Teresa handed the man at the door her engraved invitation, and with the document in hand, went into the ballroom. It took a moment, but knowing what she was wearing helped her locate Laura on the dance floor. Laura was pretending to be the adoring wife, as Mathew expertly danced his partner around the floor, pretending to the perfect husband.
It turned Teresa's stomach.
She wove her way through the dancing couples and when she stopped right in front of Laura, nothing could have shocked the couple more.
"Isn't that my dress?" Laura asked.
"I brought you something." Teresa handed her the birth certificate and watched as Laura read it.
Furious, Laura turned on Mathew. "Father unknown? How could you?"
"How could you, Laura? We were happy until you…"
Laura ignored him. "Where did you get this?" she asked Teresa.
"It was in your husband's safe."
Laura's shocked expression slowly turned to one of pure joy. "I do hope you cleaned him out."
Teresa leaned forward, hugged the woman she had come to adore, and whispered, "I left a loaded gun in your nightstand. Use it if you have to." She stayed just long enough for Laura to nod and then dashed away.
Outside, Teresa ran to the waiting taxi and got in. Just as the cab pulled away, Mathew rushed out the door wildly waving his arms and shouting something she couldn't hear.
Teresa Gregory turned around in the backseat of the taxi, smiled, and waved goodbye.
Step three was complete.
Next, she asked the driver to take her to the twenty-four hour access mailbox she rented a few months earlier.
*
Laura watched her husband through the ballroom window, and then breathed a sigh of relief as soon as she was certain Teresa had safely gotten away. She turned from the window and started to look for Austin. She didn't notice Mathew coming back inside until it was too late.
He grabbed hold of her elbow. "Dance with me, Laura. We look ridiculous just standing here."
She pulled her elbow out of his grasp. "We have always looked ridiculous, Mathew."
"Laura, please."
She turned her glare on him. "What are you up to? Why are we here, Mathew? Do you hope to have witnesses when you accuse me of adultery?"
"Of course not."
"Then why, Mathew? Why after all these years?"
"Because I have missed you."
She smirked and turned away. Laura rose up on tiptoe, and tried to look for Austin over the heads of the dancing couples.
"I love you, Laura, I always have."
"Me and at least a thousand others."
"You rejected me, remember?"
She turned her amazed expression on him. "I rejected you? Divorce me, Darling. I dare you."