The Mountain's Promise
A fortune teller once said that if I married before my older brother, he would spend the rest of his life alone.
To save Arlo Pennick from that fate, my parents and my older sister, Lorna Pennick, did everything they could to tear my relationship apart. The night before my engagement party, they even abandoned me in the mountains.
Four or five drunk men stumbled by and went out of their way to start trouble, rushing at me with fists and boots.
I called home in tears and begged for help, but my parents never picked up. Lorna answered, only to tell me coldly, "Mom and Dad already decided—Arlo is marrying your fiancée now, and she's agreed to it. Arlo is this close to beating that prophecy.