They Switched My Groom So I Married The Wrong Man Chapter 06
The Family I Left
“Claire, don’t blame them.”
Of course Sophie is the first one to speak.
Her eyes fill with tears.
“This was my fault.”
She steps toward me.
“I know I’m never going to get married. I just wanted to know what it felt like once.”
I move my dress before she can touch it.
“So you used my wedding.”
“I didn’t mean to hurt you.”
“You used my fiancé.”
“It wasn’t real.”
“You wore my ring.”
She looks down.
My diamond is still on her finger.
Her hand immediately closes around it.
My mother steps between us.
“That’s enough.”
I look at her.
She pulls Sophie behind her.
“You’re humiliating her in front of everyone.”
For a second, I can’t speak.
Then I laugh.
“I’m humiliating her?”
“You’ve always been too sensitive about Sophie.”
My mother lowers her voice as if she’s being reasonable.
“She only wanted one day.”
“It was my wedding day.”
“And if you’d been a little more generous, none of this would’ve happened.”
The room goes quiet.
My father steps forward.
“Your mother means the rehearsal.”
I know exactly what he means.
A week ago, work kept me from attending the wedding rehearsal.
Ethan suggested Sophie could stand in for me.
Not just walk through the positions.
Wear my dress.
Stand beside my fiancé.
Pretend to be the bride.
I said no.
I told them if Sophie put on my wedding dress, I would cancel the entire wedding.
Apparently, that made me selfish.
My mother shakes her head.
“Sophie is your best friend. She asked for one harmless experience.”
“So you decided to give her the real thing.”
“We knew you’d overreact.”
There it is.
Not an apology.
An explanation for why this is my fault.
Something inside me goes quiet.
“All right.”
Ethan steps closer.
“Claire—”
I look at my mother.
“If Sophie is the daughter you wanted, you can have her.”
Her face changes.
“Don’t be ridiculous.”
“I’m not.”
I look at my father.
“You hired strangers to stand beside me at my own wedding because you thought I wouldn’t recognize the difference.”
Then Ethan.
“And you let another woman wear my dress, take my ring, ride in my wedding car, and stand beside you while my parents cried for her.”
“It wasn’t like that.”
“It was exactly like that.”
I take Ryan’s hand.
“So keep each other.”
My mother’s eyes widen.
“What does that mean?”
“It means I’m done.”
“With Ethan?”
“With all of you.”
My father finally loses his temper.
“You’re going to throw away your family over one stupid wedding prank?”
“No.”
I look at him.
“You did that.”
I turn toward the doors.
Ethan catches my wrist.
“Where are you going?”
“Home.”
“With him?”
“Yes.”
“You had a fake ceremony to punish us. Fine. You made your point.”
Ryan’s fingers tighten around mine.
Ethan continues.
“But don’t pretend you’re actually married to a man you met this morning.”
Ryan reaches into his jacket.
He pulls out our signed marriage documents.
Then he holds them up.
“We’re not pretending.”
Ethan goes still.
“So you’re really married?”
“Yes,” I say.
My mother stares at me.
“You married a stranger because you were angry?”
I look at her.
“You were the ones who decided I could have a stranger for a groom.”
No one has an answer to that.
I walk away.
My father’s voice follows me.
“If you leave now, don’t come back.”
My steps slow.
For one stupid second, part of me still wants him to take it back.
Then Sophie whispers behind me.
“Did I ruin everything?”
My mother’s voice softens immediately.
“No, sweetheart.”
Sweetheart.
“Claire will calm down.”
I keep walking.
Ethan runs after me.
“Claire!”
Then someone gasps.
I turn.
Sophie collapses.
For three seconds, Ethan stands between us.
He looks at me.
Then at her.
I already know.
He turns and runs back.
He lifts Sophie into his arms.
“Call an ambulance!”
I watch him carry her away.
Ryan stands beside me.
He doesn’t say anything.
He doesn’t need to.
Ethan has made the same choice one last time.
So I leave.
We stop at the apartment Ethan and I were supposed to share after the wedding.
Most of my things are already packed.
I change out of my dress.
Ryan carries my boxes downstairs.
By the time we’re sitting in his car, the anger that carried me through the day has faded.
Reality takes its place.
I married a man I barely know.
I turn toward him.
“We should get divorced.”
Ryan nearly drops the keys.
“What?”
“We were both caught up in what happened.”
“You used me and now you’re throwing me away?”
His outrage is so immediate that I stare at him.
Then he pulls the marriage documents closer to his chest.
I almost smile.
“Ryan.”
“One year.”
“What?”
“Give me one year.”
He looks more nervous asking this than he did getting married.
“If, after one year, you still don’t want me, I’ll sign whatever you want.”
“I don’t need a year to know whether—”
“I’ll sign an agreement now.”
That stops me.
“You can leave whenever you want. No fighting. No trapping you in this.”
His voice softens.
“Just give me a chance first.”
I study him.
“Why?”
For a second, something crosses his face.
Then it’s gone.
“Because if you get divorced tomorrow, Ethan will think he can wait you out.”
That is annoyingly reasonable.
“And,” Ryan adds, “you don’t have anywhere to live.”
“I can find an apartment.”
“You can.”
He nods.
“But my place has an extra bathroom, no rent, and a mother who will probably send a search party if we tell her we got divorced before breakfast.”
I laugh before I can stop myself.
Ryan smiles.
“One year.”
I look at the ring on my finger.
Too large.
Chosen in a rush.
Nothing about today fits the life I planned.
Maybe that’s the point.
“All right.”
Ryan’s smile disappears.
“Really?”
“One year.”
He starts the car before I can change my mind.
Then, as we pull away, he says quietly,
“I’ll get you a ring that actually fits tomorrow.”