บททั้งหมดของ The Bride Who Stopped Waiting: บทที่ 1 - บทที่ 10

The ring hit the rim of the china plate with a bright little clink.The smile went out of Adrian's face.Serena hugged Coco, her golden retriever, and pretended to be shocked. "Nora, you're not actually mad, are you? It was just a joke."The rest of the room chimed in."It's only a dog food cake.""Adrian already apologized. The wedding's tomorrow. Don't make a huge scene."I looked at my parents, my relatives, the friends we shared, and the fiancé I had loved for seven years.Every one of them knew this was a bet.I was the only one who didn't.Adrian picked up the ring and tried to slide it back onto my finger.I put my hand behind my back. "Don't touch me."He frowned. "Things did go too far today. I'm apologizing to you for Serena."For her. Again.All my life, when Serena smashed my trophy, it was because she was in poor health.When she cut up my school uniform, it was just sisters fooling around.When she took my job offer, it was because she needed it more.Now she had brought

When I got back to my parents' house, my mother, Margaret Bennett, had someone hauling the cedar hope chest out the door.She saw me and showed not a trace of guilt. "Good timing. Serena needs a cabinet, so she can use this one for now.""Grandma left that to me.""You're sisters. Why split things into yours and hers?"My father, Richard Bennett, came out of the study holding the folder with my documents in it. "Adrian says you're making noise about calling off the wedding. Your papers stay with me for now, so you don't do something rash and take off."I walked over. "Give them back.""Get through the wedding first."I pulled the folder straight out of his hands and held it against my chest.Margaret planted herself in the doorway. "Serena cried all night. She just can't bear to see you get married, so she said a few extra words to Adrian."You've had everything since you were little. She's not healthy. What's wrong with us loving her a little more?"I laughed out loud. "What have I ha

I held the microphone steady, my voice level. "No one can go through life without getting hurt."There are just some kinds of pain I refused to admit to before."Today's wedding is cancelled."A wave of noise went through the hall.Margaret rushed to the edge of the stage, hissing at me to come down.I didn't stop."Every wedding gift will be returned to the person who sent it. I'll cover my share of the losses on the banquet and the venue."As of today, I'm leaving White Veil."I'll contact every client whose order I was handling, and either hand the work over or refund it."It was raining when I walked out of the hotel.Chloe was waiting at the door with an umbrella.I got into her car, shut off my phone, and went back to the studio with her.That night I sorted every unfinished order into three groups.I would finish every gown for the clients who still wanted me to make theirs.For clients who wanted to stay with the old studio, I returned all their files.For those who requested r

My parents wouldn't go.Margaret sat down outside the shop and cried, telling everyone who passed that I had called off my own wedding and then stolen my sister's business.More and more people stopped to watch.Richard pointed at my sign. "You agree today, or we don't leave."Chloe was ready to call the police.I stopped her, carried out a chair, and sat down in the doorway. "Since you want other people to judge this, let's lay the whole thing out."I opened my phone and pulled up years of transfer records."Once I started working, I gave the family twelve hundred dollars a month."When the studio turned a profit, I helped you move into a better home and put down a hundred and forty thousand dollars."When Serena quit her job, I covered eight months of her car payments."The onlookers started talking among themselves.Richard's face went ugly. "Why keep such careful accounts of family money?""Because you never once treated me as family."Then I pulled out a copy of the hospital birth

The night before I left, Adrian waited outside the shop for four hours.As I pulled the shutter down, he held out a paper box.Inside was a very small white tulle dress.The stitching ran crooked and the waistline wasn't even."I made it from one of your old sketches."I had no idea a dress was this hard."Band-Aids covered his fingers.I didn't take it."Is that a client's sketch?""No. It's the one you drew for yourself back in college."I had no experience making wedding dresses then.I drew the simplest dress I could. Beside it, I wrote, "On my wedding day, I want him to see me the moment he looks up."Adrian had kept that old sketch all this time. "Nora, I used to think a wedding was only a formality."As long as we ended up married, I convinced myself that being late once or hurting you one more time didn't matter."It's only now that I understand you weren't waiting for a ceremony."You were waiting for me to walk toward you without hesitating."The night wind stirred the edge o