Now here he was, telling me they hadn't crossed any lines.
Isabel's posts kept coming, one after another.
Serving tea to the in-laws, collecting the gift money for changing how she addressed them, pouring champagne, the parents' toast...
Before I even realized it, all of this had gone far past what Anthony had promised me. She was only supposed to walk through the entrance. Nothing more.
It wasn't until the very last part, the bouquet toss, that Anthony's message finally trickled in.
【Are you at the hotel yet? Wait a while longer in the lounge. Izzy's having fun, so she went ahead and did the rest of the ceremony too.】
【Don't be upset about it. Just think of it as making up for how you made her cry earlier.】
The lounge was only two rooms away from the banquet hall.
Even so, he wouldn't come look in on me. Not once.
I didn't answer Anthony.
I just cropped a corner of the video Isabel had posted, the one showing my wedding cake already smashed beyond recognition, and sent it to him.
【Why did you let her touch my cake.】
【It's just a cake, what's the big deal, I'll have the hotel go buy another one.】
I bit my lip until it went white.
【Everything you promised me. Have you forgotten all of it?】
Why, when I was already this far past disappointment, did my heart still hurt this much?
The wedding gown I'd searched more than a dozen shops to find, the one Isabel secretly tried on and stretched out of shape. Anthony had said, what's the big deal, just get another one.
The little garden chapel I'd fallen in love with, the one Isabel quietly swapped for a dreamy-styled banquet hall. Anthony had said, do what she wants, she has better taste.
By the very end of the wedding planning, my one and only request was that I make the wedding cake with my own hands.
I'd told Anthony this was the biggest wish I had as a pastry chef.
Isabel hadn't come back to the country yet, then.
Anthony had stood outside my soon-to-open pastry shop and gently tweaked my nose.
"My baby's so easy to please."
"Fine. When the day comes, I'll keep an eye on every single guest at the wedding. Everyone has to clean their plate and then write our master pastry chef an eight-hundred-word rave review."
I laughed and threw myself into his arms.
"Such a smooth talker!"
I dragged the progress bar back again and again, watching that short clip.
The cake I'd come to the hotel early to finish had been cut to pieces.
Before anyone had even taken a bite, Isabel smeared it across the face of one of Anthony's buddies.
The whole crowd burst into laughing and shoving, wiping frosting on each other.
My wish, trampled underfoot, smeared across the wall, scraped into the kitchen scraps.
The reply on the other end paused for a few seconds.
The next second, it drove straight into my heart again.
【Trudy Bishop, a person shouldn't be so ungrateful.】
【It's just a cake, why make such a fuss. Not a single one of your relatives showed up, even your bridesmaids were people Izzy rounded up to save you from an empty room.】
The scar was ripped open all over again.
I jabbed at the screen so hard it clicked and clicked.
【The reason my parents wouldn't come. Aren't you the one who knows best?】
The other end went silent.
The pain I'd buried settled back down into my lower belly, dragged up by the memory.
That day. Blood everywhere on the floor, a tearing, ripping agony.
On instinct, I'd dialed the number I trusted most.
The instant the call connected, a spoiled, shrill female voice was already yelling.
"Hey, hey, big busy man, you promised to hang out with us all day today, turn it off, turn it off, no answering calls!"
Along with the clanging, festive racket of the wedding car, and then the "beep, beep" of the call being cut off.
I lost a child.
When I woke, I was lying in the hospital.
The first face I saw wasn't Anthony's. It was my roommate's.
She was the one who'd found me collapsed at home after her shift, rushed me to the hospital, and signed the surgery consent form for me too.
I'd known her less than a month then. She took the risk and signed her name for me.
