My Groom Walked Out, So His Brother Took His Place novel · Chapter 21 of 32
Chapter 21: The Ring Box
I went to the west wing at midnight, in a T-shirt, with nothing to say but a question.
The door was ajar.
He was sitting on the edge of the narrow bed with his elbows on his knees and the lamp off.
He looked up when I came in.
I shut the door behind me and stood against it.
"Did your father tell you to stand up?" I said.
"No."
"Then why did you?" I said.
"Sit down, and I'll tell you."
"I'll stand."
"It'll take a while," he said.
I sat on the desk chair by the window.
He didn't turn on the light.
I could see his outline against the pale curtain, and his hands hanging between his knees.
"Thursday night, before the rehearsal dinner, I was in my room," Jude said. "I opened the drawer where I keep my mother's things. Her band's in a velvet box. It's been there eleven years."
"The ring."
"Yes," he said.
"I thought it was Wendell's."
"Wendell's was in his own pocket. He wore it right up to the altar and gave it back to the pastor, who gave it to my father. I never had his. I had hers."
"Why?" I said.
"I'm getting there."
His voice was rough.
"I'd known for months that Wendell wasn't looking at you. At Sunday dinner. At the engagement party. He talked about you like a campaign stop. I watched you set the table at my mother's house and I thought, he isn't going to do this. He's going to do something stupid and she'll be standing there."
"You thought that Thursday?" I said.
"I thought it in March."
The rest of this chapter is part of the paid portion of the series. Chapters 1–16 of My Groom Walked Out, So His Brother Took His Place are free to read — start from the beginning, then unlock the rest with coins in the app.
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