They Caught Her Flower for Someone Else, So I Kept the Groom Fate Gave Me Chapter 06

They Caught Her Flower for Someone Else, So I Kept the Groom Fate Gave Me Chapter 06

Ethan lunged forward half a step and nearly tripped over the threshold.

Landon grabbed his arm, his voice low and urgent. “Ethan, what are you doing? The ceremony’s not over. You can’t just barge in and interrupt the Maypole Blessing—”

“It’s Haven.” Ethan’s voice came out tight. “That’s Haven in there.”

Landon froze.

He followed Ethan’s gaze to that hand—and went pale himself, but his grip didn’t loosen.

“Even if that’s Haven, you can’t go in now. Disrupting the ceremony in front of the Maypole Goddess statue? You’d be judged by the whole town. Whatever this is, it can wait until it’s over.”

Ethan’s chest rose and fell. He stared at that hand.

A cold chill crept down his back.

Landon pulled him back a few steps, his voice softening.

“Just hold on. The ceremony’s almost done. You can figure it out after.”

Hunter came over and followed Ethan’s stare toward the kneeling figure in the Meeting House.

“Ethan, you’re seeing things. That can’t be Haven. She’s stubborn as hell—once she Rejects the Match, she’s done. She wouldn’t be kneeling in there.”

—

The two of them talked him down, one after the other.

Landon finally let go of his arm. “We’ve known her for years. She’s family. She’s not going to walk away over one bad night.”

“Worst case, she throws a tantrum for a few days. You apologize, she forgives you. She’s never really turned on you, has she?”

And he was right. When had I ever turned on him?

No. She never had.

Last winter, when Calla got sick, he’d gotten a call in the middle of the night and rushed to take care of her. Forgot the movie he’d promised to watch with me.

The next day, all I said was, “It’s fine. We can watch it another time.”

The year before that, during the Harvest Moon Festival, he’d come back to town with me for a family gathering—but Cora Tate called him away to help move furniture, and he missed the moonlit walk we’d planned.

I’d waited at the edge of town for over an hour. When he finally showed up, I just smiled and said, “Come on, let’s go inside.”

I’d always been like that.

No matter how much it hurt, I’d sleep it off.

No matter how deep the disappointment, a few kind words and my eyes would light up again.

I was like a door that never locked. He could push it open whenever he wanted. Walk out whenever he felt like it.

—

He pulled a pack of cigarettes from his pocket and put one between his lips.

“I’m going for a smoke. You two keep an eye on things.”

By town tradition, the groom didn’t actually need to be at the Maypole Blessing.

He was supposed to wait until it was over and pick up the bride from the Meeting House.

But Calla had begged him to come—”Ethan, I’m scared,” she’d said in that soft voice—so he’d come.

He walked to the old oak tree, a good distance from the Meeting House.

It was too loud over there. Too much noise. It made his chest feel hollow.

The Maypole Ground. The white lace veil. The Maypole Blessing. All of it should have been his and mine.

Now that I’d Rejected the Match, it was him and another woman.

It didn’t feel right.

He leaned against the trunk. Flicked his lighter three times before the cigarette caught.

The smoke hit his throat and he coughed.

He started thinking about what to do when we got back to the city.

The town ceremony was one thing—but the city wedding had to be

—

perfect.

“Even though she’d been struck from the Registry, I had to make sure she knew she wasn’t losing anything. I’d throw her a bigger wedding, make up for all the pain she’d been through.”

He needed to figure it out. The venue. The dress. Whether to hire an officiant…

He took another drag of the cigarette and blew the smoke into the wind.

The past two days had been a blur of calls and arrangements.

Booking the reception, hiring the band…