Chapter 7 - The Room Behind the Ballroom
Monday should have been Ethan's first day at Westbrook House.
Instead, he was sitting at the kitchen table eating pancakes while his mother reviewed his spelling homework.
I was helping Mrs. Carter prepare lunch when he looked up.
"Miss Nora?"
"Yes?"
"Can I ask something?"
"Always."
"Do you think my dad knows how to make pancakes?"
I glanced toward Luca, who had just entered.
"Why don't we ask him?"
Ethan grinned.
"Dad, can you make pancakes?"
Luca stopped.
"Sure."
Julia raised an eyebrow.
"Really?"
"How hard can it be?"
Twenty minutes later, he'd burned three pancakes, set off the smoke alarm, and somehow gotten flour on the ceiling.
Ethan laughed so hard he nearly fell off his chair.
Julia shook her head.
"Some things never change."
Luca pointed a spatula at her.
"I heard that."
"Good."
It was the first time I'd seen them behave like two people who had once been friends.
For half an hour, Ethan forgot about Vanessa.
Then Daniel arrived.
His expression told me the morning was over.
"Luca, we need to talk."
Luca put down the spatula.
"What's happened?"
"We received the final wedding coordination files."
Julia looked up.
"The wedding's canceled."
"Yes. But Mrs. Ellis had already prepared the room assignments."
Daniel placed a floor plan on the table.
The reception venue was a luxury hotel overlooking Lake Michigan.
The ballroom was enormous.
Private dining rooms extended along one side.
Near the rear service corridor was a small room labeled CHILDREN'S LOUNGE.
Daniel pointed to it.
"This was Ethan's assigned location."
Luca frowned.
"There's nothing wrong with providing a quiet room for children."
"Correct."
"But?"
Daniel turned the page.
"The instructions specifically prohibited Ethan from entering the main reception without Vanessa's permission."
Julia stopped eating.
"Excuse me?"
Daniel continued.
"He was to remain in the room from four-thirty until ten at night."
"Five and a half hours?" I said.
"Yes."
Luca stared at the floor plan.
"And I was supposed to think he was with his mother?"
Daniel nodded.
"That was one of the notes."
Julia looked furious.
"I wasn't even invited to the reception."
"That's another problem," Daniel said.
He handed her a document.
"Your name appears in the guest management instructions."
She read it.
Her face changed.
"What is this?"
Luca looked over her shoulder.
The note stated that Ethan's mother had approved a separate children's arrangement and would collect him after the reception.
Julia put the paper down.
"I never agreed to this."
Daniel nodded.
"I expected you to say that."
"Then who wrote it?"
"The coordinator says Vanessa provided the information."
Luca looked at the document.
Then at Julia.
"I'm sorry."
She shook her head.
"Don't apologize to me yet."
"Julia—"
"Find out what else she put in my name."
The room went quiet.
Daniel opened another folder.
"There is something else."
Luca looked exhausted.
"Of course there is."
"The hotel received a payment for a private security escort."
"What kind of escort?"
"Two personnel assigned to the children's lounge."
Julia's eyes widened.
"For a nine-year-old?"
"The paperwork describes the purpose as preventing unauthorized access."
Luca pushed his chair back.
"Unauthorized access by whom?"
Daniel looked at the note.
"Anyone not listed as a designated guardian."
Luca stared.
"Was I listed?"
Daniel didn't answer.
"Daniel."
"No."
The silence was unbearable.
Luca stood so abruptly his chair scraped across the floor.
"My own son's father wasn't permitted to enter his room?"
"The instructions identified Vanessa as the primary contact."
Julia said something under her breath that I couldn't make out.
But I understood the sentiment.
Luca walked to the window.
For several moments, he said nothing.
Then he turned.
"Call Mrs. Ellis."
Daniel nodded.
"I have her downstairs."
A few minutes later, the wedding coordinator entered.
She looked pale and exhausted.
She carried a thick binder.
"Mr. Moretti."
"Mrs. Ellis."
"I'm very sorry."
"Sit."
She sat.
Luca placed the floor plan in front of her.
"Who gave you these instructions?"
"Miss Bellini."
"Did she explain why?"
"She said Ethan had serious behavioral and medical difficulties that could interrupt the ceremony."
Julia leaned forward.
"My son has a serious allergy. He's not a disruption."
Mrs. Ellis looked mortified.
"I understand that now."
"Did you meet him?" Julia asked.
"Once."
"And what did you think?"
Mrs. Ellis hesitated.
"He was very polite."
"Then why didn't you question this?"
The coordinator's eyes filled.
"I did."
Everyone stopped.
Luca leaned forward.
"When?"
"Last Tuesday."
"What did Vanessa say?"
Mrs. Ellis opened her binder.
"She told me you were aware of the arrangements and preferred not to discuss them."
"I wasn't."
"I realize that now."
She removed a folded page.
"But there was another instruction that made me uncomfortable."
Luca took it.
He read it.
Then handed it to Daniel.
Daniel's expression darkened.
"What is this?"
Mrs. Ellis looked at Julia.
"Miss Bellini requested that Ethan's father be told the child had become ill if he asked why Ethan wasn't attending."
Julia covered her mouth.
Luca lowered the paper.
"She was going to tell me my son was sick."
"Yes."
"Even if he wasn't."
"Yes."
I looked at the floor plan again.
The little room at the back of the hotel.
A child sitting there for hours.
Waiting for a father who would be told he couldn't come.
My throat tightened.
"Did Ethan know?" I asked.
Mrs. Ellis turned toward me.
"What?"
"Did he know he'd be staying there?"
"I don't believe so."
Luca sat down.
For the first time, he looked completely defeated.
Then Mrs. Ellis opened her binder one final time.
"Mr. Moretti, before I leave, there's something else I think you should see."
She pulled out a photograph of the ballroom seating chart.
At the head table were twelve names.
Luca Moretti.
Vanessa Bellini.
Richard Bellini.
Several relatives.
Business associates.
And one chair marked FAMILY REPRESENTATIVE.
Ethan's name was nowhere.
But that wasn't what made Luca stare.
The chair beside Vanessa had originally been assigned to Ethan.
Someone had crossed it out.
And written another name.
RICHARD BELLINI.
Luca looked up.
"Her father was taking my son's place."
May you like
Mrs. Ellis nodded.
"He said it was important that the family appear united."
