He Gave Her My Wedding

Chapter 3

I reached the reception on the lawn of Lakeview Estate.

Adrian and Vivian sat at the far end of the long table while the guests raised their glasses.

Adrian had an arm around Vivian's waist.

My grandmother's pearl necklace gleamed around her neck.

Years in storage had left a fine film of dust on the pearls.

A red rash had spread across Vivian's neck, and she kept trying to scratch it.

"It itches."

Adrian leaned close to her ear. "Hold on a little longer. Everyone's watching."

I walked the length of the table and stopped in front of them.

"Please take off the necklace."

Adrian didn't look surprised.

"I'll give it back after the reception."

"My grandmother left that necklace to me."

I tried to keep my voice steady.

Every pearl carried a memory of her.

Adrian had seen me place the necklace in a safe and had once promised solemnly, "I'll protect it for you, and someday we'll pass it down to our children."

Now Vivian tugged irritably at the strand.

Her neck was bright red, and she kept scratching.

"I can't take this!"

She yanked the necklace apart.

Pearls scattered across the ground.

Several struck the stone and cracked.

Each pearl that cracked felt like another piece of our marriage breaking apart.

Whatever remained between Adrian and me was beyond repair now.

For a moment, every sound at the reception disappeared.

I stared at the chipped, broken pearls and collapsed to the ground.

"You knew this was the most important thing I owned."

Adrian picked up several damaged pearls and placed them in my palm. He sounded tired.

"Some of them are still fine. I'll have replacements made. Same weight, same shape, exactly the same."

I pressed a hand to my chest, fighting for breath.

He instinctively started to bend toward me.

Then Vivian covered her neck and whimpered, "It hurts."

Adrian immediately caught her hand. "Don't scratch it. We'll put ointment on it."

I gathered the broken pearls and squeezed them hard in my palm.

Their uneven surfaces cut into my skin, and blood ran down my wrist.

No one asked whether I was hurt.

Vivian leaned against Adrian and looked at me pitifully.

"Elena, don't be upset. I'll pay you exactly what it was worth. Adrian said it was okay for me to wear it. If I'd known it mattered this much, I never would've taken it."

Adrian finally noticed the blood on my hand and poured rubbing alcohol over the cuts to disinfect them.

The alcohol burned so sharply that I flinched.

Then he took a handkerchief from his pocket and wrapped my palm.

A handkerchief had been part of our first meeting too.

Our hands had reached for the same one, and we had looked up and smiled at each other.

"Adrian, why are you doing this to me?"

He froze.

"I gave up my wedding. I gave up the groom. I even gave up my grandmother's keepsake. What do I have left?"

Adrian was silent for a moment, then gently helped me stand.

But the words he spoke hurt more than anything else.

"Your name is already on our marriage certificate. Elena, you and I have a whole future ahead of us. Vivian is going to forget things little by little. I just want her memories of me to last a little longer."

Vivian leaned against him, visibly moved.

"Adrian, if I hadn't gone away to study all those years ago and had taken your hand instead, would I still be the bride at this wedding?"

I looked at Adrian without saying a word and waited for his answer.

But Vivian raised a finger.

"Don't answer yet. Listen to me play one song first, then tell me."

A soft melody spilled from the piano beneath her fingers.

It was the piece Adrian listened to every day.

I had always thought he simply liked it.

Now I realized he loved it because it belonged to the woman he had never gotten over.

When the song ended, applause filled the lawn.

Everyone waited for Adrian's answer.