The Bride Wore My Nightmares Chapter 02
I laughed coldly inside. What a joke.
Back then, the thing she used to say to me most often was, “Looking like that, you’re basically a dead ringer for my dog.”
“This is your future sister-in-law. Her name is —”
“Vanessa Whitaker,” I cut him off coldly.
Mom and Dad froze.
“Maddie, you mean… her?” Mom stared at me, disbelieving.
Vanessa was clearly caught off guard too. “You are…?”
Those carefully lined eyes were completely blank.
In that instant, all the blood in my body seemed to lock in place.
I clenched my teeth so hard they ached — so this is what they say is true. Abusers never remember the miserable creatures they trampled.
“This is my little sister, Maddie,” Ethan said, completely oblivious to the shift in the air.
Vanessa hesitated, then stretched her lips into a polite smile.
Well. That figured.
Back in ninth grade, I was thin and evenly built — everyone said I was born to be a ballerina. But now, after years on antidepressants, I’d gone from a hundred and fifteen pounds to a hundred and seventy-five, and even though I’d been off the meds for two years, the weight refused to come off.
I stared her dead in the eye. “So you’ve forgotten your days as a mean girl back in high school?”
Ethan didn’t catch on. But Vanessa’s face changed in an instant.
Mom’s and Dad’s expressions darkened.
The rest of my family had never met Vanessa in person, but Mom and Dad had seen her name in my therapy journals.
Back when the bullying had driven me into clinical depression, every time I had an episode they wanted nothing more than to drag Vanessa Whitaker out by the hair and beat her senseless themselves.
“Maddie — is that you?” Vanessa said, as if the memory had only just surfaced.
Ethan’s eyes flickered. “Maddie, are you saying — Vanessa is the one who bullied you back then?”
Vanessa.
He said it so tenderly.
I nodded, not blinking, watching him closely to see what he’d choose between us.
Ethan just stood there, frozen. He couldn’t process this fast enough.
Vanessa, however, was quick on her feet. She set the gift down and bowed deeply to me. “I’m so sorry. What happened back then was my fault. But Ethan and I truly love each other. I hope you’ll give me a chance to make it up to you.”
What a joke.
Before I could open my mouth, Ethan cut in: “Let’s sit down and talk this through. Even if you’re going to apologize, don’t do it in the doorway.”
And with that he tried to pull Vanessa toward the living room.
“Why not in the doorway?” I stepped over and planted myself in front of the door, blocking it. “Letting her stand here is already the mercy of a lifetime.”
“Ethan!” Dad spoke first, his voice sharp with warning.
Mom didn’t hesitate to side with me either. “Ethan, have you lost your mind? The one who got hurt is your own sister!”
Ethan ignored them both, dragging Vanessa over to the couch and sitting her down.
“That was all years ago. Vanessa knows she was wrong now, and she’s already said she wants to make it up to Maddie. Why are you all still so hostile?”
I was so furious my voice shook. I forced each word out, one at a time. “No abuser deserves to be forgiven.”
Ethan was clearly stung. “Maddie, can you please speak reasonably!”