Chapter 9 - The Groom Walks Away
Thatcher canceled the ceremony the next morning. He didn't announce it with a speech or a dramatic post. He called the officiant, told his parents, and informed the venue he wouldn't be proceeding.
Sloan responded by leaving me fifteen voice messages.
“You stole him from me!” she sobbed in one.
In another she said, “You think you're better than me because you have a job and a house?”
I saved them without listening a second time.
Thatcher asked to visit. He came carrying a supermarket bag of sandwiches, looking tired enough to be the one recovering from surgery.
“I should have confronted her the moment she mocked your brace,” he said.
“You aren't responsible for her decisions.”
“I watched her laugh.”
I didn't argue with that. Sometimes regret was the right thing to feel.
He told me Sloan had demanded he tell her family that the wedding was postponed because of his cold feet. When he refused, she threatened to claim I'd manipulated him.
“What did you say?” I asked.
“That I'm not marrying someone who can hurt her sister and then call the injury a publicity problem.”
He looked down at his hands. “There's something else. Three nights before the rehearsal, I heard your father arguing with the wedding planner about an unpaid balance. He said they already had a fallback.”
“Me,” I said.
Thatcher nodded.
After he left, I received a message from Bellamy. It contained a screenshot of a group conversation among her, Sloan, and Mom.
Mom had written: “Whatever happens, Merritt cannot be allowed to make a scene in front of the Hadleys.”
Sloan answered: “Relax. She won't even make it through the entrance.”
May you like
The date was the night before I fell.
And Bellamy's next message contained the words that changed the direction of everything: “I can prove what they meant.”
