She Wore My Dress, She Married My Groom, She Planned My Love Chapter 01

She Wore My Dress, She Married My Groom, She Planned My Love Chapter 01

Right before my wedding was supposed to begin, my mom collapsed on the ground.

I abandoned everything and rushed her straight to the ER myself.

We had barely arrived when a message popped up in our family group chat.

Mom: [Veda bought it. I got her to the hospital. You can start the wedding.]

A second later, Dad replied.

Dad: [Don’t worry. I’m already walking Cambria down the aisle.]

Then my brother chimed in.

Corbett: [She’s waited ten years for this. Cambria finally gets to marry Torin in front of everyone.]

All three messages disappeared almost immediately.

Before I could process what I had just read, my best friend, Tressa, accidentally dropped a video from the ceremony into the same chat.

My sister Cambria was wearing the wedding gown I had chosen myself.

Torin stood at the end of the aisle, sliding the ring that was supposed to be mine onto her finger.

The same relatives and friends who had congratulated me yesterday were now chanting from their seats.

“KISS! KISS! KISS!”

Mom snatched the phone out of my hand.

The pain had vanished from her face. All that remained was panic at being caught.

“Veda, Cambria has waited for Torin for years.”

“She just wanted one wedding that was hers.”

“You’ve had him for seven years. Can’t you give her this one day?”

I looked at the sticky monitor pads still on her chest and laughed.

So that was it.

Everyone else got to play the good guy in their little story.

And I was the only idiot who hadn’t known there was a script.

***

By the time I made it back to the Halcyon Grand, Torin was holding Cambria’s hand and reciting his vows.

“From the day I met you, I knew every road I took for the rest of my life would lead back to you.”

My breath caught.

I had written those words.

I had spent three nights rewriting that single line, trying to fit seven years of love into one vow.

Just last night, Torin had held me and promised those words would be mine when we stood at the altar.

Now he hadn’t changed a single word.

He was giving them to Cambria exactly as I had written them.

The applause died the second the guests noticed me.

Torin immediately released Cambria’s hand and started toward me.

“Veda, go back to the hospital.”

“I’ll explain after the ceremony.”

“No. You explain NOW.” I strode toward him.

“Why is she wearing my wedding dress, my ring, and standing beside the man I was supposed to marry?”

Torin stepped in front of Cambria. A flicker of impatience crossed his face.

“Because this wedding was always meant for Cambria.”

The words stopped me cold.

I had spent an entire year planning this wedding.

And Torin had just told me it had never been mine.

His gaze shifted to the diamond veil on Cambria’s head.

“Cambria picked that veil a long time ago. She was overseas and couldn’t come back for the fittings, so I had you confirm the size for her.”

I stared at him.

“And the dress?”

“Hers too.”

“The original design was made to Cambria’s measurements.”

Cold spread through my entire body.

So that was why Torin had refused every time I asked to alter the waist. He had simply told me to lose weight until the dress fit.

For six months, I had barely eaten dinner so I could squeeze myself into it.

Only now did I understand why. The dress had never been made for me.

Cambria slipped her arm through Torin’s and looked at me with pity.

“Veda, don’t blame Torin. I was the one who asked him to date you.”

“At the time, I was leaving for treatment. I didn’t know if I’d ever come back.”

“And you’d just been dumped by your ex. You barely slept for weeks.”

Her expression softened with perfectly measured sympathy.

“I couldn’t stand watching you fall apart, so I asked Torin to look after you for me.”

“I chose what he brought you for breakfast every morning.”

“I picked the restaurant for your first date.”

“Even what he said when he asked you out. I coached him through every word.”

My throat closed.

Torin had pursued me for ninety-nine days.

I had once written down every tiny thing he did during those ninety-nine days because I had been terrified I might forget even one of them.

Apparently, none of those moments had ever belonged to me.

Tressa came over, gathering up the skirt of her bridesmaid dress.

“Veda, keeping this from you was wrong. I know that.”

“But Cambria has suffered more than you have.”

“She watched the man she loved spend seven years with you, and she never once tried to break you up.”

“She’s been more than generous. Stop pushing her.”

I looked at the woman who had been my best friend for more than a decade.

“So you knew too?”

Tressa nodded.

“We were afraid you couldn’t handle it.”

“You get extreme when you’re hurt. If you found out Torin was really in love with Cambria, who knew what you might do?”

Everyone was standing beside Cambria.

Every one of them looked at me with the same guarded expression.

Like I wasn’t the woman they had lied to for seven years.

Like I was some unstable psycho who might destroy my poor sister’s happiness.

My phone suddenly buzzed inside my bag.

It was the project director who had offered me the overseas assignment three months earlier.

[Ms. Kellan, tonight is the deadline to accept the long-term Viremont assignment.]

[We’re still holding the last seat on the flight for you.]