“Marissa is gone. Her wedding dress is still there, but the rest of her things have been cleared out. Her bed doesn’t look like it was slept in.”
The words burst from my mouth in a breathless rush. They didn’t even sound like words to me. I couldn’t believe I was saying them.
Mom uttered a low groan and started to collapse. I saw her eyes roll up and her knees bend. Dad grabbed her and helped her into a chair.
She kept murmuring, “No no no no” and shaking her head. A single tear rolled down the makeup on one cheek.
Robby lowered his phone to his pants pocket. He squinted at me as if he didn’t recognize me. Dad held Mom’s hand, his eyes on me. “You’re sure?”
“She . . . isn’t there,” I stammered. “She’s gone, Dad. You can look for yourself.” I didn’t mean to sound harsh, but I was having trouble breathing and I couldn’t control my voice.
I wanted to scream. I wanted to cry. But my parents looked so pale and distressed, I knew I had to keep it together.
“Where’s Doug?” Robby asked. “Maybe she’s with Doug?”
Mom gazed up at Dad. “Do you think—?”
Robby raised his phone and punched a number. “I’ll try him.”
We didn’t move, staring at Robby. I had my fingers crossed. Please, please, be with Doug.
Robby lowered his phone. “No answer.”
“This is impossible,” Dad muttered. “Marissa wouldn’t just leave without telling anyone. That’s not like her.”
“Then where is she?” Mom cried.
Before anyone could answer, a knock on the door. “Come in!” I shouted.
I know we all hoped it was Marissa. But Rita Gonzalez, the wedding planner, stepped into the room, her trusty clipboard pressed against the front of her gown.
“The guests are in place,” she announced. “It’s time to go out to the site. I’ve been looking for the bride. Do you know—” She stopped when she saw the grim expressions around the room.
She lowered the clipboard to her side. “What’s wrong? Please tell me.”
I spoke up first. “You haven’t seen Marissa?”
“No. Not since last night. Is she dressed? Should I send my assistant for her?”
“She’s gone,” I said. Again, the words didn’t really seem real.
Rita gave a sharp intake of breath. “Gone? You mean—?”
“I mean gone,” I said. “She’s not in her room, and she isn’t dressed, and her stuff is missing.”
Rita kind of slumped. She recovered quickly. “Cold feet, do you think?”
“We don’t know what to think,” I said. Dad was comforting Mom, holding on to the shoulders of her dress from the side of the chair.
Robby was on the phone again. “I keep trying Marissa’s number. It goes right to voice mail. I sent her a text, but it says undelivered.”
“The guests are all seated,” Rita said. “The minister arrived and is waiting to take his place at the altar.”
Dad sighed. “We have to make an announcement, I guess. What can we do? We have to tell them there will be no wedding.”
“I can do that for you, Mr. Fear,” Rita said.
Dad thought for a moment. “No. Thank you, Ms. Gonzalez. I think I’d better do it myself.”
“Is someone going to tell Doug first?” I asked.
They stared at me blankly, as if they’d all forgotten about Doug.
Robby punched Doug’s number on the phone again. “He isn’t picking up.”
“I’m sure he’s on the mesa with his best man,” Rita said. “Calming his nerves before he takes his place at the altar.”
“I’ll go tell him,” I said, starting to the door. I was suddenly desperate to get out of that room. There was no air to breathe. The shock was taking away all the oxygen.
I hurtled out the back door of the lodge. I was running on sheer nervous energy. I wanted to collapse in a heap like Mom, curl into a ball and not come out. But I knew they needed me to help handle everything.
Marissa was always their go-to person, the one they relied on. But now it had to be me.
The afternoon sun was high in a pale blue sky. The grass swayed in a soft breeze, gleaming like gold in the sunlight, as I trotted up the dirt path to the mesa top.
I could hear music as I approached, a string quartet playing some kind of light classical music. And I could hear the soft murmur of voices as our guests, seated on both sides of the red-carpeted aisle, waited for a wedding that wasn’t going to happen.
As I climbed the slope toward the top, the altar came into view. It was covered in lilacs (what else?), Marissa’s favorite flower. Of course, June was past lilac season. But Dad somehow had them frozen or something, shipped in for the wedding. Anything for Marissa.
Breathing hard, I trotted up the path, tall grass brushing the skirt of my dress. I spotted Doug at the back of the seats, standing by himself, his tuxedo shining in the bright sunlight, hands stuffed into his pockets. He had his head down, almost as if he were praying—and didn’t see me until I rushed up to him, gasping for breath.
When I touched his shoulder, he finally raised his head. “Harmony? What’s up?”
“Doug, I . . .” I struggled to get the words out. “Listen, Doug . . . I have to tell you . . .”
He narrowed his eyes at me. I could see the impatience on his face, mixed with confusion.
“Marissa is gone,” I finally managed to choke out.
He didn’t move. “Excuse me?”
“Marissa isn’t in her room. She took her stuff. She’s gone.”
He blinked his eyes several times. I could see he was struggling to process it.
“She’s gone,” I repeated. I wasn’t sure if he understood me.
A fly buzzed around his head. He made no move to brush it away.
Finally, he uttered a loud curse. When he removed his hands from his pockets, they were balled into tight fists. His eyes went wide, and his mouth formed a scowl. He cursed again.
Then he brushed past me, nearly knocking me over, and went stomping down the path toward the lodge. I stood stunned, watching him kick at the grass as he walked, tight fists at his sides.
Weird, I thought. He didn’t seem surprised at all. Did Doug know this might happen?
I didn’t have long to think about it. My dad’s voice interrupted my thoughts.
I turned to see him at the altar. He had the microphone in his hand and was saying something to the minister. They were head to head, nearly touching, and I saw the minister’s face go red.
Dad turned to the guests and raised the microphone to his face. “Hello, guests. I—” The loudspeaker squealed. Dad lowered the microphone a few inches.
“I have a sad announcement,” he said. His voice boomed against the tall cliffs. A hush fell over the rows of guests. “I am sorry to say there will be no wedding today.”
Startled cries and gasps rang out, but no one spoke.
“It seems my daughter Marissa has disappeared,” Dad continued. He stood with the microphone raised, stood in silence. I think he was struggling to think of what to say next.
Finally, he lowered the microphone to its stand. He didn’t say another word. He walked back down the aisle, past the startled guests, keeping his head high, eyes straight ahead, not looking at anyone. He walked right past me but I’m not sure he saw me.
And now the voices rose over the mesa as everyone jumped up, all talking at once, shaking their heads, faces tight with confusion and surprise.
I saw Max and Uncle Kenny having a heated discussion. I could see that Max was refusing to leave. He had a job as flower boy, and he wanted to do it. Kenny tugged Max’s arm as he tried to explain the wedding was off. Marta, his mom, dabbed at her tears.
Aunt Dora needed help. She needed a walker, and her daughter, my cousin Nadia, seemed too preoccupied, talking to others and shaking her head, to help her mother.
I stood in the grass at the side of the path and watched people make their way to the lodge. Their expressions were all grim, showing their surprise.
I received a few sympathetic nods. But no one asked me a question or made a comment or said anything at all. I don’t know why I stood there, still as a statue. I guess I was in no hurry to go back to my parents’ room, back to the sadness and the shock and worry about what happened to my sister.
“Maybe she just got cold feet,” I overheard my cousin Amy say as she passed by me. “I never thought that boy was right for her.”
Everyone seemed to be talking at once, all in hushed tones.
“I thought this only happens in the movies.”
“Couldn’t she have decided to split before we paid all that money to fly out here?”
“Poor girl. I can’t imagine what she’s going through right now.”
“So many bad omens . . .”
I turned to see who was saying that. It was Marissa’s friend Olivia. She was walking with Marissa’s other friend Dani. Both in their lilac dresses. Dani had her arm around Olivia’s waist, as if she needed the support.
“The feathers,” Olivia said. “Coming out of that guy’s mouth. And then the squirrels . . .” Her voice faded out as she passed.
“Harmony, are you okay?”
I turned to see Uncle Kenny beside me. Max gave me a playful shove and ran off. Did the kid really expect me to play tag with him?
“Anything I can do?” Kenny asked.
I shook my head. “Thanks, Uncle Kenny. But—”
“Your parents must be frantic,” he said.
I was touched that he was being so sympathetic and kind. But then he added, “Not to mention the expense. This must have set your dad back at least thirty thousand big ones. And all for nothing.” He shook his head and did a tsk-tsk.
Uncle Kenny never changes.
“Let me know if there’s anything I can do,” he said. Then he hurried after Max, who had decided to roll in the tall grass, despite the problem of getting grass stains on his wedding tuxedo.
He’s a devil, I thought. But a lovable one.
And then a shadow rolled over me, and there stood Grandpa Bud. Standing a little too close, the way he always does. Wiping sweat off his forehead with one hand. His eyes locked on mine.
“Grandpa Bud—” I started.
But he brought his face up close to mine, so close our noses were almost touching. And he stared hard, as if peering into my soul, trying to penetrate my brain.
“Harmony—what did you do?”
