The women around her laughed too.
Claire didn’t.
“I thought you should know,” she said.
“Why?”
There was a long pause.
“Because my mom doesn’t have money either.”
That answer stayed with me.
A second recording came from Susan’s sister, Megan.
She didn’t send it directly.
Michael did.
At least, I eventually learned that he did.
At the time, Robert only told me another piece of documentation had been received.
In it, Susan sat at lunch with her mother and sister, holding up a photo of the engagement frame I had given them.
**“She’s just cheap.”**
The third clip came from a voice message Susan had accidentally sent to a family group before deleting it.
Not before Michael saved it.
“I didn’t marry Michael to become a charity case for his pathetic mother.”
That one made me cry.
Not because of Susan.
Because Michael had heard it.
And he still planned to marry her.
Then came the final conversation.
The one I didn’t hear until the wedding.
The one where Susan stood over Michael and said:
“Your mother is becoming a real problem.”
Michael answered, “She’s doing her best.”
Susan snapped, **“She’s going to be our responsibility forever.”**
Robert had the file.
I didn’t ask where it came from.
Not then.
And now, sitting alone in the wedding parking lot, I knew exactly what Eleanor would have told me.
Watch what people do when there is nothing to gain.
My phone was already in my hand.
Robert answered on the second ring.
“Janice?”
“It’s time.”
He didn’t ask what had happened.
Maybe he heard something in my voice.
“Are you certain?”
I looked through the windshield at the chandeliers.
“Yes.”
“What do you want released?”
“Everything we discussed.”
There was a pause.
“That’s going to be dramatic.”
For the first time that evening, I smiled.
“Good.”
Fifteen minutes later, I walked back into the reception.
My lipstick was fixed.
My hands no longer shook.
A young waiter named Mateo met me near the service entrance.
“Mrs. Parker?”
