The Stolen Bridal Carriage

Everyone in this town knows that when a family gives a daughter away in marriage, the parents always have a grand bridal carriage custom-built for her, adorned with thousands of pearls. Every single pearl on that carriage must be personally harvested by her mother and father—the more pearls, the more cherished the daughter is, and the more her future husband will value her. My own bridal carriage was finished six years ago. But nineteen times now, my wedding date has been set, and each time, my younger foster sister, Lena Bennett, has found some excuse to stop it. This time, on the very morning of my wedding, she locked me in my room again. By the time I smashed through the window and stumbled into the banquet hall, bruised and bleeding, the ceremony was already underway. Lena was sitting in my carriage, led by my brother, Ryan Bennett, toward my fiancé, Nathan Sinclair. My parents stood by the side with tears in their eyes, pleading with Nathan to treat their daughter well. The moment my best friend, Megan Hayes, saw me, she blocked the entrance and pinned me down. "Yes," she confessed, "this whole bride-swap plan—we all came up with it together. Lena is seriously ill. Everyone just wants to grant her dying wish. Try to be understanding." Ryan hurried over and warned me, "Mom and Dad said that if you just behave this one time, not only will they give you ten times more wedding gifts later, but they'll also finally treat you and Lena exactly the same from now on. If not, don't expect to stay in our family estate." I clenched my fists and refused to let a single tear fall in front of them. What they don't know was that over the years, my adoptive parents, Daniel and Susan Ward, had already quietly prepared wedding gifts worth hundreds of thousands for me. So, whatever love and belonging my biological family promised? I don't want it anymore.