I reached the bottom of the stairs without falling, being shot, or getting recognized. The white carpet Leisel mentioned stretched all the way to the altar. Red flower petals were scattered on it—I didn’t remember Leisel mentioning these. Was I supposed to avoid stepping on them? I hoped not. I had enough on my mind.

As I walked down the aisle, a few people softly called Leisel’s name, but I refused to make eye contact with them. Instead, I turned my gaze toward the altar to see how far I had left to go. A huge television screen behind the altar showed live coverage of the bride walking down the aisle. I was so shocked to see myself on television that I almost stumbled, but I also realized with some relief that it was impossible to tell it wasn’t Leisel under all that white fabric and tulle.

I looked for Jack just as Leisel told me to but could only find an official looking military officer standing by the altar. I wondered why he was there. Leisel hadn’t said anything about the military being present. Had I been discovered? My legs weakened at the thought. But then, all at once, I realized that the man in uniform was Jack Kenner. He looked so official that it scared me. My body began to recover from the shock of thinking I had been caught. I stayed focused on closing the distance between the altar and me. It seemed to take an eternity, but then I was finally standing beside Jack with my back to the crowd.

The music stopped, and the room became utterly quiet. My breathing was still laboured, and I was sure everyone could hear me.

“Who here gives permission for this young couple to be joined?” the spiritual leader asked the congregation.

President Holt stood up. “I do.”

“We do,” another couple said as well. I assumed they were Jack’s parents.

With permission granted, the spiritual leader began his blessing. I wished I could focus on what he was saying. I wished I had the presence of mind to understand every word. But I couldn’t. I was too busy trying to stop my hands from shaking. My legs were beginning to feel weak again, too.

“Leisel, my darling,” Jack said gently. Someone was standing beside me with her hand out. “The flowers,” he whispered.

I handed the flowers to the woman. I was afraid of dropping them anyway. Jack took my left hand, and the spiritual leader began to speak again. Jack gave me an almost imperceptible nod, and for a moment I stared blankly at him. Then I remembered Leisel had told me to say yes.

“Yes,” I said.

The crowd gave a collective sigh. I must have done it right. The leader droned on.

“Yes,” Jack said in a loud and clear voice.

More sighs from the crowd.

The spiritual leader went to stand behind the altar. He held a small shiny object up in the air and began another blessing. He placed the object on an open book and made the sign of a cross above it, then returned to us and handed the object to Jack. It turned out to be a ring with a large diamond in the centre. Leisel hadn’t mentioned a ring.

Jack took it from him and placed the ring just on the tip of my finger. I could tell it was going to be too big. The leader began to read from a book, and Jack repeated everything he said word for word. Now I was worried there was a ring for Jack, too, and I was going to have to repeat everything the leader said. I would be caught for sure. Jack slipped the ring onto my finger, and as I thought, it was far too big. I curled my finger under to hold it in place.

Jack continued to hold my hand and then the leader wrapped some kind of holy cloth around our joined hands. I tried to keep my hands steady and my eyes downcast. The leader was so close to us that I was sure he must be able to see I wasn’t Leisel.

Then it was done. The cloth was taken away. The crowd was clapping for us. Jack held his elbow out toward me. This time I understood to take it, so I wrapped my hand around his arm, and we began the walk to the registry room.

I was almost home!

The cameras followed our slow progression to the registry room, and I expected them to stop when we walked through the door, but they kept coming in. Someone had made a mistake. I was sure they would be asked to leave. I glanced at Jack. He looked confused, too, but he remained calm. He just kept walking toward the table where an ordinary scanner had been set up and decorated with flowers.

I almost fainted when I saw President Holt and his guards come in behind us; and then Jack’s parents, followed by the spiritual leader. How could Leisel and I switch with all these people here? Did she forget to tell them this was supposed to be a private moment? Jack’s arm tightened under my grip. Sweat was forming on his upper lip. He raked his free hand through his hair. He always seemed to do that when he was frustrated.

“Ladies first.” The spiritual leader held out his hand for mine.

I knew the minute my hand was passed over the scanner, the machine would turn red and sound an alarm. I was not Leisel. I looked desperately around the room, hoping to see Leisel, but there was no sign of her.

“Miss Holt… er, excuse me, Mrs. Kenner.” The leader smiled. A few people chuckled. “Your hand, please.”

This time he didn’t wait for me to give him my hand. He picked it up and waved it in front of the scanner.

It beeped, and lit up green.

It took a few moments for the realization to penetrate my numbed brain that a green light came on.

The leader held out his hand toward Jack. “Mr. Kenner.”

All the color had drained out of Jack’s face. His jaw was tightly clenched, but he gave the leader his hand. The scanner beeped, and the green light went on. The small group in the room was elated. Everyone clapped and seemed to surge toward us to offer their congratulations.

“You haven’t kissed the bride yet,” said Jack’s mother.

Jack looked down at me, his eyes wide. He would have to remove my veil to kiss me. I wanted the floor to open up and suck me back down into the Pit. But somewhere in the distance, voices were raised in alarm. Something was happening.

Before I could make sense of anything, Leisel burst into the room—bruised and with torn clothes. Tears streamed down her face.

“Daddy, help me!” she screamed through tears. She clutched at her father’s arm then crumpled to the floor. “You have to arrest them!”

She pointed directly at us.

Chapter Nine

I stared dumbfounded at Leisel’s crumpled figure on the floor. Her hands covered her face, and she appeared to be inconsolable. Her face was bruised, and I wondered what had happened. Did the assassin find out about the switch? Did he find her?

“Leisel!” Jack said. “What are you doing?” He looked stunned.

President Holt shot Jack a deadly look. The threat was obvious. Jack said nothing more.

Everyone in the room was looking from Leisel to me. Guards grabbed Jack and me, twisted our arms behind our backs, and cuffed us. Jack’s mother walked up to me and ripped off my veil, taking the wig with it. I was exposed.

The anger on her face transformed into an expression of shocked disgust when she saw my urchin eyes. “Who the hell is this?”

I was too frightened to speak. Would Leisel stand up for me? Would the president?

Leisel wailed, and lowered her hands to point at us again. “Daddy! They hurt me! Jack decided that he doesn’t love me anymore, and that he wants her. So he hit me and put me in a closet.” She was sobbing so hard she couldn’t go on. She buried her face in her hands once more. I was finally realizing that Leisel had said they hurt me. I certainly didn’t give her the bruise, so why was she including me in the blame?

“Someone get a doctor!” The president yelled into the crowd. “My Leisel is hurt. Get a doctor!” He looked from one person to another with wild eyes. Finally, someone ran out of the room.