I Wore White While He Told Me I Was Never the Bride Chapter 01

I Wore White While He Told Me I Was Never the Bride Chapter 01

Before the ceremony, Julian Sterling handed out five-figure gifts to the bridesmaids, spending well over $100,000 without batting an eye.

The bridal suite erupted in whoops and laughter as he bent down to straighten my veil. Leaning in until his nose nearly touched mine, he chuckled softly.

“Baby, before we leave, let me give you a riddle. Get it right and there’s a prize.”

“The apple never falls far from the tree. So what does a homewrecker’s daughter grow up to be?”

I assumed it was some tasteless joke the wedding planning team had come up with, so I laughed.

“Another homewrecker, I guess.”

Julian let out a low laugh, and I felt the vibration of his chest beneath my palm.

“Very clever.”

“Then you’ll fit the role perfectly.”

The smile froze on my face.

“What are you talking about?”

He gently wiped a trace of lipstick from the corner of my mouth, his voice still tender.

“Mia has been spoiled her whole life. She refuses to settle for being the other woman, and she can’t handle people judging her.”

My ears rang as my fingers clenched around my wedding dress.

“Julian, I will not be your mistress.”

He reacted as though I had said something ridiculous, then lowered his head and kissed my forehead.

“Baby, don’t make it sound so ugly. Your mother did it. You can too.”

“Besides, it’s only a change in title. I’m not leaving you.”

***

My fingertips slowly went cold.

For three years, people had pointed fingers at my mother, called her shameless, and accused her of wrecking another woman’s marriage.

She tried to explain, but no one listened. She went to the police, but they refused to get involved.

When she called me for the last time, she was standing at the edge of a rooftop.

She said, “Evelyn, I wasn’t the other woman.”

By the time I reached the street below, all I saw was blood on the pavement.

I was twenty that year, and that was when Julian came into my life.

He went with me to therapy and sat beside me beneath the magnolia tree at my mother’s old house until sunrise.

My mother had not left me much. All I had was the house and the antique locket around my neck.

She used to tell me over and over that I must never lose it.

I looked at Julian.

“You know exactly what I’m terrified of.”

His gaze faltered for a moment.

Then he lowered his voice.

“That’s why I made sure you wouldn’t be humiliated in public.”

“You get the wedding. You get to keep up appearances.”

“No one else will ever know.”

I almost laughed.

So that was his logic. As long as no one knew, he thought none of it would stain me.

An assistant wedding coordinator pushed the door open and came in.

“Mr. Sterling, Ms. Bennett, the bride’s clutch just arrived. The limo is waiting downstairs.”

The zipper on the bag had been left open, and a document slipped out as she handed it to me.

[Bayport City Clerk’s Office

Civil Marriage Ceremony Appointment Confirmation

Couple: Julian Sterling and Mia Sloan]

The appointment was scheduled for just before our wedding ceremony.

Chloe Parker snatched the paper up, her eyes turning red.

“Julian, you actually put your City Hall appointment confirmation in Evelyn’s bridal clutch?”

Julian glanced at it.

“One of the assistants put it in the wrong bag.”

I stared at him.

“So it’s real.”

He said nothing.

His phone rang, and Mia’s name flashed across the screen.

When he answered the video call, Mia Sloan appeared beneath a magnolia tree.

It was the tree in the yard of my mother’s old house.

Mia wore a white dress and held a lab report confirming her pregnancy. Her eyes were red.

“Julian, do you think Evelyn will be mad?”

She stroked her stomach.

“But you said it was quiet here, and that we could turn one of the rooms into our baby’s nursery someday.”

My mind reeled.

Not long before that, Dad had said that a pipe at the old house was leaking and asked for the spare key.

So this was where it had ended up.

I looked at Julian.

“You let her move into my mother’s house?”

Julian ended the call and lowered his voice.

“Mia just found out she’s pregnant. She’s been emotional.”

“That is my mother’s home.”

“I know.”

He tried to soothe me the way he always had.

“I’ll buy you a better place later.”

Chloe rushed toward him.

“Do you have no shame? You moved your mistress into Evelyn’s mother’s house?”

Julian’s expression darkened.

“Enough.”

When he turned back to me, his voice softened again.

“Evelyn, the hotel is full of guests, and the press is waiting outside.”

“Just don’t make a scene today.”

“Tonight, I’ll come home, get down on my knees, and make it up to you.”

I did not answer. I lowered my head and reached for my ring.

The moment my fingers touched it, Julian closed his hand around my wrist.

“Don’t take it off.”

“I don’t want you to regret it.”

The coordinator’s radio crackled. The driver was asking when we would be ready.

Julian straightened my veil once more, then bent down and swept me into his arms.

As I rested against his chest, I suddenly remembered something that had happened years ago.

Grandma had once sent someone to speak to me.

Julian and I had just gotten engaged at the time.

She had said, “Evelyn, there’s someone I want you to meet.”

“I’m not trying to force you into anything. I just want you to keep another door open.”

I had laughed and turned her down.

“Grandma, I already have a home with Julian.”

Only now did I understand that I should never have closed every other door so soon.

Before the limo pulled away, I took out my phone and typed a single line.

Once the message went through, I slipped the phone back into my bag.

Julian looked down at me.

“What were you looking at?”

I turned off the screen and asked quietly, “Julian, do you really think I could never walk away from you?”

He smiled.

“It’s not what I think.”

“It’s what I know.”