And that, my little man, is how you properly tie a bow tie,” Clarke said to the ring bearer, sitting back fully on his haunches and admiring his handiwork.

The adult-size bow tie was far too large for Audrey’s four-year-old nephew, but it had stopped the tantrum in its tracks, so Clarke was counting it as a win.

“You know that tinier members of the wedding party usually get the clip-on variety,” Alexis Morgan said as she watched Stevie dash off to show his parents his new accessory.

“I do,” Clarke said, standing and grinning at the wedding planner. “But his had an unfortunate run-in with the men’s urinal.”

“Ah.” She gestured at his neck. “And so now the ring bearer has a bow tie, and the groom does not.”

Clarke shrugged. “Stevie wanted it more than I did.”

Alexis lifted her eyebrow. “That, and you knew I’d have a spare?”

He grinned. “I knew you would.”

He expected her to smile back, or at least to talk into her fancy headset thing and have the assistant he’d seen running all over the place bring in the replacement bow tie.

Alexis didn’t smile. And she didn’t speak into her headset. In fact, looking at her more closely, Clarke realized for the first time since he’d known her that Alexis Morgan was uncertain and seemed to be trying to figure out the best way to deliver bad news.

Clarke’s stomach dropped, his world tilting sideways. Audrey. He knew with complete certainty that whatever was wrong had to do with her.

An accident. There’d been an accident. An illness. Some freak sickness.

His words came out in a frantic rush. “What is it? Is she okay? She hasn’t been answering my texts, but I figured she was just taking the don’t-see-the-bride-before-the-ceremony thing to a whole new level…”

Before Alexis could answer, the door to the small room on the side of the church deemed “the groom’s room” opened, and Scott and Oliver stepped in, looking even more grim than Alexis. The three of them exchanged a look that Clarke didn’t understand, and Alexis quietly left the room without a word.

He didn’t waste any time, his heart clawing at his throat. “What’s happened? Is she okay?”

“Audrey’s fine,” Oliver said, holding up a hand.

“Well, not fine,” Scott muttered.

“She’s not hurt,” Oliver amended. “Physically.”

Clarke’s breath came out in a whoosh of relief as he felt his world turn right side up once again, even as Oliver’s clarification set off a slight warning bell. “Thank God.”

“She’s not injured,” Oliver said again, “but she’s also not here.”

Clarke frowned. “What do you mean? Was there traffic? Do we need to delay? Is there some sort of wardrobe malfunction? Someone tell her she can get married in a garbage bag, for all I care.”