Chapter 8
742 Words
Jayden's expression shifted, but he said nothing.
A moment later, the dressing-room curtain opened.
Willow stepped out in a white wedding gown, looking like a princess from a fairy tale.
Jayden rose at once, and something lit in his eyes that Rivka had never seen there before. "You look incredible. You're the most beautiful bride I've ever seen."
Rivka's face went pale, a sudden cold washing over her without warning.
He had really said that in front of her. What did he think she was?
Willow noticed the look on Rivka's face and smiled brightly. She threaded her fingers through Jayden's and said in a teasing voice, "Jayden, Rivka's still right here."
Only then did Jayden seem to remember Rivka was in the room. His expression turned awkward. "Rivka, that's not what I meant..."
But Rivka had already reached the point where she could not bear to hear another excuse.
"Do you need anything else from me, Mr. Lindsey?" she asked, interrupting him. "If not, I'm leaving."
Willow watched from the side, privately delighted, though she still made a show of sounding considerate. "You should head home, Rivka. Jayden and I still have to choose our wedding rings."
Rivka did not look at either of them again. She simply turned and walked out.
Behind her, Willow raised her voice, practically purring with satisfaction. "Oh, and don't forget. The wedding is tomorrow night. You have to come."
Rivka stopped for half a second. A sharp pain cut through her chest.
Then she quickened her pace and escaped the suffocating boutique.
*****
The villa was overflowing with wedding preparations.
Elaborate decorations filled every room, all of them arranged for an extravagant society wedding.
Rivka had thought coming home would feel like an escape. Instead, it was suffocating in an entirely new way.
She looked away and started upstairs, only for her gaze to catch on the coffee table. Several invitation designs had been laid out across it.
One showed the couple kissing. One showed them embracing. One showed them standing shoulder to shoulder...
This was not the careless, half-hearted ceremony Jayden had claimed he was arranging simply to fulfill Willow's wish.
He was planning something grand. He was inviting guests. He wanted all of New York to see how much Willow meant to him.
A wave of bitterness rose in Rivka's chest. The invitations were almost painful to look at.
She forced herself not to stare and not to think. If she refused to let any of it inside, maybe the pain would finally leave her alone.
But when she returned to the master bedroom, she found Emma carrying out her bedding.
Their eyes met, and helpless pity filled Emma's face.
"Mrs... Ms. Woodard." She corrected herself softly. "Mr. Lindsey said you need to move out of the master bedroom as soon as possible. They're turning it into the bridal suite. He said Ms. Norris shouldn't be slighted."
'So Willow could not be slighted, but I could be discarded without a second thought?'
Something inside her tore open all over again.
She turned sharply and walked into the guest room, shutting the door behind her. Tears were already running down her face.
Near sunset, she heard a car pull up outside.
Then cheerful voices rose from downstairs. "Welcome home, Mr. Lindsey. Congratulations, Ms. Norris."
Rivka stood in the dark with her back against the wall. From the room next door came soft, intimate murmurs and breathless sounds that left little doubt about what was happening.
"Jayden, tomorrow I finally get to be your wife."
"Get some sleep, Willow. Tomorrow you'll be my beautiful bride."
Willow's voice was soft and coaxing, full of affection. Rivka did not sleep at all that night.
She kept reminding herself of the same thing over and over.
'Twenty-four hours. Only twenty-four hours more.'
After tonight, she and Jayden would go their separate ways and never cross paths again. He would have the life he had chosen.
She would find her own way without him.
She stayed awake until dawn. By morning, Willow had already gone to the hotel to oversee the final preparations, and Jayden had been taken there to get ready.
Rivka looked at the reminder on her phone. "Eight hours left."
She rose, went downstairs, and said to Emma, "Throw everything of mine away. Don't leave a single thing behind."
Removing herself completely from his world was the last wedding gift Rivka had left to give Jayden.
- Writer
