She Stood Between Us

On my wedding day, the groomsmen cornered me and my bridesmaids in the bridal suite. They yanked at my veil, searched the bridesmaids' skirts, and held their phones up to film it.

The emcee just smiled and coaxed me. "Our bride shouldn't look so tense. Today's your big day.

Nobody has a good time unless things get a little rowdy." Just as a hand reached for my strap again, a cold voice came from the doorway. "Touch her one more time.

Try it." The woman I'd always taken for one of the guys, while suspecting she had an agenda of her own, walked in and draped her suit jacket over my shoulders.

A second later she had that groomsman's wrist locked and twisted, and she pinned him facedown on the vanity. "Filthy hands.

If washing won't get them clean, we might as well cut them off." Chapter 1 Graham and I dated for four years.

Before the engagement, the person who bothered me most wasn't his mother, and it wasn't any ex of his. It was Royce. Royce was a friend Graham had grown up with.

She had a boy's name, and the personality to go with it. Buzz cut, cartilage piercing, black clothes yearround, a customized motorcycle for her profile picture.

The first time we met, she dropped her helmet on the table and lifted her chin at Graham. "DunDawg. You've been keeping her under wraps. It took the future Mrs.

Dunham being this pretty to get you to bring her out?" The whole table roared. I laughed too, back then. Later I couldn't. That crowd talked like there was no line anywhere.

Royce would text Graham and open with: [Where the hell'd you go?] [Come out and drink.] [Your girl keeping you on a short leash?] Once Graham left his phone on the couch, and I happened to see a picture come in from her.

It was Graham in high school, sprawled in the long jump pit at a track meet, a complete mess. Her caption: [The future Mrs.

Dunham should inspect the merchandise again before she signs. You weren't a bright kid.] Graham laughed out loud and held it up for me to see. I didn't laugh.

I said, "Could you two stop calling each other that stuff, back and forth all the time?" Graham blinked. "You mean Royce?" I hummed a yes.

He explained. "She's just like that, she grew up running with boys. Don't think of her as a woman. She's no different from the rest of us." That only made me more uncomfortable.

Once we got into planning the wedding, Royce was everywhere.

In the wedding group chat she was going back and forth with a few of the groomsmen about the part where the groom comes to get the bride.

Graham dropped in a line. [No crude jokes about the bride or the bridesmaids.] She came back with: [Copy that.

Anybody acts up, I hit them first.] Looking at that message, all I thought was that she was building herself an image. At the rehearsal she showed up in a sharply cut black suit.

A groomsman's suit. Not a bridesmaid's dress. She pinned the boutonniere to her lapel and took her place beside Graham, shoulders square, looking more the part than any of the men.

The smile on my face faded. She must have seen it. She came over with her hands in her pockets, and for once she sounded serious. "Future Mrs. Dunham.

You don't like me standing on this side?" I couldn't make a scene in front of everyone, so I said, "Whatever makes you happy." She looked at me for two seconds and left it alone.

That night at home, Graham and I had a fight.

Chapter 2 I asked him, "Why does she have to be one of your groomsmen?" Graham rubbed the space between his eyebrows. "She doesn't like dresses, and she doesn't want to be a bridesmaid.

She grew up with me.

I'm getting married, and she wants to stand on my side and see me off." "Elodie, she really isn't what you think." I laughed, cold. "And what do I think?" He had nothing.

I knew he didn't mean any harm. Graham was good to me. He put my name on the deed to the house.

The ring and all the wedding costs my parents brought up were handled exactly the way they wanted. And no decision about the wedding got made until I said yes to it first.

But the second it involved Royce, he decided I was reading too much into things. "She's like a guy." "She doesn't mean anything by it." "Don't overthink it." One line after another, like cotton.

They didn't hurt when they hit. They just packed in around me until I couldn't breathe. The night before the wedding, I lay in bed and couldn't sleep.

On my phone was the next day's schedule from the planning team. Six, hair and makeup. Eight, the groom comes up to the suite for the bride. Ten thirty, portraits outside.

Eleven thirty, ceremony walkthrough. Twelve, the ceremony. The whole day packed end to end.

I stared at the line that said door games, and something uneasy stirred in my chest for no reason I could name. Graham saw it and pulled me against him. "Don't worry.

I already told Torin and the rest of them. Anybody gets out of line tomorrow, I'm done with them." Torin Beaumont. Graham's college roommate.

The one among the groomsmen who loved stirring things up more than anyone. I frowned. "Isn't he the one who's always into that trashy stuff?" Graham's voice dropped. "I warned him.

Our wedding. Nobody makes you the joke." I nodded. But it never occurred to me that some people simply don't understand the word no. On the day, I was awake at four in the morning.

When the makeup artist came, I was already sitting in front of the mirror, my eyelids swollen, my heart pounding hard enough to come out of my chest.

My mom straightened my robe for me, smiling. "What's there to be nervous about? Today is your day." I wanted to tell myself the same thing. Today is my day.

But then the noise of the groomsmen started up outside the hotel suite, and it hit me that not everyone saw it that way. My bridesmaids were all college roommates of mine.

They had the door blocked early, laughing, demanding the toll. At first the mood was normal. Graham was out in the hall, coaxing me in a low voice. "Babe.

I'm here." I couldn't help smiling through the door. The bridesmaids started in on him, making him read out the list of promises he'd written by hand. He read it seriously.

Even the line about never giving each other the silent treatment after a fight came out like a vow. I went soft all the way through.

That was when Torin's voice cut in. "This is way too tame. Since when does a guy get through his own wedding this easy?" Somebody out there laughed.

Another groomsman said, "Beau's got something planned?" Torin drew it out. "Obviously. The toll doesn't just get shoved under the door.

With bridesmaids that pretty, the guys have got to get a little something out of it. You want the money, show us you mean it." The laughter in the room stopped.

My cousin Penelope's face changed. My bridesmaid Marlowe planted herself in front of the door and made herself smile. "We only take the toll.

We don't do anything past that." Torin slapped the door from the other side. "Past what? This is nothing. We're all young here.

Don't act so uptight." I frowned and raised my voice. "Torin. Graham and I said no crude games." It went quiet out there for a second.

Then Torin laughed. "Sweetheart, that's crude to you? We haven't even started." The emcee, Sawyer Lyman, was out there too.

Chapter 3 Sawyer was working the crowd that day, a little microphone in his hand, his voice pitched to a professional kind of excitement. "Our bride shouldn't be nervous.

The groom's here to get you, and nobody has a good time unless things get a little rowdy. It's a big happy day.

I've got the boundaries covered." Graham spoke up out there right away. "Torin. Cut it out. We stick to the schedule." You could hear the displeasure he was holding down.

Then I heard Royce drawl, "Beaumont. Don't be an idiot." I froze for a second inside the room. I hadn't expected her to be the one to say it first.

Torin clicked his tongue. "Big Royce, why are you being a buzzkill too? DunDawg's getting married today.

The guys have got to show up for him." Royce didn't laugh. "Show up for him. Not make fools of yourselves." The mood out in the hall went stiff for a few seconds.

In the end it was Graham who smoothed it over. He paid the toll, sang the song, answered the questions.

When the door opened he was standing there in a charcoal suit with flowers in his hands and his eyes gone red. He saw me and swallowed hard. "Elodie.

I'm here to marry you." In that moment I pushed the bad feeling from before down and out of the way. I didn't want to ruin that morning. He went down on one knee to put my shoes on.

The photographers circled us, shooting. Royce stood at the very back of the groomsmen. She didn't push forward. She just watched from where she was.

I caught her out of the corner of my eye. But I still didn't relax. Because with someone like Torin, that silence had felt more like waiting for an opening.

Sure enough, once we'd come downstairs, the planning team suddenly said they wanted to shoot some footage of the groomsmen doing the toast challenge with the groom.

A few of them hauled Graham off to the hotel terrace. He said he'd be right back, and he handed his phone to a photographer. "Grab me a few clips.

We'll use them in the highlight reel." I didn't think much of it at the time. Wedding videographers borrow the couple's phones for footage all the time.

Looking back now, that was the gap Torin had arranged on purpose.

Once Graham was gone, the only ones left in the suite were me, the bridesmaids, the makeup artist, and a couple of people from the planning team. And Torin and his friends.

When the door shut behind them, something in me dropped. Torin took off his suit jacket and hung it over his arm.

He came in grinning. "Sweetheart, we backed off out of respect for DunDawg while he was standing here. Now we add in one of the traditional bits.

That's not asking much, right?" I stood up. "There is no such thing on the schedule." Torin acted like he hadn't heard and waved a hand at the other groomsmen. "Find that toll envelope." A few of the men started in. "Where'd they hide it?" "One of the bridesmaids has it on her, guaranteed." "Whoever finds it keeps it?" Penelope backed away, scared.

Whatever was left of Marlowe's smile was gone. "Don't joke like that. We're not hiding anything." Torin grabbed at the bracelet on her wrist. "You say you're not.

Who's going to believe that?" Marlowe snatched her hand back. "Don't touch me." Torin laughed louder. "Can't even touch a wrist?

What are you going to do at the toasts later?" I stepped in front of Marlowe. "Get out." Torin looked down at me.

He'd been drinking, and there was a sickening kind of excitement at the back of his eyes. "Sweetheart, you're the bride today, don't give me that face.

You go cold on us and think how awkward it is for the guys." I said, "Then get the hell out." The air in the room set like concrete.

One of the groomsmen whistled. "The missus has some temper on her." Another one got his phone out and started filming. The lens came right up to my face. "Get this.

The bride's blowing up." I put my hand up to block it. "Don't film me." Chapter 4 He dodged back, laughing. "You look this good today, be a shame not to get it." The makeup artist was frantic next to me. "Folks, her hair and makeup are just finished, don't pull at her, we need it for the ceremony." Torin heard that like it was a suggestion and reached for my veil. "The envelope wouldn't be tucked in the veil, would it?" I slapped his hand away. "Touch me one more time.

Try it." Torin's face darkened for a second, then he smiled again. "Sweetheart, you're no fun. The guys having a little fun with you is us showing respect.

If you can't take a joke like this, how's DunDawg supposed to hold his head up around us after today?" I was so angry my fingertips went numb.

He had taken my refusal and turned it into Graham's humiliation. That's the most disgusting part of these weddingday stunts. They're the ones with no shame.

But the second I say no, every bit of the pressure gets thrown back onto me. Penelope was close to crying.

One of the groomsmen made a point of circling around beside her and looking down at her skirt. "Kiddo, that skirt's awfully full.

The envelope's not hiding in there, is it?" Penelope shrieked and got behind me.

Marlowe grabbed the bouquet off the table and held it in front of Penelope. "What exactly do you want?" Torin spread his hands. "To play. It's a wedding, obviously we're playing.

Nobody came here for a funeral." The men around him laughed again. The planner's assistant at the door didn't come in to stop it.

She kept her head down, fiddling with her headset, pretending she couldn't see. I turned to get my phone so I could call Graham. My hand was shaking too hard to unlock it.

I took a deep breath and dialed. It rang a long time. Nobody picked up. I called a second time. Still nothing.

Torin glanced over and put a sneer in his voice. "Going to go tattle to DunDawg? He's busy out there.

We've got this many guests today and you're going to take one little game to him?" I ignored him and kept calling. The third time, someone finally answered.

But it wasn't Graham on the other end. It was the photographer. "Ma'am, I've got Mr.

Dunham's phone over here for footage, he's out on the terrace shooting the toast segment right now.

Was there something you needed?" I was about to speak when Torin suddenly came forward and pushed the phone down out of my hand.

He said cheerfully into it, "It's nothing, it's nothing, the bride's just shy, we're getting some fun footage over here." I shook his hand off. "Torin!" The call cut off.

Cold sweat started down my back. This was not a joke anymore.

They had shut the door, blocked the way out, held their phones on me, put their hands on us, and cut off my one chance to reach the groom.

I shouted toward the door. "Call hotel security!" The wedding planning director, Constance Fairbanks, finally came in