“I thought they'd broken up, that's why the groom married someone else. Turns out she was the one kept in the dark the whole time.”
“Please. One's an old maid, the other's a girl fresh out of college. What man doesn't want the young one?”
“And she stood by Les Sanchez for ten years. She saw him broke and humiliated. The minute a man makes it, the first thing he upgrades is the woman on his arm.”
“All you can say is she was a fool. Pinned everything on one man and burned up her whole youth for nothing.”
I curled in on myself, shaking from head to toe.
I'd always struggled in crowds, and the thing I feared most was being talked about.
Every other time, when I was surrounded like this,
Les would come running to shield me, pulling me somewhere safe.
But now, far from rescuing me, he just stood there watching, cold-eyed, his silence its own kind of agreement.
The shame and the terror of it swallowed me whole.
I didn't even lift my head. I bolted for the restroom.
But I'd barely gotten inside
when a few of the bride's people hauled me back out without a shred of courtesy.
“What are you hiding from?”
“The bride said it herself, you're an important witness to this marriage. You have to stay for the reception. They'll be coming around to toast you soon.”
They dragged me back out, leaving me a mess.
Every eye in the hall turned toward me, and I wished the floor would crack open and swallow me down.
“Cora, this is my wedding with Constance. Stop making a scene, can you?”
Les took one look at the state of me and frowned.
“Sit down quietly over there.”
“Once we're back home, I'll make it up to you.”
“Be good. As long as you don't cause trouble today, I'll go to the courthouse with you to register the marriage by Monday at the latest.”
I glanced at Constance beside him, chin tipped high, then back at his self-righteous face.
And all at once I felt absurd.
A full ten years of my youth, thrown to the dogs.
“Les, if you didn't want to marry me, why didn't you say so sooner?”
My eyes were bloodshot, and I stared at him with everything I had left.
“Why drag it out until now? Why keep me in the dark, make me into a joke?”
Les knitted his brows, still holding the wineglass he meant to toast with.
“Cora, I already told you. Compared to you, Constance brings out my urge to protect her.”
Then his lips curved up, and he leaned in with a soft little laugh.
“And you know what? The last time you pulled out that wedding-gown sample, pushing me for a wedding, I was honestly fed up with you.”
“Right then, I'd shut myself in the study on a video call with Constance. She was picking out a hotel, ready to give herself to me, completely.”
“After that night, I felt content for the first time in my life.”
“She's so pure. A woman who belongs to me entirely.”
“I took her first time, so of course I should take responsibility, give her a wife's standing, give her a happy life.”
“And you, you could never give me that feeling.”
With that, Les stepped back, putting distance between us.
“I know I can't give you this wedding, and yes, you'll carry some regret over it. But what in life is ever perfect?”
“Cora, you should be grateful Constance is so generous.”
“She's the one swallowing her pride, willing to step aside and hand the marriage registration over to you.”
“This is our wedding. It wouldn't look right for you to keep carrying on.”
It struck me as so completely absurd that I actually laughed out loud.
And everyone looked at me the way you'd look at a madwoman.
“Don't tell me Cora actually snapped and lost her mind?”
“Couldn't marry the man she wanted, that's a hard blow. Who's to say?”
