Read All Dressed in White for Free Online Page A

mother, and supposedly the siblings and one of the bridesmaids,” Laurie said. She quickly added, “I didn’t want to reach out to anyone else until I got your approval.” That sounded much better than This case just fell in my lap this morning.
    “Full speed ahead. The Runaway Bride sounds like a Runaway Hit.”

10

    C harlotte Pierce told the waiter that she’d like to have the green salad and the salmon. “And some more iced tea,” she said, smiling politely as she handed him her menu. What she really wanted, of course, was a bloody mary and the steak frites, but she was dining with her mother, which meant she would remain on her best behavior in every way.
    Charlotte was all too conscious of the fifteen extra pounds she was carrying these days. Unlike her siblings, she wasn’t naturally slender, and had to “work a little harder,” as her mother used to put it, to maintain a “healthy weight.” Ironically, Charlotte’s recent weight gain was the result of all the long days she was putting in at Ladyform and the all too frequent fast food she ate to keep herself going.
    “Well, this certainly is a lovely restaurant,” her mother said, once the waiter was gone. Charlotte had chosen this spot because she knew that her mother would appreciate the elegant and spacious dining room, filled with fresh flower arrangements. She had also made a point to pull her long, messy, light brown waves into a knot at the nape of her neck. Her mother always had a way of suggesting that she wear her hair in a more stylish cut. To Charlotte’s ear, it sounded like her mother wishing she were more like Amanda. “How is everything going at work?”
    As Charlotte spelled out the plans for marketing the new line of yoga wear, including a fashion show on the cable channel New York One, her mother seemed to be only half-listening. “I’m sorry, Mom. I’ve run on too long. Oh no, I’m not turning into Dad, am I?”
    “Don’t even suggest it,” Sandra said with a smile. “Remember when the three of you set a timer to see how long he could babble about the new convertible bra?”
    “That’s right. I almost forgot.” Some of the Pierce children’s biggest laughs had been at their father’s expense. Big, manly Walter Pierce had no qualms talking about bras, underwear, and girdles at the dinner table, in front of their friends, or in the checkout line at the grocery store. It was all just work to him, and he loved his work. The particular incident Mom referred to was Thanksgiving, and the bra was the Ladyform “3-in-one,” which converted from standard straps to strapless to a racer-back. Ladyform was the first to launch that design.
    When it became clear that Dad was conducting yet another one of his “seminars,” Henry was the one to retrieve the timer from the kitchen. He, Charlotte, and Amanda had covertly passed it in a circle around the table as their father described every configuration, going so far as to use his napkin in a demonstration. By the time he realized what was going on, his children’s faces were close to purple from trying to suppress laughter, and the timer had hit the eight-minute mark.
    “You kids always gave your father the hardest time,” Sandra said, reminiscing.
    “Oh, he loved it. Still does,” Charlotte added, reminding herself that her mother and father rarely spoke anymore. “So, Mom, you called yesterday and announced that you were on your way to New York. I love seeing you, but I suspect you didn’t fly across the country just to have lunch with me.”
    “It’s about Amanda.”
    “Of course it is.” Everything her parents said or did or thought was always about Amanda. Charlotte felt cruel for her immediate reaction, but the truth was that her parents had always favored Amanda, even before she disappeared. Charlotte had spent most of her life feeling less accomplished, less attractive, and less recognized than her little sister.
    Things had gotten even worse once Amanda was out