She pointed toward the seating display near the entrance.
“Grandma’s name isn’t there anymore.”
She accepted that.
I turned.
“What?”
“It was there yesterday. I remember seeing it.”
I’d helped Patricia check an earlier seating plan.
Mom had been assigned a place at Daniel’s family table.
“What?”
“Stay with Grandma,” I told Lucy.
“Where are you going?”
“To find out what happened to her seat.”
The wedding coordinator was standing beside the seating display.
I’d met her during the rehearsal, so I approached her directly.
“Stay with Grandma.”
“Excuse me. Could you help me find Deborah’s seat? She’s my mother.”
She checked her clipboard.
“She’s been assigned to the staff seating area.”
“Who made that change?”
“Patricia submitted a revised plan yesterday.”
“Who made that change?”
“Could I see the original?”
She opened her folder.
There was Mom’s name, exactly where I remembered it.
But on the revised plan, someone else occupied her chair.
“Who’s sitting there now?”
“Could I see the original?”
“Jenna’s aunt.”
I recognized the name.
Jenna had mentioned that her aunt contributed a generous amount toward the reception.
“Was there an extra guest?” I asked.
“No. Patricia requested that the aunt be moved to the family table.”
“Jenna’s aunt.”
“Can you put her back?”
“I’d need approval from Jenna or Patricia. Or even Daniel.”
I thanked her and took photographs of both plans with her permission.
My mother hadn’t lost her seat because of a mistake.
“Can you put her back?”
Someone had deliberately given it away.
And I intended to find out why.
I found Patricia checking the flowers near the family table.
“We need to talk.”
She glanced at me.
Someone had deliberately given it away.
“Can it wait, Cassidy? This is a big moment for my daughter!”
“No.”
Her smile vanished.
I showed her the seating plans.
“You changed Mom’s seat yesterday. Why?”
“No.”
Patricia looked around.
“Could you lower your voice?”
“Then let’s go into the hallway.”
She followed me outside.
Patricia looked around.
Once we were alone, she folded her arms.
“Jenna’s aunt helped pay for a great deal of this wedding.”
“By giving her my mother’s chair?”
Patricia sighed.
“Deborah is a lovely woman. She’s always so easygoing. We thought she’d understand.”
She folded her arms.
“Did you ask her?”
“No, but I didn’t expect this reaction.”
“You put the groom’s grandmother beside the kitchen. What reaction did you expect?”
Patricia frowned.
“Some people contributed financially.”
“Did you ask her?”
“And my mother helped raise Daniel. Why does money decide her seat?”
She glanced toward the reception doors.
“Everything was discussed beforehand.”
“With whom?”
“Jenna knew we were making adjustments.”
“With whom?”
I stopped.
“Jenna knew? Did she tell Daniel?”
Patricia pressed her lips together.
“Speak to her if you’re so concerned.”
Mom was sitting outside with Lucy when I found them.
“Did she tell Daniel?”
“Did you sort it out?” Mom asked.
“Not yet.”
I explained that Patricia had given Mom’s seat to Jenna’s aunt.
Mom looked down at her hands.
“Perhaps she needed to sit closer.”
“Did you sort it out?”
She rubbed her necklace between her fingers.
“Daniel called me last night, Cassidy.”
“I remember.”
“He asked whether I’d be sitting close enough to see him during dinner.”
“What did you tell him?”
“Daniel called me last night.”
