Chapter 3

Six days out from the Black Harbor wedding, Alexander, Nathan, and Julian owed me three dates we had already set.

After Vivian's breakdown cut my birthday party short, Alexander had promised to come to my fitting for the winter charity ball. Nathan had promised to check the old injury in my hand. Julian had booked the entire observatory and promised to give me a second birthday celebration. Every one of those invitations had come from them.

Monday morning I arrived at the dress studio on time. The tailor pinned the hem into place, and I stood in front of the full-length mirror for a solid forty minutes. Alexander never appeared.

In the end, his assistant called. "Mr. Grant gave your appointment to your sister, Vivian. She has never attended a formal public ball, and he felt she needed the practice in front of the cameras more than you did."

I looked down at the unfinished silver-gray gown. At seventeen, at my first charity dinner, I was so afraid of the reporters' cameras that nothing on earth would get me out of the car. Alexander canceled an important meeting on the eve of a trial and sat quietly in that car with me for two full hours. He told me then that if something involved me, it was always a priority.

Now he had his assistant pass along a message. "You'll have countless more chances."

That afternoon I went to Nathan's private clinic. Every winter the old injury in my hand flared up, and no matter how busy he was, he had always kept a follow-up slot open for me. But the nurse stopped me at the door and told me the only opening had been given to Vivian. "Vivian started having trouble breathing after Black Harbor requested a medical exam before the wedding. Dr. Cole is with her."

I texted Nathan: "At least give me a heads-up." Twenty minutes later, he replied with a single sentence: "Your hand isn't an emergency. Reschedule it yourself."

At six that evening, I reached the observatory right on time. Julian had said he would make up for the moon he had failed to give me at the party. The staff knew me, and one of them said with a smile that he usually came an hour early to adjust the lights, but tonight he still hadn't shown up.

At seven exactly, a message finally came from Julian's phone. The zipper on Vivian's gown had jammed during her fitting, bringing back a memory of being locked in a storage locker at a foster home, and she had broken down sobbing. Alexander and Nathan were already on their way, and he had to be there too.

He ended the message with, "Go home alone tonight. You could use some practice being independent."

After he sent it, he turned his phone off.

I sat in the empty viewing hall and watched the staff shut off the bright lights one by one. The venue manager came to tell me they were closing and couldn't help asking, "Where is Mr. Vale? What about the others? In past years, they'd spend a whole day setting up even if you only stayed half an hour."

"They have someone else who needs them more."

The moment I said it, I realized I had gotten very good at making excuses for them.

Back at the estate, all three of them were posted outside Vivian's bedroom. She was wrapped in a blanket, her eyes swollen, and she stood up the second she saw me. "I'm sorry. I'll give the gown back to you, and I'll make Julian take you to the observatory again. It's all my fault."

I didn't take the dress box she held out. I looked straight at the three men. "Why didn't a single one of you tell me beforehand?"

"There, she's doing it again." Vivian's fingers shook harder. "I really can be the one to go. I don't want to come between you and Evelyn."

Alexander stepped forward, put himself in front of Vivian, and stopped her from apologizing any further. "Evelyn, don't force her to have a breakdown just to earn your forgiveness."

"I'm confronting you three, not her."

"She has six days left in this house." Nathan's voice was heavy with exhaustion. "Your hand can be looked at next week, the gown can be fitted again, and we can reschedule your birthday celebration."

Julian rubbed at his temple. "You're not a child. You shouldn't need one broken promise after another to confirm how we feel about you."

I stood there and looked at them. I had never been fighting over the time they spent with Vivian. What I couldn't understand was why they couldn't spare me even one simple heads-up. But as long as Vivian was shaking, every question I asked would be twisted into an attack.

I turned and walked away. At the end of the corridor, I heard Alexander lower his voice to the other two. "Until the engagement is settled, no more coddling Evelyn. We agreed: anyone who gives in is just letting her keep mistreating Vivian."

Nathan was quiet for a moment. "She'll be angry."

"She'll sulk for a few days and get over it," Julian said. "Evelyn could never bring herself to leave us for real."

Once, if I had heard them talking about me behind my back, I would have pushed the door open and made them say it to my face. But that night I stood at the end of the corridor, listened to the whole thing, and went back to the Winter House.

They thought I was still waiting for one of them to give in first. But I never wanted to set foot in that shared room of theirs again.