Chapter 1
Where I grew up, there was an old tradition called "first-night blessing". The day a couple moved into their new home, a young unmarried girl had to spend one night in the master bedroom so the marriage would be a happy one.
But when I opened the bedroom door late that night, the person lying in our wedding bed was my fiancé's first love, Madeline Moore. She was wearing my custom-made pajamas and curled up in his arms, looking sweet and fragile.
When they saw me frozen in the doorway, my fiancé's friends laughed and tried to smooth things over.
"Come on, Audrey, don't be like that," one of them said. "It's just a tradition. Who cares who does it?"
Another one chimed in. "Maddie's kind of a fraidy cat. She can't sleep alone, so Ethan's just being a gentleman."
I looked at my fiancé, Ethan Lowell, and waited for him to give me some kind of explanation.
But all he did was tuck the blanket around Madeline, and when he spoke, he sounded a little annoyed. "We can't break the tradition. Maddie's been having trouble sleeping lately, and this mattress is comfortable for her. Just make do in the guest room tonight."
In that moment, looking at the bed they'd tainted, I suddenly felt sick to my stomach.
I didn't lose it and demand answers like I used to. Instead, I calmly took out my phone and called my real estate agent, Kevin Doyle.
"Kevin, I don't want this condo anymore. Knock $1,000,000 off the price. I want it closed by tomorrow morning."
If Ethan liked having her warm his bed so much, she could warm it for the rest of his life.
I hung up and went into the guest room. Only a few minutes later, the door swung open, and Ethan walked in. Without a single word of explanation, he went straight to the nightstand, yanked open the drawer, and started digging through it.
"Where are those lavender candles?"
I leaned against the wall and watched him tear the drawer apart. Last month, when I hadn't slept for nights on end, he'd braved a snowstorm, driven up to the abbey on the mountain, and brought back a box of lavender sleep candles.
"What do you want those for?" I asked.
"Maddie can't sleep in a new place," he said. "She took a sleeping pill a little while ago, and it didn't do a thing."
Ethan found the box in the bottom drawer. "Maddie's borrowing these for now. You can make do for one night."
With that, he turned to go, but I called after him.
"Those candles were blessed to help me rest. If you take them, how am I supposed to sleep?"
Ethan stopped in his tracks and turned around, scowling. "How can you be so selfish?
"Maddie has severe depression. She's up all night, every night, and her hair's falling out. You're perfectly healthy. Will one night without sleep kill you?"
He walked out without waiting for an answer. This time, I didn't argue with him like I used to. Tears slid down my face in silence.
*****
The next morning, I opened the door and saw someone in the kitchen with her back to me. It was Madeline, wearing my half of our matching aprons and frying eggs.
She turned around when she heard my footsteps. "Oh, Audrey, you're up.
"Ethan said your stomach's been giving you trouble, so I made you some chicken soup, just for you."
She picked up a mug from the stovetop and came toward me. Ethan and I had made that mug together at a pottery studio as a token of our love, and it even had our initials carved into the bottom.
Before my fingers even touched the handle, Madeline let go. The mug hit the floor and shattered into a million pieces, and hot soup splashed across her shins.
She clapped her hands over her face and screamed.
The master bedroom door flew open. Ethan charged out without even stopping to put on shoes and shoved me out of the way.
He crouched down, took Madeline's ankle, and checked her leg over carefully. "Did you get burned? Does it hurt?"
Madeline's eyes went red, and she burrowed into his arms. "I'm fine, Ethan. I'm such a klutz. I didn't hold the mug tight enough.
"It's not Audrey's fault she didn't catch it."
Ethan's head snapped up, and he glared at me. "Audrey Sinclair, are you blind?!
"The mug was slipping, and you just stood there? If Maddie ends up with a bad burn, you think you could ever make that right?!"
I looked at the shards on the floor. The piece with our initials had cracked clean in two.
I swept the pieces into the trash. "It's my fault. What's broken is broken."
When I didn't argue, Ethan's tone softened a little. "Good, as long as you know you were wrong.
"We can always buy another mug. Maddie's not strong, so go easy on her, okay?"
He stood up and patted my shoulder. "I'll make some time this weekend to go look at wedding dresses with you. Come on, lose the long face."
I nodded. "Sure."
My phone buzzed.
Kevin: Ms. Sinclair, the $1,000,000 price cut did the trick. I've got a client ready to pay cash, and we can sign this afternoon.
I texted back a single "Okay".
For Ethan and me, there would be no weekend.
