoulder - too intimate, too sexy.
I crossed the hall with measured steps, avoiding prying eyes. The garden at the back of the mansion was a maze of perfectly trimmed flowers and water fountains. The moonlight illuminated the stone path where I finally spotted them, partially hidden by a tree.
“Don’t make a fuss here,” James said, his voice tense and low. I’d never seen him like this; his face contorted in an expression that mixed fear and anger. “This is neither the time nor the place.”
The woman raised her chin in defiance, her eyes glistening with restrained tears.
“Everyone will know, including my father. Do you think you can just leave me like this, after everything you promised me?”
“Stay calm, please,” he begged.
I stood paralyzed, feeling the blood leave my face.
I stood in the shadows, my body frozen as I tried to comprehend the scene unfolding in front of me. The woman stepped forward, eliminating the space between her and James.
“You said you’d end the marriage after a week,” she whispered in a trembling voice. “You said it was just a formality to please your parents. It was an old debt.”
James ran a hand through his dark hair - the nervous gesture I knew so well. “Annie, please. Things are complicated.”
“Complicated?” His laugh was bitter as gall. “You call sleeping in my bed for two years while planning to marry someone else complicated?”
“I can’t get divorced now.”
“Why don’t you want to divorce her?”
My heart seemed to stop. The air left my lungs as her words hit me like physical blows.
“Lower your voice,” James hissed, grabbing her wrist. “There’s business at stake that you don’t understand.”
I was so nervous that I overbalanced and made a noise.
“Laura...” James paled at the sight of me. His eyes, always so sure, now showed panic.
“Sorry, I didn’t mean to... I’ll be right out.”
“So this is Laura,” said the woman, her gaze slowly assessing me. There was no anger in her voice, just a deep sadness. “The perfect bride for the perfect family. I’m Annie.”
I didn’t know what to do or what to say. But I greeted her by shaking her hand in a sign of peace.