The Promise I Reclaimed

The wedding program continued, and the officiant's cheerful voice carried across the ballroom.

"Now, groom, you may embrace and kiss your bride."

Before the sentence was finished, Derek Halstead lifted Vanessa Pryce's veil and leaned in to kiss her.

It looked as natural as though they had rehearsed it a hundred times.

I watched in silence.

Nora's expression darkened instead.

I caught her before she could rush onto the stage and shook my head gently.

"Don't."

She turned toward me, furious.

"Elise, how can Derek do this to you?

"You waited seven years for this wedding. You designed the venue yourself, chose every detail yourself, even glued every crystal onto the escort cards by hand.

"How can he hand the whole thing to Vanessa just because of some old reconciliation voucher?"

She was right.

I had waited seven years for this wedding.

Even Nora, who lived overseas, knew how much it meant to me.

Yet Derek, who had walked through those seven years beside me and once knelt before my mother promising to give me a real home, dismissed the wedding as nothing more than ceremony.

Nora held my hand, her voice thick with pain.

"Elise, you've loved him for ten years. When he couldn't sleep after his breakup, you stayed awake with him. When years of drinking ruined his stomach, you spent three years learning how to cook food he could tolerate. When he got into a fight, you nearly died protecting him.

"And look at him now. He never let Vanessa go."

I followed her gaze.

Vanessa, now dressed for the reception, moved from table to table with a bright smile.

Derek stayed beside her and quietly replaced the champagne in her glass with orange juice.

Maybe they had planned this long before today.

Except for Nora, who had originally been my maid of honor, nearly every guest on the bride's side belonged to Vanessa.

They praised Derek and Vanessa as though they had always been the perfect couple.

The picture was unnervingly harmonious.

So harmonious that it felt as if this had been their wedding from the beginning.

I blinked, and the two of them were already standing in front of me.

Vanessa looked apologetic, though triumph filled her eyes.

"Elise, I'm sorry. I never meant to take your wedding. I only wanted to make up for one regret from when we were younger, and Derek just... well, he didn't want to break a promise. If you need to blame someone, blame me.

"Still, thank you for letting us have this moment. Let me toast you."

Every word sounded like an apology while somehow becoming a victory speech.

Derek seemed not to hear the cruelty in it. He only smiled at me and silently mouthed one familiar word.

"Be good."

I had heard those words countless times over seven years.

On our anniversary, when he left me to take Vanessa to a movie, he told me to be good.

When I needed surgery for severe gastroenteritis and he took Vanessa's dog to the veterinarian instead, he told me to be good.

Now he had handed another woman the wedding that belonged to me, and still he told me to be good.

As if I were not his partner but a pet he kept around for comfort.

When he had free time, he could play with me. When Vanessa came home, I was expected to wait quietly in my corner.

I pushed the thought away, lifted my glass, and touched it against Vanessa's.

"It's fine. Congratulations. I hope the two of you are very happy."

Then I drank.

Vanessa covered her mouth as she smiled.

Derek, however, froze.

A second later, the liquor burned my throat and made me cough.

He patted my back and hurriedly exchanged my glass for orange juice.

"Drink this. It'll help."

The concern in his eyes looked genuine.

But staring at that bright orange glass left bitterness spreading through me.

We had been together seven years.

I had told him more than once that I was allergic to orange juice.

He still had not remembered.

It was not that his memory was poor. Orange juice simply happened to be Vanessa's favorite drink.

I raised one hand and pushed the glass away.

"Thanks, but I'm allergic to orange juice."

Derek stopped, his lips moving as if he wanted to say something.

Vanessa tugged his sleeve. "Derek, we still need photographs with the guests."

His attention shifted to her instantly. He left me standing there and followed her toward the photo area.

Nora glared at their retreating backs and spoke carefully.

"Elise, let him go. Don't go through with the courthouse marriage tomorrow."

My hand paused. Then I patted hers gently.

"Don't worry. I know what I'm doing."

I was still getting married tomorrow; the only thing that had changed was the groom.