The Valentine Wedding Dress Read Free Page A

problem. “Okay?”
    â€œBut it wasn’t the one she was wearing in her wedding pictures.”
    Dave felt an odd tingling in his chest. “Are you sure?”
    â€œAbsolutely.”
    â€œMaybe it wasn’t hers.”
    â€œThen why was it in our attic?” she asked reasonably.
    â€œCould it have been your grandmother’s?”
    â€œNo way. The design was too contemporary. Besides, I’m almost certain it had never been worn.”
    â€œHow can you be certain of that?”
    â€œThere wasn’t a spot on it, not so much as a hint of any kind of stain.”
    â€œIt could have been cleaned. Besides, what’s the big deal? It’s just a dress.”
    â€œNot any dress,” she argued. “A wedding dress. ” She drew in a deep breath and leveled a look straight at him. “Besides, there was a valentine in the trunk.” She shook her head. “I must sound like an idiot. I’m probably making way too much of this, but there’s no one I can ask. I certainly can’t go to my father and say, oh, by the way, was Mom supposed to marry someone else.”
    Dave’s heart took on an erratic rhythm. “A valentine?” he repeated in a choked voice. “What did it say?”
    â€œThe usual hearts and flowers stuff, but there was a note apologizing. Though it wasn’t spelled out, it sounded like he had broken their engagement.”
    Dave had never fainted in his entire life, but he felt right now as if he could. As if he wanted to. Surely this was simply a crazy coincidence—his father telling him about an old romance, now Lara telling him about a valentine expressing regret over a canceled wedding.
    â€œWas the card signed?”
    Lara nodded. “Peter,” she said softly. “My father’s name is Mitch.”
    â€œOh, God,” Dave whispered, getting to his feet unsteadily.
    Lara stared at him with obvious alarm. “What’s wrong?”
    â€œI have to go. There’s someone I need to see.”
    â€œAbout this?”
    â€œI don’t know. Not really.” He leaned down and gave her a distracted kiss. “I’ll call you. I promise, Lara. I will call you and explain everything, if there is anything to explain.”
    If he lived to be 100, Dave was fairly certain he would never forget the confusion and heartache on Lara’s face as she watched him walk out the door.
    * * *
    Lara absentmindedly smoothed down the skirt of her pretty red dress. Clearly Dave knew something about the valentine in the attic, but how? He’d looked so distraught, so shaken. But until he came back or phoned, there would be no answers.
    Unless…Could there be something more in the trunk? she wondered. And if there was, did she really want to know? This had been her mother’s secret, one she’d carried to her grave. And yet Lara was compelled to find out the rest.
    She kicked off her bright red shoes and ran upstairs, turning on the low overhead light that gave the attic an illusion of cheeriness, despite all the shadows in the corners. She’d left the key in the trunk earlier and now she turned it, then lifted the lid for the second time that day.
    Carefully she removed the dress, then the card. There was more tissue paper below. Lara hesitated, then lifted that out as well, revealing a square, flat box from a department store that had closed years ago. Hands shaking, she picked up the box and set it in her lap. There were answers inside. She knew it. She could feel it.
    She fumbled as she removed the lid. There were more valentines inside, two dozen at least, all yellowed with age, all bearing the same signature she’d seen earlier, all expressing the same deep regret.
    She was openly weeping as she reached for the last one, the biggest of them all. She wondered if they’d been in chronological order, if this lavish one had been the first one sent, all those years ago.
    As she picked it up,