Ashley’s head snapped toward me. “Why would you put that in our wedding gift?”
“I needed to know if you’d make it right. Instead, you tried to hide it.”
Then I turned and walked toward the cake.
“Why would you put that in our wedding gift?”
I heard her heels clicking behind me, fast and angry.
“Where are you going? Hey. Hey!”
I reached the cart, found the little brake lever on the wheel, and flicked it up with my toe.
“What are you doing?” Ashley said.
I pushed the cart slowly across the dance floor, terrified that one bump would destroy Grandma’s work. Guests turned to watch.
“What are you doing?”
Ashley trailed me like an angry kite.
“Stop! Stop right now!”
I parked the cart beside my table and sat down.
“What the hell are you doing?” Ashley hissed.
“Well,” I said, “I paid for it. I thought I might as well enjoy it.”
“You can’t take the wedding cake!”
“Stop! Stop right now!”
“Grandma deserved to be paid. Since you refused, I paid her. This is my cake now.”
“It doesn’t work that way! It was made for my wedding!”
I picked up a spoon from the table setting. Turned it over in the light.
“Grandma’s cakes are superb. I’m sure this one will taste wonderful.”
I raised the spoon toward the frosting, nice and slow.
“This is my cake now.”
“Stop!” Ashley shrieked. “Don’t you dare!”
I stopped.
The spoon hovered an inch from the fondant. The whole room hovered with it.
“You’re petty!” Ashley said, loud enough that the back tables turned around. “You’re jealous! You’ve always hated me, and you’re doing this to ruin my wedding!”
I held the spoon steady.
“Don’t you dare!”
Ashley spun toward Daniel, who had followed us across the room, wearing the face of a man who’d walked into the wrong movie halfway through.
“Daniel! Do something! Make her apologize and put the cake back. Right now!”
Daniel looked between us. “Will someone tell me what’s going on?”
“Because Ashley promised to pay Grandma for the ingredients and her labor,” I said. “Then, after Grandma finished it, she refused.”
“Daniel! Do something!”
His brow furrowed.
“What? Ashley told me Grandma was making it as a wedding gift.” He turned to her. “Is that true?”
Ashley crossed her arms.
“Okay, fine. She mentioned she wanted money at first. But you don’t charge family for a wedding cake, Daniel. That’s ridiculous. And now your sister is making a huge spectacle over nothing.”
“Grandma didn’t want to spoil your wedding,” I said.
“Is that true?”
Daniel looked toward her table. She sat very still.
“Why did you pay her back yourself?” he asked quietly.
“She needed the money for her medication.”
Daniel turned to Ashley. “You knew she needed money for medicine?”
“Oh, please.” Ashley flapped a hand. “She was being dramatic.”
“When Grandma explained it,” I said, “Ashley laughed in her face.”
“You knew she needed money for medicine?”
Daniel looked at his wife. I’ll never forget it.
He was waiting. I could see him waiting, practically begging her to say that’s not what happened, or I didn’t understand, or even I’m sorry.
Ashley rolled her eyes to the ceiling.
“Oh, for God’s sake. She’s not going to die because she has to wait a few days for her medicine.”
I watched my brother’s face change.
I could see him waiting
Ashley kept talking, oblivious.
“And honestly, everyone’s watching, the photos are going to be ruined, and I can’t believe you’re all making such a huge deal out of…”
Daniel looked at Grandma again. She sat with her hands folded tight, trying so hard to seem fine. Her chin trembled once.
He looked back at Ashley.
Daniel looked at Grandma again.
“Enough of this,” he said.
Then he turned away from her and walked straight toward me.
My stomach dropped.
I thought, Here it comes. I’d wrecked his reception. He was going to tell me to get out.
Ashley thought the same thing. She sighed with relief.
“Thank you,” she said. “Finally. Somebody around here has some sense.”
“Enough of this,”
Daniel stopped beside my chair and held out his hand.
“Give me that.”
I looked down. The spoon. I’d forgotten I was still holding it.