Chapter 4 - Sabine Calls
Sabine called at 8:12 that night.
Not Cordelia.
Sabine.
I put her on speaker with Elowen.
“I have something you need to see.”
“What?”
“A second seating chart.”
I looked at Elowen.
Sabine continued:
“And the photography schedule.”
“What photography schedule?”
Silence.
Then:
“You don’t know.”
“No.”
“That’s what I thought.”
Sabine had been helping Olivia with wedding logistics for three months.
She was not the planner.
She was the bridesmaid who solved things when professionals became overloaded.
At 6:20 that morning, Sabine arrived at Hartwell House.
She found Cordelia already there.
Why?
Cordelia had always treated family events as military invasions requiring pre-dawn command.
She was standing beside the planner’s table with printed materials.
Sabine assumed she was helping.
Then she saw Cordelia remove Bram’s place card.
Sabine asked:
“What are you doing?”
Cordelia answered:
“Fixing the sight lines.”
Sabine thought she meant photographers.
She did.
Cordelia moved Bram to a small table behind the main tent.
Sabine objected.
Cordelia said:
“He’ll have more room there.”
Sabine pointed out that Bram’s assigned spot already had extra clearance.
Cordelia replied:
“Not enough for what we need.”
What did they need?
Sabine did not know.
Then she saw a printed photography schedule.
Not from Olivia’s photographer.
From another company.
Hartwell House Brand Studio.
Our family hospitality business.
I sat straighter.
“What does the family business have to do with Julian’s wedding?”
May you like
Sabine answered:
“Apparently more than Julian knows.”
