The Same Wedding Dress, Two Different Brides novel · Chapter 13 of 32

Chapter 13: On the Steps

"Lauren," Evan said.

He came down two steps.

His tailcoat was too good for the wind on Copley Square, and it blew open around him.

Behind him, the doors stood wide, and three hundred faces hung in the dark of the church.

Shauna stepped in front of me.

"Go back inside," she said. "You're getting married."

"Shauna, please. One minute."

I put my hand on her shoulder.

She moved, but only about an inch.

Evan stopped one step above me, so for once we were the same height.

He opened his fist.

The boutonniere was white rose and lily of the valley, and he'd crushed it flat.

"Say the word," he said. "Say it and I'll walk away from that altar right now. In front of all of them."

I looked at him.

I looked at the crushed flower.

Seven years I'd wanted him to say something like that.

He was saying it now, on the steps of Trinity Church, with his bride buttoned into my dress behind him.

"What word?" I said.

"Any word. Stop. Don't. Come home. I'll do it."

"So you want me to do it."

He blinked.

"I'm asking you."

"You're asking me to stop your wedding," I said. "So when her father has his third heart attack, it's my fault. So when your mother cries, it's my fault. So when Boston talks about it for ten years, it's the seamstress who ran up the aisle."

"That isn't what I..."

"It's exactly what you mean. You've been letting other people decide for you for seven years. Your mother. Her parents. Me. I'm not doing it anymore."

The wind took a strand of my hair across my face.

I left it there.

"I won't be the reason, Evan," I said. "If you don't want to marry her, walk away. On your own feet. Because you decided."

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