part repeatedly poses a question: what am I doing here?
What am I doing here?
My father’s reprehensible secret is one thing, and that is something we will have to deal with as a family soon enough.
But what about me? Now?
I just learned that the man I am marrying hid something so substantial from me, even though I gave him a way to admit it more than once. Katie’s slip was just a prelude to a can of worms that was inevitably busted open at the worst time possible.
Am I still doing this?
Marrying the man whose first lie to me before our holy union was nothing short of a disaster?
Have I lost my mind?
If I let this happen now, I am setting myself up for becoming his doormat for the rest of my life.
What else is he hiding from me?
Does he have children?
Did he really earn his money the way he claimed?
Had he met my father before? When he was married to her?
My thoughts race at the speed of light and my breath begins to follow suit. Suddenly, I am overly aware of where I am standing and what is about to happen.
I am also far too self-conscious to speak.
And then Father Douglas drops the line that puts all other statements to shame in a time like this…
“If anyone knows of a reason why this couple should not be joined in holy matrimony, let them speak now or forever hold their peace.”
I feel the energy in the entire place changing. Everyone holds their breath, while I catch mine. I finally find my voice shying away in a dark corner of my mind, and I grab the reins for the first time since I arrived.
“I know!” I blurt it out, starting at a high pitch for fear of losing it once again. I lower my voice, addressing only Jake. “I know you were married before.”
As if Jake is the only one standing here right now.
In my head, everything else evaporates. It is just us in this moment of painful truth.
“What?” His expression changes and his eyes widen.
“Yeah.” I nod quickly. “I know.” I draw it out, tears now running down my cheeks in a steady stream. “But did you know that I’m her sister?”
Like a man who has just been struck by lightning, Jake freezes in place for a few seconds, his face as blank as a brand-new page.
And I can no longer take it.
The thin line of tears that grazed my face turns into a flood I have no control over. Everything around me turns, dizziness threatening to make a bigger fool of me if I stand still any further.
With clouded vision and no deliberation to speak of, I grab the skirt of my dress, kick away my heels, and turn around running. Running like I never ran before in my life.
With chiffon in my hands and thorns in my heart, I storm away. Away from Jake, past my parents by the aisle, along the narrow lane between all the people I know and don’t know.
I run.
My legs take over as all my senses automatically channel themselves toward making me disappear from the condemning eyes of everyone currently watching me. I hear them gasping in shock. Murmurs ensue in the space behind me, slowly and gradually fading into the background.
I know, from where they’re standing, I must be getting smaller.
Good.
Because right now, I want nothing more than to vanish.
Chapter Seventeen
Jake
Belle knows about Lola.
It is as though someone has hit me with a bucket of ice-cold water.
I freeze in place like a statue, unable to say anything or even react.
“What?” is all I muster.
Did Katie tell her? There is no way she would betray me like that.
Impossible.
In the midst of my attempts to overcome the shock and say something, anything, in front of the fifty-something pairs of eyes staring at us, Belle goes on about a sister.
I cannot believe my ears. What is happening? How is it that all of this is surfacing at the altar, in front of Father Douglas, our friends and family?
Her father.
He knows. He must, there is no way two ways about it. That is why disapproval dripped from his every pore every time he saw me or spoke to me.
How was I to know that Lola, too, was his daughter?
Those deep, dark blue eyes. That pitch-black hair.
That unwavering determination.
It all makes sense now.
He must have told Belle. But why did he wait until the moment before our wedding to do it? Is he trying to humiliate me? Did