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She paused and stared at me as if I had gone completely insane. Then she shook her head and looked out the window again. The sky was overcast and the day looked gloomy, which I was sure fitted her mood snugly.

“Leaving me out of what is the most important day in his mature life should make me happy?” she said. “I feel like my own son stabbed me in the back.”

“Don’t worry, Mother. I’ll be sure to have you make all the arrangements for my wedding, especially the colors of the napkins,” I said, and she spun around.

“This isn’t funny, Teal. How do I face my friends when they ask about the wedding? Do you know the announcement has already been constructed and sent into the papers? To have accomplished all this so quickly, Waverly Taylor must have known this was coming for some time. My suspicion is your brother gave Ellery the engagement ring long before he even told you he was going to do it and certainly long before he planned on telling me.”

That was a sour note for me. She was probably right, which meant I wasn’t taken into his confidence to the extent I had thought. I was so desperate to believe my brother was finally treating me like his sister that I accepted it all without any doubt.

“I’m just sick over this, just sick,” Mother said. “I have a good mind to just tell them to go ahead and plan the rehearsal dinner, too. That is supposed to be my— your father’s and my responsibility. The worst thing about all this is, your father isn’t a bit upset and probably wouldn’t mind if I did tell them that.”

“He’s not upset because he knew it all,” I blurted.

Her eyes went into

that wide mode that revived my memories of ET.

“What are you saying, Teal? I was the only one in this family kept in the dark? Your brother told your father everything, told you, had his future in-laws involved, but left me out?”

My perfect brother Carson, I thought, really messed up. It brought a smile to my lips, which my mother misinterpreted as my being happy she was excluded. She bristled.

“Well?”

“I’m not an experienced detective, Mother,” I said, “but the clues seem to point in that direction,” I added, and sauntered off to breakfast. Perhaps I shouldn’t have been so gleeful, but I couldn’t help it. For once, Mother might be thinking I’m not the worse of her two children, even if that thought lasted only a few hours.

To her credit, my mother wasn’t one to wallow in her self-pity all day. She got herself together and decided firmly that she would not be left out of any more decisions concerning the wedding. She got on the phone and called Waverly Taylor, insisting they meet for lunch. Whether it would be true or not, she was determined to give the appearance of having been involved in the wedding arrangements right from the start.

In fact, Mother was soon talking and acting as if nothing contrary had occurred. She was on the phone with her friends, discussing all the details about the wedding as if she had been in on it even before Ellery, much less her mother. This, she claimed, was the way she wanted it to be; this was happening because of her suggestions. Soon the talk, the plans, the excitement all served as a big distraction. No one noticed my comings and goings. More importantly, I was able to add to what I now considered Del’s and my escape money, pilfering periodically from Mother’s purse.

So as not to create any more complications, I behaved like a little marionette in school and continued to improve in my studies, even to the extent that Mr. Bloomberg himself made it a point to stop me in the hallway one morning to tell me how happily surprised he was by my healthy new attitude.

“I never had any doubts you could do well, Teal,” he said, “if you put your mind to it.”

That remark almost shattered the mask of polite smiles I wore. Who did he think he was kidding? He probably had placed a bet on my impending expulsion.

I thanked him as politely and sickeningly sweetly as I could before I continued down the corridor. I was such a perfect young lady that I thought I would puke up my breakfast, lunch, and dinner.

The only one who was really upset with me these days was Carson, who cornered me in the house one night after he had a meeting with Daddy. I never had to try to avoid Carson. Usually he took little interest in me except to give me some warning or short lecture.

We hadn’t spoken since the day he came to my bedroom and offered to help me, even giving me the money, which I gave immediately to Del.

“Just a minute, Teal,” I heard after he had emerged from Daddy’s office. I was halfway up the stairs. I paused and looked down at him. He stood there with his hands on his hips, shaking his head at me.

“You caused quite a mess for me, not keeping our secret,” he began.

“Our secret?” I said, stepping down the stairs. “Our secret, Carson? You told Daddy long before you told me, didn’t you? And you had already asked Ellery to marry you long before that, right?”

“I trusted you with the news,” he countered.

“What news?” I shrugged. “Mother knows the Taylors knew before she did. She’s putting on a good act now for her friends, but you and I know she was devastated, Carson, and for once it was you and not me who did the devastating.”

“You’re such a little bitch, Teal.”

“Why, because I tell it like it is, because I’m honest?”

He choked back a laugh.

“You? Honest?” He stopped smiling. “Where’s my hundred dollars?”