Left Waiting at My Own Wedding

The heirloom jade Buddha was one of a kind.

April had already handed it to Marvin, so what was that broken jade Buddha lying on the floor supposed to be?

Call me a fool.

I looked at April for a long moment, and I let it go. I didn't call her out. I just took my parents and left.

Annabel came quickly.

We'd barely reached the hotel when she started climbing out of the car in her wedding dress.

I hurried over and stopped her.

"We already shortchanged you by skipping the whole ceremony of coming to fetch you. You can't step out of that car on your own."

My mother rushed over and pressed a thick red envelope into her hand.

I crouched down, ready to carry Annabel down on my back.

April had followed us, and seeing this, she assumed I was just insisting on going through the motions with somebody. Her face went dark.

"Anthony, didn't you agree with Kari to hold the wedding another day? Why did you call someone in to run through the ceremony?"

I didn't want any more trouble. I said flatly,

"It's your daughter who told me to do it this way."

But April still felt it wasn't right. She blocked Annabel from climbing onto my back.

"Anthony! I know it hurts, waiting this long. But is the ceremony really that important?"

"We'll hold the wedding another day, we'll do everything properly. Isn't that better? Whoever heard of letting someone stand in and finish the wedding after the lucky hour has passed? Where does that leave Kari's face?"

Now she remembered the lucky hour. Now she remembered her daughter's face.

She just couldn't remember how she and her family had ground my face and my parents' faces into the dirt.

I ignored her and told Annabel to hold tight around my neck.

As I carried her down the aisle, everyone cheered together at how beautiful the bride was.

I couldn't help smiling as I asked her,

"So you came prepared?"

She whispered,

"The lucky hour was almost here and you still hadn't managed to bring your bride home, so I started getting ready."

My worn-out heart warmed in that instant, just from those words.

The love Karen couldn't give, someone else would.

The person Karen couldn't treasure, someone else would hold like a treasure.

I curved my lips and pressed a light kiss to her arm.

Tyler and April exchanged a look and moved in from either side, trying to pull Annabel down by force.

"Anthony, if you absolutely have to hold the wedding today, fine! But it can't be her! I'll stand in for Kari and go through the ceremony!"

April's words stunned everyone in the room.

The videographer, who'd been filming the whole time, couldn't hold it in.

"Don't tell me the mother of the bride's going to stand in for the ring exchange and the kiss too? Isn't that absurd? People will laugh themselves sick over it!"

Tyler's face burned. He shot April a hard, cutting look.

"Look at the rotten ideas you come up with!"

Tyler, who still had some shame left, stepped back a few paces and clasped his hands toward Annabel.

"Thank you for your trouble!"

Annabel heard him and smiled.

"It's no trouble."

"How could it be any trouble, marrying the man I love?"

That last line she said low, close against my ear.

My whole face went red in an instant, and I hoisted her up steadier and firmer on my back.

My parents wiped the tears from the corners of their eyes and followed behind, on the phone arranging for the wedding company to change out the bride.

Tyler and April heard it and froze on the spot.

"What do you mean, change the bride? Didn't you just hire her to fill in for the ceremony? How is it now—"

No one paid them any attention. Annabel and I were already standing at the doors of the banquet hall.

When the emcee announced the bride, Annabel, and invited her in, Tyler stamped his feet in a panic.

"Oh no, this is bad! They really are changing the bride! Hurry, call Kari and get her back here!"

April knit her brows and twisted her mouth, refusing to budge.

"I don't believe it! You've seen how devoted that boy is to our Kari, haven't you? After she saved his life, he'll belong to this family even in death! He's putting on this show now just because Kari won't come back, so he found somebody to play hard to get and lure her in!"

"If he actually marries some other woman, I'll take his surname!"

But Tyler still dialed Karen's number.

"Kari, get back here now! Anthony's holding the wedding with some other woman!"