Chapter 8
“Rose, are you seriously getting married?” Marcus asked, his voice cracking just enough for me to notice.
That tremor in his voice took me back. Years ago, he’d confessed with that same nervous quiver: “Rose, marrying you is my life’s dream. No pressure though—I’ll wait forever if I have to. I’ll make
you see how much you mean to me.”
Funny how after eighteen years, we’re still misreading each other’s hearts.
Nathan, always the bratty little brother, just came out and said it straight.
“Cut the crap, Rose,” he snapped. “You’re not actually marrying someone else.”
ok at you–a sickly kid from a broke–ass family? Why would the Montgomerys ever want you?
s just another one of your attention games. I’m not buying it.”
He talked all tough, but those red–rimmed eyes–total giveaway.
Random memory hit me–back when we were just kids, the three of us used to play house in the garden.
Me drowning in Mrs. Blackwood’s wedding dress, the boys wrestling over who’d get to play husband.
Nathan always lost. He’d stand there, tears threatening to spill, throwing a total tantrum–exactly like right now.
Everything’s the same.
Everything’s different.
[ smoothed my wedding dress, keeping my eyes on the intricate beadwork. Anything to avoid meeting their stares.
‘You need to leave. For your mother’s sake, I’ll skip having security drag you out.”
Marcus looked like I’d slapped him. “Rose! Cut it out! This isn’t a game! Marriage isn’t something you can just joke about–have you even thought this through?!”
17:21
Slapped Today Crowned Tomorrow
6.3%
Chapter 8
His voice rose with desperation. “Eighteen years together, and you never once said yes to me. Now you’re marrying some stranger? What the hell is that about?!”
I kept my voice level, my face a practiced mask of indifference.
“There’s nothing impulsive about this. Every choice I’ve made has been carefully thought out.”
I touched my abdomen briefly. “I’m not getting any younger, and if I wait much longer, I might not
even be able to have my own kids.”
They think they’ve been the patient ones? That they’ve waited for me?
I’ve spent my entire life waiting for them.
I used to be so certain about us–the inseparable trio. I’d marry one of the Blackwood boys, turning two generations of family friends into real, actual family.
I was dead wrong.
Childhood promises don’t stand a chance against real love when it blindsides you.
Those teenage feelings you thought would last forever? They burn out faster than a cheap candle.
A relationship that never even existed–what’s the point in holding onto it or missing it?
“But why him?” Marcus’s voice had gone hollow. “Why Jack Montgomery? If you wanted a ring and a white dress so badly, Rose… you could have just asked me.”
I finally looked up at the mirror.
My reflection stared back–draped in silk and crystals, exactly the bride I’d imagined becoming since I was seven years old.
I turned to them both, a small, sad smile playing on my lips.
‘Because when everyone else was weighing options, Jack didn’t hesitate for a second.” I let that sink in. “He chose me. No hesitation. No backup plan. Just me.”
6.89%
