Chapter 1 The Name That Was Crossed Out
"Then let's call off our engagement," I said to Daniel.
His head snapped up. He stared at me with a frown. "It's only a performance! Do you have to humiliate everyone?"
"Did you ask me before replacing the bride?"
"I knew you'd be upset at first." He pressed his palm against the keepsake book. "She's been calling me every night, terrified Ruth won't make it to the wedding. I can't just ignore her. Once all this is over, I'll explain everything."
He moved a glass of water closer to Chloe so she wouldn't ruin her freshly manicured nails.
Chloe lightly touched the back of my hand. "If it bothers you, I'll tell Grandma to cancel. She'll understand. It's just that this morning, she was still asking what my wedding dress looked like..."
Dad immediately put an arm around her shoulders. "Nothing is being canceled! Your mother trusted us to look after you, and we promised we'd be there for you."
Mom held out a sage-green paper bag. "This is your bridesmaid dress. Wear it to the rehearsal tomorrow night. The three of you grew up together. It would mean a lot to Ruth to see you standing beside Chloe."
I didn't take it. The bag rested against my knees, and she pushed it closer.
When we were planning the wedding, I had worried that we were spending too much. Mom had stroked my hair and told me it only happened once in a lifetime.
I had actually believed her.
My parents had been so busy running their historic-home restoration studio that they hadn't brought me home from Grandma's until I was 9. Tyler knew how to throw his arms around Mom's neck and coax her into anything. I didn't even know what to say at the dinner table.
Only Daniel and Chloe were willing to spend time with me. Daniel saved me slices of apple pie and promised he would wait for me after school. Later, when Chloe's parents died and she moved into our house, I gave her my bedroom. I thought it meant we truly were a family.
Now Dad's hand rested on her shoulder. I sat so close, yet he never once looked at me.
I put the paper bag back on the table, took off my engagement ring, and laid it beside Daniel's hand. When he lifted his palm from the keepsake book, I saw what he had written: At last, you're mine.
I rose from the table.
He reached out to stop me, but Mom held him back. "Let her cool off. Don't let this derail the wedding."
I stood in the yard for a while. Through the window, I saw Chloe trying on Mom's earrings while Daniel bent his head to fasten one for her. Tyler had shoved the plate I left behind to the far end of the table.
I found Noah Bennett's number.
We'd met 8 years ago while restoring an old theater. He handled the renovation while I restored the murals. To preserve a single old window, we revised the plans three times together.
After that, I often sent him pictures of old houses. Once, he sketched in the part of a gable hidden by a billboard. It ended up looking like a dog with a floppy ear, and he insisted it was perspective only an architect could understand. I'd kept that drawing ever since.
He told me he loved me last year. I turned him down. He never brought it up again, and things between us never became awkward. I called him. When he said my name, I finally found my voice.
"You once said you wanted to marry me. Does that offer still stand?"
The rustling of papers on the other end stopped.
"It does. Ivy, where are you?"
I stared at the door that no one had opened for me, then finally walked toward my car.
"I need to pick up a few things first. Then I'm coming to you."
