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Chapter 1
    A light snow began to fall outside. Emily watched the tiny, fluffy flakes through the window and decided it was a good sign, like a blessing from heaven for her Christmas Eve wedding. It relieved her doubts…before she had been remembering her high school sweetheart, Adam, who she always thought of as the big love of her life. He left, though, and she moved on, and now she was getting married to Lloyd.
    She’d gotten ready with her maid of honor, Alison, and her bridesmaids, and now they were out in the hallway, ready to walk down the aisle. A knock came at the door - meaning it was time! - and her father’s head poked in.
    “It’s snowing!” she started but stopped at seeing his blanched face. “What’s wrong?” Like any bride, she was a little nervous over the wedding, but so far everything was going exactly as planned. Of course, Emily was a professional wedding planner, so she had things under control, and this wedding would be the talk of the town for years to come!
    “We’re pushing things back just a tiny bit,” he said as he tried to smile. He came in and shut the door behind him.
    “Oh…why?”
    The fake smile grew wider and faker. “Not everyone’s ready, Sweetie, but don’t worry. I’ll just wait here with you. Mike will let us know when it’s time.”
    She giggled, sounding nervous and silly to herself. “If I can be ready on time in this big dress and hair, you think everyone else could manage.”
    His laughed too. His sounded tight. “Tell me about it.” He heaved a sigh. “So, you’re not my little girl anymore.”
    Tears stung her eyes but she carefully wiped them and reminded herself, this was her special day. Her dad hugged her, also being careful of the dress, the makeup and the hair do. She thought they’d gone a bit overboard but her mom, mother-in-law, sisters and her soon-to-be sisters-in-law all thought she looked terrific. And what did she care as long as they got to say ‘I do’ and head off to the Guanacaste region in Western Costa Rica? Thinking of their tropical honeymoon eased her anxiety a bit. Actually, she had things under control until this little bump in the road. She wondered where the wedding party had gone since the hallway was quiet.
    “I wish there was a clock in here,” she said. Her dad nodded. He probably had a watch on but he seemed like he didn’t want to tell her the time. So he launched into relating family memories.
    Three stories later there were shuffled steps outside. “He’s an hour late already!”
    Her dad broke off mid sentence. She threw the door open to see the backs of several tuxes running the other way. “Dad? What’s going on? Maybe you should go check on things.”
    He nodded, his face going white again. Now her heart was thumping hard enough to hurt. What if Lloyd got in a wreck? It had to be something horrible to make him late for this day.  
    Alison came down the hallway, looking lovely in her rose gown, but also looking very hesitant. As she neared, Emily saw tears running down her face.
    The world went black.  
    Suddenly she was gasping for breath, looking up at the ceiling. Alison was crying hysterically now and both her parents were leaning over her. “Why did you tell her?” Mom asked someone else while fanning her.
    “I didn’t!” Alison squeaked.
    Mom’s fan stopped.  
    “Is he okay?” Emily managed. She tried to lift her head to look around but she was still dizzy. Her mom leaned back, out of her field of vision. The painful heartbeat came back. “Dad? You’d better tell me what happened.”
    “We can’t find Lloyd,” he said in the quietest voice ever.  
    “He’s with Brooke!” Alison wailed.  
    Brooke? Her bridesmaid Brooke?  

Chapter 2
    Merry Christmas to me! Emily watched the snow fall outside the airplane, but this time she thought of it burying her, hiding her for the rest of her life. She wished. It was Christmas Day and she was flying off on her honeymoon alone, unmarried.