On my wedding day, I walked my blind father down the aisle of the church, and the entire sanctuary suddenly erupted in laughter.
Dad tightened his grip on my hand, nervous.
“Claire… did Dad embarrass you?”
I quickly lifted the lace veil from my face and turned toward the projection screen behind the altar.
That was when I finally saw it.
A single, bright red USDA pork inspection stamp had been slapped onto each of our faces.
From the bridesmaids’ bench, my best friend Bianca Whitmore was doubled over laughing.
“Oh my God, Claire, you two are adorable. You look like two little pigs that just rolled off the slaughterhouse conveyor belt.”
My fiancé, Nolan Ashford, laughed and pulled a folded check from the inside pocket of his tux, handing it to her.
“A bet’s a bet. You win. She really didn’t notice a thing all the way to the altar.”
So it was another bet.
Back in college, they’d bet on whether I’d actually eat the cereal they’d swapped out for dog kibble.
On my birthday, they’d bet how long it would take me to open the gift box stuffed with Monopoly money.
And this time.
They’d made my blind father a chip in the game too.
Nolan held out his hand, coaxing me like a child.
“Sweetheart, everyone’s watching. Let’s just finish the ceremony.”
I looked at him, then at Dad standing beside me, disoriented, still not understanding what had happened.
This time, I wasn’t going to swallow it.
The Wedding Was A Game And Her Father Was The Prize Chapter 10 Two years passed. Spring came slowly to Munich, and the chestnut trees along the streets pushed out fresh new leaves. I wheeled Dad out of the rehab wing of the Munich Ophthalmology Institute. His vision had come back even better than the […]
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The Wedding Was A Game And Her Father Was The Prize Chapter 09 The day Nolan left Munich, a fine rain was falling. On the flight back to Boston, he barely slept for the entire dozen hours. Because Henry didn’t hate him. Claire didn’t hate him either. They had simply erased him from their lives.
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The Wedding Was A Game And Her Father Was The Prize Chapter 08 Nolan stayed in Munich. He got a place a few blocks from mine. He didn’t come close. He didn’t speak. He just kept his distance. Sometimes he was holding a takeaway breakfast. Sometimes flowers. Sometimes the mille-feuille I’d once mentioned, in passing,
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The Wedding Was A Game And Her Father Was The Prize Chapter 07 Munich. The early spring sun was blindingly bright. When I wheeled Dad through the entrance of the Munich Ophthalmology Institute, his palms were slick with sweat from nerves. “Claire, if it turns out they can’t fix Dad, it’s okay.” “Don’t wear yourself
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The Wedding Was A Game And Her Father Was The Prize Chapter 06 More than a dozen hours later, Nolan let himself back into the Back Bay penthouse. The place was dead silent. Confetti from the night before was still scattered across the living room floor. The tiered birthday cake had been abandoned on the
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The Wedding Was A Game And Her Father Was The Prize Chapter 05 “Germany? Claire Sutton, what the hell are you going to Germany for?” Nolan finally cracked, the question ripping out of him. The only answer was the flat, dead tone of a call disconnected from the other end. Nolan stood in the middle
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The Wedding Was A Game And Her Father Was The Prize Chapter 04 Before dawn, I was already on the way to Logan International Airport with Dad. On the way, Nolan texted. 【Bianca and I are at the airport. Come find us.】 I didn’t answer a single one. He called more than ten times right
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The Wedding Was A Game And Her Father Was The Prize Chapter 03 After I left, someone dropped a video from the party into the group chat. Bianca was clearly drunk in it, cheeks flushed pink. “Nolan Ashford, you’ve lost three rounds in a row now. You have to be my husband for a whole
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The Wedding Was A Game And Her Father Was The Prize Chapter 02 After I got Dad settled in his hospital room, Nolan finally messaged me. His tone had already slid back into its familiar gentleness. 【Claire, today was on us, I know. But you also overreacted, just a little.】 【I already booked our honeymoon
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The Wedding Was A Game And Her Father Was The Prize Chapter 01 On my wedding day, I walked my blind father down the aisle of the church, and the entire sanctuary suddenly erupted in laughter. Dad tightened his grip on my hand, nervous. “Claire… did Dad embarrass you?” I quickly lifted the lace veil
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