The door opened onto a narrow linen storeroom, and Andrew's life divided into before and after. Laura Mercer sat against a shelf of folded tablecloths. She was pale, barefoot, and shaking. A fabric sash had been tied around her wrists, and her phone lay smashed beside a trolley. She wore jeans, a faded blue sweater, and the yellow scarf Sophie had helped knit in kindergarten. Andrew recognized the small crooked stitches before he could accept the woman wearing it. “Laura?” She lifted her head. “Don't let Vivian take Sophie.”
Sophie slipped past him and fell against her mother. Laura tried to embrace her, but her wrists were bound. Andrew untied them with unsteady fingers. Beyond the door, Vivian said the whole situation was a misunderstanding and that Laura had arrived in a disturbed state. Andrew barely heard her. He remembered the last message he believed Laura had sent: I cannot do this anymore. Don't look for me. He remembered the calls that went unanswered, the letters returned to sender, the legal documents saying his wife had abandoned the family. Laura had vanished after their marriage collapsed. Now she was kneeling on a storeroom floor, asking whether Sophie was safe.
A catering worker named Teresa called hotel security. Andrew told her to call the police and an ambulance too. Vivian's face hardened. “You have no idea how much trouble that woman caused,” she said. Laura recoiled. Sophie clutched the yellow scarf with both hands. Andrew turned toward his fiancée. “Why did you know she was in here?” Vivian replied too quickly. “I didn't.” Teresa, standing near the service stairs, spoke quietly. “I saw you bring her down this corridor, ma'am.” Vivian stared at the employee as if she could make the words disappear.
Police arrived before the minister had finished explaining the delay to the guests. The officers separated everyone and preserved the room. Laura was examined by paramedics. Sophie remained with her father, asking again and again why somebody had locked Mommy away. Andrew could not offer an answer that would make sense to a child. When an officer asked for Vivian's account, she said she had attempted to protect the ceremony from an unstable former spouse. Yet Andrew noticed that she had not once expressed surprise at Laura's appearance. She had only wanted the door to remain closed.
At the hospital, Laura gave Andrew one more detail before exhaustion closed her eyes. “I didn't come to stop your wedding because I wanted you back,” she whispered. “I came because I found out what happened to the letters.” Andrew leaned closer. “What letters?” Laura looked toward Sophie, asleep in a chair, and answered, “The ones I wrote her every week.”