His Secret Wife Was My Best Friend Chapter 02

His Secret Wife Was My Best Friend Chapter 02 Make It Legal
It was after midnight when Cecily reached the house. She checked her phone and saw a new post on Daphne’s social feed. [When you’re feeling sick, a little something sweet always makes things better.] Below it was a photo of a blueberry cake. Cecily remembered the cake Gareth had been carrying. It came from a little bakery on the south side of the city, a favorite she and Gareth had kept to themselves. Apparently, Daphne was the exception. Her eyes stung. Old moments began coming back to her, one after another. At their dinner together, Gareth had casually told the server to leave the mussels out of the seafood chowder. Daphne was allergic to mussels. Yet that had supposedly been their first meal together. And not long ago, Gareth had brought Cecily a new Hermès handbag from a business trip abroad. Soon afterward, she’d seen Daphne carrying the same one. Every memory seemed to hold another trace of them, intersecting behind her back. The doorbell broke into her thoughts. The moment Cecily opened the door, her mother’s hand struck her hard across the face. “What do you think you’re doing? The wedding planners just called to say you’ve canceled. Explain yourself.” Gareth had said he was too busy to deal with the wedding, so the Suttons had taken charge. Her family had strict expectations, and her mother had always enforced them mercilessly. Going back on a commitment like this was unforgivable in her eyes. Cecily held a hand to her cheek and answered in a low voice. “He’s in love with someone else.” Her mother gave a scornful laugh. “Is that all? A man in Gareth’s position is bound to have a few women around him. So what? I don’t care if he’s fallen in love with a pig. You’re still marrying him. “Do you have any idea who he is? Where in Northcote are you going to find another fiancé with his looks and his family?” Cecily’s throat tightened, but she didn’t tell her mother that Gareth and Daphne were already legally married. That would only earn her another slap. Her mother would call her useless for failing to hold on to her own man. “Our jewelry exhibition is the day after tomorrow. Bring Gareth and behave yourself. Spare me the wounded pride, or you’ll regret it.” With that warning, her mother swept out. Cecily remained in the vast, empty foyer, a bitter smile tugging at her lips. … The following afternoon, Gareth came home from work and found her standing motionless at the window. He gathered her into his arms and carried her to the bedroom. “You won’t answer my calls, and you don’t come by for dinner after work anymore. What happened? You’ve got me, the wedding’s almost here, and now you don’t love me?” His hot breath brushed her neck. Cecily went rigid, every part of her recoiling from his touch. She couldn’t understand how he could sleep with her best friend one day, then come looking for sex with her the next. She was about to push him away when he noticed the documents on her nightstand. “Why have you taken all these out?” Cecily said nothing about leaving the country. She blinked and kept her voice even. “Gareth, let’s have a courthouse wedding before the ceremony.” He froze. For an instant, discomfort flickered in his eyes. “We agreed we’d make it legal after the celebration, didn’t we?” “I’ve changed my mind,” Cecily said. “Why can’t we make it legal first?” The warmth vanished from his expression. Impatience crept into his voice. “Don’t be like those shallow women who insist on a piece of paper, Cecily. Does not having a certificate mean I don’t love you?” Her nails dug into her palms. The pain seemed to travel all the way to the numbness in her chest. Daphne, the woman he was cheating with, deserved a legal marriage. Cecily, his fiancée, was apparently shallow for wanting one. She shoved Gareth away and sat up on the bed. “Gareth, do you not want to marry me legally, or are you unable to? “Tell me. Are you actually still single?”