No Future in the Seams

"The groom has to be joking. He must be planning some special surprise for Audrey.

"Come on, stop hiding them and bring out the bridal shoes you stitched."

After a brief silence, my aunt, who had come to see me off, tried to ease the awkwardness.

I studied Cole Bennett's face, a faint spark of hope stirring inside me.

Under everyone's strange looks, Cole turned to me with open impatience.

"This is the only pair. There aren't any others.

"Besides, you've already been through this six times. Aren't you used to it by now?"

My breath caught.

"So you really did halfheartedly go through all seven wedding send-offs?"

Then what did that make me, happily putting on my wedding dress and waiting for him every single time? A joke?

Piper Dawson pouted in displeasure.

"Who says Cole didn't put in any effort?

"He stitched a pair every time. I liked them so much that he gave them to me."

As she spoke, she lifted the hem of her dress and revealed the hand-stitched shoes on her feet.

I dug my nails into my palms as the ache in my chest deepened.

Cole had always favored Piper, using her age as an excuse to make me give in to her at every turn.

I never imagined that even during our wedding send-off, he would give away my bridal shoes just to make her happy.

He did not care at all that I had waited seven years for him.

"Audrey, the ceremony window hasn't closed yet, and we wear the same size.

"Why don't you just get married in the pair I'm wearing?"

Piper said it with a smug smile.

One of the groomsmen who had come with them nodded in agreement.

"Exactly. Stop holding everyone up. Just put the shoes on and go."

Before he had even finished, my aunt blurted out anxiously.

"What are you talking about? Since when does a bride get married in another woman's worn shoes?

"That would be humiliating her!"

Piper immediately lifted her chin, but before she could speak, Cole glared at me in annoyance.

"Audrey, I already said I'd marry you. Can't you just behave?

"They're only a pair of shoes. Do you really have to embarrass a younger girl over them?"

A bitter ache surged through my chest.

From the day he swore he would marry me, he had worked relentlessly to learn how to embroider bridal shoes.

He went from pricking all ten fingers bloody to stitching a flawless pattern.

He told me he was not merely sewing a pair of shoes. He was stitching together our happy future.

Yet now, to protect Piper, he was saying they were only a pair of shoes.

My throat ached with everything I held back. I met Cole's eyes and smiled.

"You're right. There's no reason to make everyone miserable over a pair of shoes.

"This wedding isn't happening either. You should all go home."

Cole froze, apparently not expecting me to smile.

After all, each of the previous six times the wedding had been canceled, I had angrily grabbed his ear and made him repeat my shoe size.

Cole stared at me, then suddenly chuckled, sounding almost pleased.

"Piper was right. You love me so much that even after learning the truth, you still can't bring yourself to make things difficult for me."

He looked completely certain, even proud of himself.

In that instant, the last of my hope and love for him disappeared.