I Signed Away My First Love, Then Married Someone Else Chapter 07

I Signed Away My First Love, Then Married Someone Else Chapter 07

No one told her I wasn’t.

But everyone waited, eager for the spectacle.

At eleven, the ceremony began.

Madeline walked down the aisle on her adoptive father’s arm.

Ethan stood beneath the flower–covered arbor in the suit he’d ordered more than six/months

earlier.

As Madeline approached, his gaze slipped past her shoulder to the entrance.

Still nothing.

Madeline reached him, and the officiant began the vows.

“Ethan Caldwell, do you take Madeline Hale to be your wife…”

The garden fell silent.

The guests held their breath and stole glances toward the entrance,

Someone whispered from the audience.

“Shouldn’t she be here by now?”

“Give it another minute. She’ll rush in at the last possible second.”

“She always saves her biggest scene for last.”

Ethan didn’t answer.

He looked at Madeline’s beautiful face and the sweet smile she gave him.

But all he could see was the night before.

Claire had fallen against him, and instinct had locked his arms around her.

For those few seconds, his heart had raced faster than it had in months.

He had gone three months without touching her, and the hunger in his body was impossible to

deny.

While she was in his arms, he had wanted only one thing.

He had wanted to take her away.

He had already made up his mind.

If she came to stop the wedding today, if she tried to take him away, he would go with her.

He knew she would come.

She had starved herself, cut her wrists, and threatened to jump for him. After every one of those scenes, hadn’t he always taken her back?

This time would be no different.

The moment she ran toward him, he would say yes.

Madeline’s adoptive mother was already recovering. The symbolic ceremony no longer had any

reason to continue.

He’d learned the truth too late, when everything was already in motion.

The officiant asked again.

“Ethan Caldwell, do you take Madeline Hale to be your wife?”

The silence was absolute.

The smile finally slipped from Madeline’s face.

“Ethan?” she whispered.

He drew his gaze back and looked at the woman standing before him in a wedding dress.

And suddenly he understood: the girl who had cried for him, fought for him, and gambled her life

on him

wasn’t coming.

Meanwhile, I sat in first class with layers of clouds stretching beyond the window.

My phone was in airplane mode.

Lauren had been the last person I spoke to before boarding.

Lauren said her mother had fainted the night before and been rushed to the hospital. That was why

she’d arrived late.

She hadn’t known it was Ethan’s party either.

Someone in our social circle had invited her.

She apologized.

I told her it was fine.

Then she asked, “Are you really not going to the wedding?”

“I’m not.”

After a long silence, she sent me a lengthy voice message.

“At the hospital yesterday, I happened to ask my mother’s doctor about Susan Hale.”

“She’s been improving for months. Her condition stabilized three months ago, and since then she’s only been in a rehabilitation facility. There was never any need for a wedding to grant some supposed dying wish.”

“I told Ethan right away,” Lauren continued.

“He went silent for a long time after he heard.”

“Claire.” Her voice paused in the recording. “If some part of you still loves him, maybe wait a little longer. I have a feeling that wedding might not happen today.”

When the message ended, I typed a reply.

“It doesn’t matter anymore.”

She answered immediately. “What if he’s waiting for you at the wedding?”

“I signed the agreement. After they marry, I’m leaving New York.”

She didn’t send anything else.

I locked my phone and settled back into my seat.

The man beside me passed me a cup of warm water.

His wedding band caught the cabin light and glinted softly.