Next to my clutch purse lay Maddie’s purple flower drawing, done on heavy white construction paper with thick wax strokes that made the edges curl up.

Maddie had brought it into the suite twenty minutes earlier, holding it carefully by the left edge so her fingers wouldn’t smudge the stem.

She had pointed at the purple petals and told me it was a present for my dress.

I stood up, gathered five yards of heavy ivory silk in my arms, and stepped out into the quiet hallway.

The basement wing of St.

Mark Fellowship Church smelled of floor wax, old carpet, and stale incense.

I walked slowly toward the parish office to see if Paige had found anyone.

As I passed the open door of the church office, I noticed Seth’s heavy leather gym bag sitting on the oak table in the middle of the room.

The bag was black oiled leather with thick brass buckles, the same heavy bag Seth took to his electrician job sites every morning.

It sat right next to a stack of printed wedding programs, its top zipper pulled halfway open.

A bunch of typed papers stuck out of the open pocket, but I didn’t stop to read them.

I hesitated in the doorway, meaning only to zip the bag shut so nothing spilled onto the church’s financial ledgers.

Before I could step into the room, I heard voices coming from the fellowship hall forty feet down the hallway.

The fellowship hall door was open four or five inches, throwing a narrow strip of yellow fluorescent light across the dark blue hallway carpet.