They Switched My Groom—So I Kept Him Chapter 03
He went completely still and stared at me in shock.
“When did you figure it out?”
“The moment I took your hand.”
I looked at him calmly. “And I know you’re not one of Ethan’s original groomsmen either.”
He still tried to bluff.
“I am.”
“You don’t need to lie to me. I’ve met most of Ethan’s friends. None of them wear the cologne you’re wearing. And more importantly, anyone Ethan hired for this wouldn’t have agreed to carry me downstairs. He definitely wouldn’t have started talking to me.”
Apparently he’d never expected such small details to give him away.
Finally, he admitted it.
“My name is Ryan. And no, Ethan didn’t bring me here.”
He glanced at me, unable to hide the expectation on his face.
I frowned and searched my memory for the name.
Nothing.
Disappointment flickered across his face. His grip on the steering wheel tightened.
“We used to play together when we were kids. You really don’t remember me.”
When I was little, I was the unofficial leader of every kid in the neighborhood. I carried around jars of candy and handed sweets out to everyone.
I’d played with too many kids to remember them all.
And with my face blindness, remembering people was even harder.
“Honestly, I only came because I wanted to see you in your wedding dress,” Ryan said. “Then one of the guys told me to cover for him, shoved his boutonniere at me, and disappeared.”
I looked at him. “You only wanted to look? You don’t want to be the real groom today?”
He made a startled sound.
I pointed toward the side street.
“Do what I say. Turn here.”
Our car disappeared down the smaller road.
Not one of the cars behind us followed.
One of the groomsmen got out and knocked on Ethan’s window.
“Ethan, why don’t we just follow your car?”
Ethan frowned, but before he could answer, Sophie rolled down the rear window with a smile.
“Sure. I was just thinking we barely had any cars with us anyway.”
Ethan glanced toward the road where we’d disappeared.
“Then Claire won’t have anyone following her car.”
“Just say traffic separated everyone. As long as they all meet us at the hotel in the end, it’ll be fine.”
Sophie poked him lightly in the back.
“You promised I’d get to know what it feels like to be a bride for one day. You’re not backing out now, are you?”
Ethan pushed down the unease in his chest.
“I’m not backing out.”
Meanwhile, I had Ryan pull over in front of the Clark County Marriage License Bureau.
“Do you have your driver’s license?”
He blinked, then quickly understood and pulled it from his wallet.
I’d discovered while driving the route to the hotel two weeks earlier that this side road led straight to the marriage license office.
At the time, I’d thought Ethan and I could stop here before the wedding and take care of the paperwork.
That was why I’d kept my driver’s license in my clutch all morning.
I looked at Ryan.
“So… will you marry me? Right now. Get the license, do a quick civil ceremony, and be my real groom today?”
“Wait. I need to make one call first.”
Ryan pulled out his phone immediately.
“Mom, I’m getting married in an hour. You and Dad need to get to the Grand Sterling Hotel in Las Vegas right now. Third floor, second ballroom. Have them change the groom’s name to mine. And especially the wedding welcome sign at the entrance—the one that says Claire and Ethan. Get rid of it. The bride and I will be there soon.”
He ended the call and grinned at me.
“Okay. Now I’m ready.”
After we obtained the marriage license and completed a short civil ceremony nearby, we stepped outside.
The anger that had been burning through my brain finally cooled enough for reality to catch up with me.
Ryan immediately took the marriage documents from my hand.
“Your dress doesn’t have pockets. I’ll hold on to these.”
My phone started ringing.
Mom.
I answered.
Her anxious voice rushed through the speaker.
“Claire, the wedding’s about to start. Where are you?”
Without changing my expression, I lied.
“We got a flat tire. It’s fixed now. We’re on our way.”
She let out a relieved breath.
“Good. Hurry.”
My mother had a habit of never hanging up first. She always waited for the other person to end the call.
This time, she apparently thought I already had.
I heard her turn to Ethan.
“Claire’s fine. Just a flat tire. Go ahead and start your ceremony. Don’t worry about hers. The stand-ins we hired to attend in our place are already there. Nothing will go wrong.”