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Isabel Swanson and I had been legally married for three years, but the wedding ceremony she'd promised to hold kept getting put off.
Her job kept her too busy. Ten times I hired someone to pick a good wedding date, and ten times she waved it away.
On the eleventh, Isabel finally cleared her schedule.
I booked her bridal gown with my heart full of hope, and then, out of nowhere, she found out she was pregnant.
My mother-in-law came to stay with us and take care of her. "You're going to be a father now. What do you still want a wedding for? Wait until my grandchild graduates, then you can go stir up all the fuss you want. Won't be too late."
Isabel frowned, unhappy, and argued on my behalf.
"A wedding is one of the biggest things in a person's whole life. Of course we're having one. But right now the baby comes first. Once I've had the baby, we'll throw a grand wedding."
I looked at her, moved, and nodded hard in agreement.
When I went to cancel the gown order, I couldn't help wanting to try on the wedding suit I liked one more time.
But the moment I stepped into the fitting rooms, I saw my closest brother walk in with his arm around Isabel.
Arthur Sanchez pinched her cheek, easy and familiar.
"You think Ulysses Simmons will ever figure out you're stalling on his wedding on purpose?"
Isabel nuzzled into his palm.
"He won't. That idiot believes anything I tell him."
"I'm just playing with him. The baby isn't even his. What kind of wedding would I hold with him?"
"And I promised you a long time ago. He gets the marriage certificate, you get the wedding. Fair enough."
I dropped to the floor where I stood, tears soaking into the collar of the suit.
I'd been such a fool. Too much of a fool to see she was only playing with me,
too much of a fool to see that all her devotion was an act she put on to fool me.
If even the baby wasn't mine, then I didn't want the marriage certificate or the wedding.
……
Through the crack in the fitting room door, I watched Arthur pull Isabel into his arms.
"It's not like I stole him from you."
"I'm just a committed bachelor who wanted to know what it feels like to be a groom."
"The three of us were always closest. You're the only one I could ask."
He straightened her upright as he spoke.
"But if you'd let yourself get dirtied holding a wedding with him, I'd rather find someone else."
Isabel gripped his hand and rested her head back on his shoulder.
"I know. You've always chased perfection. You can't stand anything unclean."
She patted his backside. "Hurry up and pick a gown for me to try on."
Arthur laughed and led her off by the hand to choose.
I huddled in the fitting room, my stomach starting to cramp, my hand clamped over my mouth so I wouldn't make a sound.
They say a man doesn't cry easily, but I still couldn't stop the tears and the snot running together.
So the wedding I'd waited for like a fool, Isabel had never once meant to give me.
She was right. I really was stupid and gutless.
Stupid enough to believe every word she said, waiting like an idiot for her to finish with work so she'd finally hold my wedding.
Stupid enough that my wife and my best brother had already gotten together right under my nose, and I hadn't sensed a thing.
Gutless enough that I'd walked in on them together and still didn't dare confront them, only curl up in a fitting room and cry.
"Sir, are you all right?"
A shop assistant knocked, concerned, and passed me tissues and a cup of water.
I took them, a wreck, and breathed slowly until I'd settled myself.
Isabel had already changed into the gown and come out. The awe in Arthur's eyes was something he couldn't hide.
"Isabel, you're beautiful."
Isabel smiled, shy, then lifted her head and let him look his fill.
Hearing the noise on my side, the assistant told them quietly what was going on.
Isabel sighed with pity. "How sad. Who comes to try on a gown and a suit alone? The woman clearly doesn't love him."
Arthur went down on one knee to arrange the hem of her dress.
"Exactly. Busy as Captain Swanson is, she still took time off to come with me, didn't she?"
He stood, tucking the loose strands by her ear back into place.
"So, forever at the service of my princess."
Isabel gave a soft smile, rose onto her toes, and pressed a kiss to him.
I stayed curled in the fitting room, wiping the cold sweat from my forehead, bitter water rising in my throat.
I had never once seen Isabel that tender, that gentle.
Back then I'd asked her one time whether we could go order the gown together. She'd stared at me, frowning, and sighed. "You can handle something this small yourself. Do you have any idea how busy I am?" As if I were being ridiculous.
So I'd understood how hard she worked, and gone alone to book the gown, then gone alone to cancel it.
I'd managed everything at home by myself, never willing to trouble her.
And now here she was, belly and all, going behind my back to try on gowns and suits with my best brother.
So in the end, the only one who was moved was me, and the only clown was me too.
The store manager's eyes lit up at the sight of them, praising what a well-matched young couple they made, then said,
"Would you two be willing to shoot a set of promotional photos for our store?"
"We can give you fifty percent off the gown."
Arthur's eyes brightened, and he gave Isabel's waist a squeeze.
Isabel pressed down on his roaming hand,
then turned and said sweetly to the manager,
"Whatever my love wants. If he wants to shoot them, we will."
He was her love. Then what was I?
While I sat there, dazed, they'd already exchanged a smile and turned to walk toward the studio.
A message alert on my phone dragged me back to reality. I looked down and opened it.
【Isabel: Silly Ulysses, I'm about to take off. I'll be home at three tomorrow afternoon. Love you.】
The cramp in my stomach sharpened. I couldn't hold it any longer and rushed to the store's restroom, clutching the toilet until I was retching myself empty, until in the end there wasn't even bile left to bring up.
On the other side of the wall the studio shoot was going full swing,
while I, held up by the shop assistant, leaned against the wall and moved slowly to a sofa and sat down.
When I'd finally scraped together some strength, I stopped hesitating.
I signed the cancellation for the gown and paid no more mind to my churning stomach.
I forced myself up, went out, and took a cab to the hospital where Isabel had her prenatal records, and got a number for the doctor I knew.
I sat across from him, my face white.
"I'm Isabel's husband. Can I take a look at her prenatal records?"
