Prologue
"Oh dear, what have I done?"
Madison Bellini lifted a white gloved hand to her chest.
Staring back at her in the floor-length antique mirror stood a woman on the precipice of marriage. And she was shaking her head at Madison in disbelief. She moved her gloved fingers up and over the pearl encrusted bodice to slide along the lump she felt growing in her throat. She was having difficulty breathing. The woman in the mirror seemed troubled as well. She tried to see what her reflection was trying to tell her and barely heard her mother's authoritative and condescending voice.
"Madison, stop that before you hyperventilate. Really, darling. And stop worrying your lip so. Don't you realize how lucky you are to be marrying Edward? Why, every girl in town is after that man."
"And most of them have had him." Madison almost did choke as she heard the mumbled reply from her best friend, Bethany.
"What was that, dear?" Her mother's tone held a sharp edge of warning.
"Um, she was agreeing with you, Mother."
"Hmm. Well, darling, I need to leave you with your ... friend. If I don't go and pry your father away from the mayor now, I'll have to walk you down the aisle. I swear those two are thick as thieves."
Maddy watched as the door swung wide and she glimpsed the multitude already filling the pews of the huge church. The lump grew.
As her mother closed the door, Madison tried to work a small breath around the boulder in her throat. Again, she peered at her reflection in the grand, full-length, brass mirror. Her pearl tiara matched the expensive necklace around her neck. The pearls sewn into her veil weighed a ton and caused her head to ache. Her satin shoes pinched and hurt her feet. The long, full, meringue-looking dress had cost her father almost ten thousand dollars. Blinking, she stared at herself. She looked just like a porcelain doll. So elegant and pretty, but breakable.
Her heart picked up speed. She was actually marrying Edward Theodore Von Housen III in a matter of minutes. Somewhere in the back of her mind, she always knew this day would come, but why did it have to be today? It was too pretty outside to be stuck inside this church with the cream of society, exchanging wedding vows to a man who no longer held any reverence for her. Had he ever?
She thought hard, but not long. She knew the answer. She had gone out with him at her parents' behest. Since that day, their parents had become joined at the hip, or at least the hip pocket. It wasn't like she loved him, but marrying him was now expected. Edward had serious problems keeping his pants on at the country club and it had earned him the nickname Ready Teddy. He wasn't even her type. Their marriage though, was good for both her father's company and Edward Senior's.
Instead of the nervous fluttering a bride should feel, she swallowed hard against the anxiety that churned inside her stomach. Her breathing became ragged and she realized it wasn't nervousness at all that plagued her. It was dread.
"You look flushed, Maddy. Are you okay?"
"I don't think so."
Again she stared at the face of the porcelain doll in the mirror. Soon, the door would open and her father would come to escort her to Ready Teddy . Once more, she asked herself what she was doing. She watched as her friend Bethany furrowed her brows.
"Maddy, this isn't about Sophia, is it? I mean, that was two days ago and it was a bachelor party. Things get crazy at bachelor parties."
"It isn't the bachelor party, Beth."
"Good. Now turn around so I can adjust your veil. It's slipping."
Again, the young woman staring back from the reflection in the mirror seemed to be waiting for Maddy to do something about this situation.
But what?
"Beth, I don't think he ... will be faithful."
"Surely, once you two are married..."
As Maddy lifted a perfect eyebrow in incredulity, her features and the one in the reflection finally matched.
"My feet hurt!" Maddy's sudden outburst brought everyone's attention to the satin shoes that she kicked from her slender feet. Bethany giggled, however Teddy's sister actually flipped her cell phone shut with a disgusted flick of her wrist.
"What do you think you are doing?"
Maddy heard the demand for an explanation from her future sister-in-law and spun back toward the anorexic, aloof bitch. Never a golden hair out of place, Celeste was a carbon copy of Teddy and represented all too well the cold, self-serving world Maddy was about to join hands with.
"Need I remind you that you are about to walk down the aisle in front of everyone who is anyone in Calgary in an Alfred Sung gown? Your feet can bleed for all I care. You cannot walk down that aisle barefoot!"
"Oh, don't worry, Celeste. I won't be barefoot." Maddy whirled back to the low bench, spotting her well-worn but cherished cowboy boots.
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