After the Altar

1.

The wedding was set to take place at The Plaza Hotel in Manhattan. I was standing alone in the bridal suite, dressed in a custom Vera Wang gown, clutching a bouquet I’d painstakingly chosen. Through the floor-to-ceiling windows, I watched the bright afternoon sky fade into a glittering night.

The guest seats were long empty. Our glamorous friends and business partners had all trickled out, their whispers turning from excitement to awkward pity. The wedding planner had already called three t