Four Years Of Hair For A Wedding And He Cut It For A Scene Chapter 01

Four Years Of Hair For A Wedding And He Cut It For A Scene Chapter 01

North Crest had one rule.

Any girl consecrated to Saint Jude had until her twenty-fifth birthday to marry. If she didn’t, she had to take her vows, cut her hair, and spend the rest of her life in the convent.

For four years, I held on to Garrett Miller’s promise that he’d come back and marry me.

I had three days left before I took my final vows and gave my life to the convent.

That morning, I put on my wedding dress.

I waited all day. He never came.

One of the sisters sighed.

“Stop waiting for him.”

“Garrett took Ms. Sterling back down the mountain.”

I grabbed my phone and dialed his number from memory.

He answered with an apology already on his lips.

“Audrey’s got altitude sickness. It’s her first time up here. I can’t just leave her.”

My voice came out barely above a whisper.

“Do you even remember what today is?”

Silence stretched across the line.

“Elena, come on.”

“Audrey’s the investor’s daughter.”

“If anything happens to her up here, the whole documentary falls apart.”

“You still have three days, right?”

“Once she’s safe, I’ll come straight to you. I’ll marry you.”

Four years of excuses. I’d heard every version.

I looked up at the convent on the hill.

In three days, they’d cut my hair inside those walls. And that would be it. No marriage. No leaving. No life outside. Ever.

My voice cracked.

“Garrett, if you don’t come today, we’re done.”

“Maybe this was always how it was going to end.”

***

Father Silas turned the rosary between his fingers.

“He’s not the one, child. He won’t come. Stop waiting.”

Tears welled up before I could stop them.

Father Silas was the most revered priest in North Crest.

Counsel. Guidance. Foresight. The man had never once been wrong.

I stubbornly shook my head anyway.

“Four years, Father. I can’t just walk away.”

“Just one more day. If he’s not here by sunset, I’ll give up.”

A shout cut through the room from outside. One of the sisters sounded breathless.

“Elena! Get out here! Garrett’s here. He came to marry you!”

My head snapped up.

I didn’t even wipe my face. I just grabbed the hem of my dress and ran.

“See, Father Silas? He came! You were wrong this time!”

I was already out the door. I didn’t hear Father Silas sigh behind me.

Garrett was right outside.

I threw myself into his arms, crying so hard I could barely breathe.

“Garrett… I thought you weren’t coming.”

“I swore to Saint Jude that if you didn’t come before sunset, I’d give up on you for good…”

Garrett’s hand brushed my hair, but he didn’t answer. Instead, he said something that made my smile freeze.

“Can you do something for me?”

“Close your eyes. I have a surprise for you.”

My heart stuttered.

One of the older sisters had told me once that out in the city, men always planned a proposal before the wedding.

My cheeks flushed, and the words burst out of me before I could think.

“Yes!”

I closed my eyes, smiling, and let him take my hand.

Then pain tore across my scalp, like something being ripped out by the roots.

I screamed and my eyes flew open.

Black hair fell everywhere, drifting past my face, tangling on the ground, streaked with blood.

My hands flew to my head, shaking.

The hair that used to reach my waist was gone. Most of it had been hacked away.

What was left was jagged and uneven. The clippers had bitten into my scalp in three or four places, and blood was running down my forehead.

In North Crest, when a pledged girl chose marriage over the convent, she grew her hair out from the day she made that choice.

I’d been growing mine for four years. Every strand of it had been for Garrett.

It wasn’t just hair. It was proof that I’d chosen him over everything.

And now it was gone. Four years of waiting, destroyed in seconds.

Audrey Sterling came at me with the clippers again.

I shoved her back, half-blind with tears.

“Don’t touch me!”

Audrey hit the ground.

The blade of the clippers nicked her wrist on the way down, leaving a thin line of blood.

She yelped.

Garrett’s whole face changed.

“Audrey!”

He shoved me aside and dropped to his knees beside Audrey.

He saw the blood on her wrist, and his jaw tightened.

“Elena! What is wrong with you? Apologize. Now.”

His shove sent me to my knees. Pain shot up both legs, leaving me paralyzed on the floor.

I pressed both hands over what was left of my hair, sobbing.

“She cut my hair…”

“So what?” Garrett cut me off before I could finish.

The words hit harder than the fall.

Garrett had his arm around Audrey, his face hard.

“Hair grows back, Elena.”

“Do you have any idea how many nights Audrey stayed up for this? How long the whole crew prepped for this shot?”

“You’re ruining all of that over some hair?”

“You said yes, Elena. You agreed. Then you lost control and hurt her.”

“Apologize to Audrey!”

I was shaking.

“I thought you were proposing to me. That’s why I said yes…”

Garrett stared at me.

“Proposing?”

“God, Elena. Is getting married seriously the only thing you think about?”

“Audrey wanted to capture a real reaction to the shearing ritual. Raw, unscripted. I thought it was a great idea, so I brought you in for the shot.”

“And look what you did.”

He looked at me like I was the problem. Like I’d always been the problem.

Audrey tugged at his sleeve, her eyes brimming with tears.

“Garrett, stop… She probably thinks I came between you and the wedding. That’s why she pushed me…”

She dropped her gaze.

“Maybe I should be the one apologizing.”

Garrett’s face darkened.

“Why are you apologizing?”

“You didn’t do anything wrong.”

He looked at me. His voice went flat.

“Elena.”

“I’m only going to say this once.”

“If you don’t apologize to Audrey right now, the wedding is off.”

I couldn’t move.

My scalp was still bleeding.

The sun sank behind the peaks.

The evening bell tolled from the convent, low and long.

I felt the wetness on my cheeks but didn’t bother wiping it away.

“The sun’s down.”

“Garrett, I’m not marrying you.”