Wolf At The Altar

chapter

Waving both arms, Marlowe bolted from the home and went directly into the street till a cab eventually slowed down next to her.

Before the door had even finished rolling, she pulled it open and fell into the seat."Thirty-First Avenue," she uttered in a faint, strained voice.

Anything to stop her hands from trembling, she intertwined her fingers in her lap and squeezed until it hurt.

She batted back the tears like she had done for the previous twenty minutes, but they came again, hot and unexpected.

She was still unable to crumble. Not until she realized what had just occurred in her life.

Marlowe peered out the window as the car went onward, seeing nothing at all—the storefronts, the traffic lights, and the people passing by all blurring into oblivion.

Two people who had formerly been the closest thing to home had dug out a hollow space below her ribs.

The comfortable, contented expression on Rayla's face, the flat, almost bored look Ronan had given her when she begged him to explain himself, and their voices continued to replay in her mind.

She kept waiting for her imagination to give her a different account of the morning, one in which she misread the invitation card, misheard something, or mistook one sister for another in the porch light. Nothing appeared. The scene was just as repulsive as she had remembered.

Marlowe strained to breathe while pressing a hand to her chest. Her lungs didn't feel big enough.

She gripped until her knuckles became pale, digging her fingers into the material of her pants as though it would be enough to keep her together.

There had to be a reason. Her parents would have some knowledge. Perhaps this was an odd surprise, related to her recent promotion, or an overly dramatic joke.

Indeed. That must have been it.

She forced herself to stop crying by vigorously wiping her cheeks with the back of her palm. Whatever this was, it was a joke, and she would laugh about it with Ronan on the way to work after she figured out the punch line.

A dull pain began to form behind her eyes, and she thought of him once more. She imagined how, after she informed him how much the prank had shaken her, he would likely bring her into his arms.

She could already hear what she was saying. That was a terrible thing to do to me, darling. Everything would return to normal once he laughed and planted a kiss on her forehead.

Marlowe dashed out the door before the cab completely stopped as it slowed in front of her parents' house.

The lavender bushes that lined the porch, which her mother tended to each spring, were scarcely noticeable to her. They had no significance for her today.

Marlowe positioned herself in front of the door and used the side of her fist to beat on it.She yelled, "Someone open this door right now before I break it down myself."

That received a reaction practically right away.

Without saying hello, Marlowe pushed past her sister as Theresa opened the door and entered the living room to see what was in store for her.

There was nothing in store for her.

No streamers. Not a cake. There are no balloons floating close to the ceiling. There was no indication that anyone had organized even a birthday candle, much less the extravaganza she had persuaded herself she would find.

Like an obstinate child who won't accept that a toy is really gone until they check the same empty shelf three times, she spun slowly in a circle, half expecting the decorations to show if she stared hard enough.

At last, something in her chest that had been struggling to stay together fell way entirely.

She had to blink multiple times to focus on the room since her eyes stung so much. The ride-over's shock and terror quickly turned into something more akin to rage.She began pacing the room in a tight, desperate circle and asked, "Where are Mum and Dad?""What's wrong with you?" With her arms folded and trailing a few paces behind, Theresa inquired.Dad! Mom! I need someone to come down here and explain this to me immediately.

Marlowe ignored her sister entirely and yelled toward the stairway, her voice cracking.

Without answers, she was not going to leave this house. If necessary, she would destroy every room.Hey Roxy, how are you? Theresa moved closer and asked.

Marlowe gestured for them to stay back by raising a hand between them. Her eyes had turned red and glassy, burning with a jagged blend of anger and grief that was neither quite rage nor quite grief.

She could feel her legs losing strength with each passing second, but something wilder—something careless enough to frighten her a little—took its place.

Theresa did not approach after reading the warning.

Before Marlowe could stop herself, a brief, sardonic laugh escaped her throat.Am I alright? I need someone in this house to tell me why my sister and fiancé were standing on the porch this morning with a wedding invitation bearing their names." Once more, her voice broke. "I have to be at work in an hour, so somebody had better start talking."

She continued to pace, now more quickly, her heels clicking loudly on the ground.

When their parents eventually emerged at the top of the stairs, Theresa looked toward them and let out a sigh of relief.

Sarah only had to glance into her daughter's face to understand why Marlowe had come.

Before they could say anything, Sarah reached for Tony's hand and squeezed it.Sarah replied softly, but not softly enough, "She knows."

Marlowe jerked her head in the direction of her mother's words. The moment she saw her mother's expression, any tiny hope that had survived the cab ride vanished.

It was accurate. Everything.

They were aware. They had all been aware of it and had allowed her to enter this blind."I know you're right," Marlowe murmured, her voice trembling. "I would like to know the precise time when someone intended to inform me. on the wedding's morning?"

Sarah opened her lips to say something helpful, but Marlowe continued.None of you thought it was worth addressing, even though you were all aware of it? You just let Rayla take it away from me when Ronan and I have been together since we were teenagers?"

Sarah sent Theresa a beseeching glance, silently pleading with her to intervene and say anything.

Taking the hint, Theresa approached and spoke in a soft, almost beseeching tone.Rayla didn't intend to harm you, Roxy, so pay attention. These things do occasionally occur, and no one is truly in control of them. Love doesn't always abide by the rules.

Marlowe made a sound that was neither quite a laugh nor quite a laugh; it was bitter and broken.

She wanted to yell at each and every one of them as she stood in that room and listened to explanation after explanation designed to justify their betrayal. Love. As if any of them were even aware of it.Love? Would you like to stand there and discuss love with me? Mum, that was not supposed to be Rayla's wedding, but mine and Ronan's."

By that point, Sarah and Tony had reached the foot of the stairs, but neither of them dared to move any closer.With a gentle, almost enticing tone, Tony said, "We can still fix this." "You and Rayla share enough similarities. If we just changed the names on the invites, no one at the wedding would ever notice."

Marlowe looked at her father as if he had begun speaking a whole different language, one that she could no longer understand despite her best efforts.Sarah swiftly said, "Your father has a point."You understand how important our reputation is in church, sweetie. When people learn that Rayla is unmarried and pregnant, what will they think? Take a time to consider your sister. Would you truly want her child to grow up without a father?

Sarah's gaze scanned her daughter's face, searching for a hint of comprehension, a glimpse of the sensible young lady she recalled being raised.

But at that time, Marlowe had lost all sense of reason.Tony repeated, gentler this time, "Please, sweetheart, just try to be reasonable about this."

Something inside of her finally came loose after hearing that statement.

She felt a sudden, intense surge of anger that burned away any remaining self-control. They all stood there gazing at her as if she were the unreasonable person in the room.

sensible. They wanted her to be sensible.

Everyone in this room knew that her own sister had been having an affair with the man she was meant to marry and had been pregnant by him. In some way, the narrative had already been altered such that she was supposed to apologize for feeling deceived.

She had never once been asked how she felt about any of it by anyone in this house. No one had thought about how this would affect her.

She was expected to worry about a baby that wasn't hers, smile, and forgive everyone.

Hell with it all.

She recalled all the birthdays she had spent with Rayla as a child, the outfit that had been passed down to her, and the times she had discreetly moved aside to give her sister the better seat, the larger portion, or the last say. She had never once asked for credit for any of it. It seems that Rayla had only ever learned that Marlowe's belongings were up for grabs.

She would have rolled her eyes at how absurd it sounded if she had seen this precise scene play out on some cheap TV soap. She had no humor left in her body, only anguish that took the form of laughter, and now all she had left was a strange, hollow need to laugh.

The front door opened behind her, and everyone in the room turned.

Marlowe's gaze fell on Rayla, who was standing there looking just as calm as always, her pale blonde hair elegantly draping over one shoulder. Marlowe felt an unpleasant feeling in her stomach that she didn't quite trust.Marlowe remarked, "You all have some nerve standing here trying to explain yourselves to me after what you've done."

At last, the tears she had been suppressing all morning began to flow freely down her cheeks. She was quite exhausted and felt cold all over.

She had no concept that her own family could do such a thing when she woke up that same morning. She had received no warning at all from any of them."I'm so sorry," Rayla replied, taking a step forward and raising her hands a little. "This is not how I intended it to go. I fell in love with Ronan, and we justBefore she could finish speaking, Marlowe interrupted her, saying, "Stop."

She took one more look around the room, observing every face and every pair of eyes that did not meet hers.

A tiny, icy smile appeared on her lips.What do you know? I want to avoid seeing any of you ever again. None of you. Never.

Sarah's countenance changed as a result of the weight she placed on that final word, taking on a softness that almost seemed like remorse.

Marlowe was unconcerned. She was on her way to the door already.

She only stopped once, directly next to Rayla, and gave her sister a gaze that was both calmer and more menacing than the rage that had before it."I always let you take whatever you wanted," she murmured. "You never missed an opportunity to demonstrate your superiority over me in any area. I never mentioned any of it at all.

She was unable to maintain her stare, so she let it fall.However, this," she remarked. "This is the last straw."

They all stood motionless in the living room behind her as she left through the open door without turning around. She had no clue, not even a tiny one, if she would ever return to that house.