They Caught Her Flower for Someone Else, So I Kept the Groom Fate Gave Me Chapter 14

They Caught Her Flower for Someone Else, So I Kept the Groom Fate Gave Me Chapter 14

His breathing quickened.

His gaze landed on Dane behind me, and his eyes went cold. “You’ve known her for what—a few days? What gives you the right—”

Dane’s expression didn’t change. “Sorry. But I might have known her longer than you.”

Even I froze at that.

Ethan let out a harsh laugh. “That’s bullshit. Your place is halfway across town from the Hales’. I’ve known Haven since high school—”

“Thirteen years ago,” Dane cut in. “I came back to town to visit my brother. A group of kids mistook me for him and surrounded me, calling me a bastard with no mother.”

“A girl with pigtails ran over and chased them off with rocks.”

“She turned to me and said—’It’s okay if you don’t have a mom. My dad doesn’t like me either. My mom doesn’t talk at home. My brother doesn’t care about me. But I still eat and sleep and live my life. If they don’t like me, that’s their problem. I like myself just fine.'”

He looked at me, dusk settling in his eyes.

“That was eleven years ago. Today, I’m giving those words back to you. But with one difference—you also have me.”

My eyes burned.

I had a faint memory of that day.

—

But I never realized that little boy was him…

Ethan’s face went pale, inch by inch. He had nothing left to offer now…

He turned and walked out of the service.

The silver bangles on my wrist clinked softly—a tiny sound, like a goodbye that never got spoken.

Those were the bangles my mother had taken back from Calla before she died.

My brother told me, “Mom had a moment of clarity before she went. She struggled to sit up and asked someone to bring Calla to her bedside.”

Calla came. Mom stared at the bangles on her wrist.

“My mother left these to me,” she said, her voice thin and weak. “I want them for my daughter.”

Calla hesitated.

“But Mr. Hale gave them to me…”

She stopped mid-sentence. She saw everyone watching her. She slipped the bangles off and handed them over.

My mother held them in her hand. Held them tight. Then she passed them to my brother.

“Give these to Haven. Tell her—your mother never fought for anything her whole life. But this one time—I got her things back.”

After she gave the bangles away, she lay back down and closed her

—

eyes, like she’d finally settled a debt.

That night, while the night watch was dozing, she walked to the river alone.

By the time my brother found her, she’d already been pulled out downstream.

Those silver-and-jade bangles—she’d worn them most of her life.

Her husband had given them away to his old flame’s daughter.

But in the end, she’d gotten them back for herself.

She’d never fought for anything her whole life. Not when her land was taken. Not when her dowry was given away. Not when her daughter was wronged.

The only time she ever stood her ground—was taking back what belonged to her daughter, right before she died.

Dane gently took the hand that was gripping the bangles.

His palm was warm. One by one, he pried my fingers loose.

And then I cried.

Later, I heard that Cora Tate kept clinging to Ethan. Demanding that he move his residency back to town.

He refused. She made a scene right there.

Calla stood beside her, head down, saying nothing. In the end, Ethan left.

Even though I’d already filed a license with someone else. Even

—

though he’d caught her ribbon…

Calla still couldn’t make him choose her.

Maypole Goddess—I guess You see everything. Who was taken. Who was left. Who was caught.

That Maypole Choosing became nothing more than town gossip. People talked for a while, then forgot.

Like wind stripping leaves from trees—new ones always grow back.

My brother eventually married a girl from the next town over.

Life went on, quiet and uneventful.

The little sister he’d always favored—Calla—turned out to be his own blood in the end.

The dream of marrying her shattered completely.

He never dared mention the sister who’d cut ties with him again.

Because of his selfishness, he’d nearly ruined her life.

Landon, after that Maypole incident, couldn’t bring himself to stay close to Calla either.

One by one, they drifted apart.

My father stayed in that empty house. He wanted to marry his old flame Cora Tate—but she thought he was too poor.

She wouldn’t even let her daughter be acknowledged as his.

He went around sighing about how his children were had abandoned

—

him—but no one wanted to hear it anymore.

As for me and Dane—life was quiet.

I guess you could say we fell in love after marriage.