Chapter 10

The morning of the wedding arrived heavy and gray. I stood at Diana’s kitchen window staring at the rain sliding down the glass, my hands wrapped around a mug of coffee gone cold. Three days had somehow stretched into the exact date I once circled on every calendar. Today should have been my day. I should have been in a white dress, reading the vows, and fantasizing about the future. Instead, I wore old sweats and watched the clock tick toward a ceremony I was not part of.

My phone sat face down on the counter. I had promised myself I would not check it. Not today. But when it buzzed I grabbed it anyway.

Diana’s first text came through. She had gone because someone needed to witness it, she said. For the record. Because she could not stand not knowing.

I read it slowly. “I’m here. The venue looks expensive. Lots of flowers. Too many. Like they’re trying to cover something.”

I typed back fast, fingers pressing hard on the screen. “You don’t have to do this. Come home. I’m fine.”

Her reply popped up almost immediately. “Too late. I'm sitting in the back. There's an empty seat beside me where you should be… Ava just walked in. Her dress is… interesting. Ruffle situation on the back. Babes. A RUFFLE.”

A short, sharp laugh escaped me. The first real sound like that since the elevator. It surprised me so much I dropped the phone on the counter. It clattered loudly in the quiet apartment. I picked it up again, eyes stinging.

“You laughed?” Diana texted right after. “Good. Hold onto that. Ryan looks nervous, he keeps checking his watch, Mom is directing people like a general, and Dennis is standing silent beside her as usual.”

I paced the small kitchen, phone tight in my grip. The laugh faded fast, replaced by something sharper that pressed against my ribs. “Tell me what Ava looks like. Be honest.”

“Glowing in that way new brides are supposed to. Hand on her stomach when she thinks no one sees. But her smile slips sometimes like she knows this is rushed. Ryan kissed her cheek but it looked polite. Not like he used to look at you in the beginning.”

I leaned against the counter, breathing through the twist in my chest. “Stop. I don’t need every detail. Just… stay safe there. Don’t let them see you if you can help it.”

Another text. “Too late. Margaret spotted me. She gave me that tight smile she does when she’s pretending everything is fine.”

“She later came over and said you should have come for the family's sake. I told her you were busy becoming unstoppable. She didn’t like that.”

The words hit like small stones. I closed my eyes and saw the living room again. Mom on the sofa laying out her plan. Ava in my favorite chair. Ryan by the window. The demand to step aside graciously. The pregnancy changing everything. My hands folded tight in my lap while I held my face still as water.

I typed back, trying to keep my thumbs steady. “What is happening now? Are they at the vows yet?”

“Not yet. Music started. Slow song. The one you picked for your own ceremony, remember? They kept it. Maybe it's a bold choice or a lazy one. It's hard to tell.”

That one hurt deeper. I slid down the wall until I sat on the kitchen floor, legs stretched out. The same song. The one I spent weeks choosing because it felt like us. Now it played for them. Rain tapped harder against the window like it agreed with the ache building behind my eyes.

Diana sent another. “Ava’s walking down now. Everyone standing. She looks beautiful but nervous. Ryan is waiting at the front. He glanced toward the back once, as if he expected to see you. The empty chair probably caught his eye.”

I pressed the phone to my forehead. “I should have burned that dress. The one with the new neckline. Four hundred hours. Bold and sweeping because I finally decided I wouldn’t hide anymore. Now it’s probably still hanging somewhere in that studio they won’t let me have.”

“You’re better than burning it,” Diana replied. “You’re going to make better ones. Ones that actually belong to you. Oh wait. Vows starting. Ryan speaking first. Standard stuff. Love. Future. Family. He stumbled on the word forever.”

I laughed again but it cracked halfway. The sound bounced off the empty apartment walls. Forever. He said that to me once too. In the studio after a late night. He promised we were building something real. I believed him while I turned down opportunities and poured myself into his dreams.

“His voice shook on the part about loyalty,” Diana texted. “Mom looks pleased though. Directing the photographer with her eyes. Dennis is still silent. Typical.”

I stayed on the floor, knees drawn up now. The rain outside matched the pressure in my throat. Every text pulled another memory loose. The engagement dinner where Ava helped pick flowers and smiled like we were close. The nights I redesigned patterns for free because I loved him completely. The way Mom always said I should be grateful someone overlooked my size, my space in the world.

Another buzz. “Rings exchanged. Ava cried a little. Real tears or performance? Hard to say. She touched her stomach again when they kissed. Crowd clapping now.”

I whispered to the empty room, “They are married. Officially. My sister and my ex. In front of everyone we knew. While I sit on this floor with cold coffee and one box of sketches.”

Diana kept the updates coming. “Reception is starting soon. People are asking about you. Some are genuine. Some are nosy. One guy from Lancaster said the company feels different without your input on collections and I told him to say it louder.”

The words should have felt good. Validation. But they landed like salt. I stood up slowly and walked to the window, pressing my forehead to the cool glass. “Come home after the ceremony. Don’t stay for the party. I need you here. This is harder than I thought.”

“Leaving now,” she replied. “One more thing. Someone was at the very back. Tall guy. Dark hair. He watched the empty seat more than the couple and left before the kiss even finished. I've never seen him before. He has a weird energy like he was there for something else entirely.”

I stared at the text, a new tension threading through the hurt. Tall guy. Dark hair. Watching the empty seat. The same seat that should have held me. The business card I threw away flashed in my mind. Noah Sinclair. The handwritten line. Information that concerns you.

I did not tell Diana about the twist in my stomach. Instead, I typed, “Just come home. Drive safe. I’ll make more coffee.”

While I waited I moved around the apartment,.wiped the counters, and straightened the sketches on the table. But my hands shook once when I picked up the business card I had pulled from the trash earlier. I had fished it out last night when the wondering got too loud. Noah Sinclair. Sinclair Capital. The name felt heavier now.

The door opened twenty minutes later. Diana stepped in, shaking rain from her coat. Her face told everything before she spoke.

“You survived it,” I said, voice low. “Tell me the rest in person. No more texts.”

She hugged me tight, wet coat and all. “It was exactly as messy as we expected. But you laughed earlier. That counts. Hold onto that sound.”

I held on, breathing in the familiar scent of her perfume. The wedding had happened. My sister married my ex while the world watched and commented. The empty seat stayed empty. And somewhere in the back a stranger had watched that emptiness instead of the couple.

The questions pressed harder now. Who was Noah Sinclair? Why did he send the card? What information did he have that made him stand at the back of a wedding he was never invited to?

I pulled back from the hug and looked at Diana. The rain kept falling outside. The day stretched ahead empty and full of unknowns at the same time.

Whatever came next, the wedding was done. And I was still here breathing, but the tension in my chest said the story was far from over.