Chapter 6 - THE WEDDING THAT NEVER HAPPENED
“Before we begin,” Julian said.
The officiant stopped.
Sloane looked at him.
The lawn fell silent.
Julian faced her.
“I need to ask you something.”
Her fingers tightened around the flowers.
“Now?”
“Yes.”
A nervous laugh moved through the guests.
Julian ignored it.
“Sloane, are you pregnant?”
Her face changed by a fraction.
“What?”
“Are you carrying my child?”
She stared at him.
“Julian, what are you doing?”
“I’m asking you one question.”
The silence deepened.
Sloane looked toward the guests.
Cameras were lowered.
People shifted uneasily.
“Of course I’m pregnant.”
Julian nodded.
He had hoped, impossibly, for a different answer.
“One more chance.”
Her face went pale.
“Stop.”
“One more chance to tell me the truth privately.”
“How is this private?”
Julian glanced at the crowd.
“You’re right.”
He turned to the officiant.
“We’re done.”
A gasp rolled across the lawn.
Sloane grabbed Julian’s wrist.
“No.”
He looked down at her hand.
“The wedding is canceled.”
“Julian.”
Her voice cracked.
“Please.”
He gently removed her fingers.
“I know about Dr. Keene.”
All the color left her face.
Sloane’s father stood.
“What is going on?”
Julian did not look away from Sloane.
“I know about the two hundred thousand dollars. I know about the ultrasound. I know about the trust amendment. I know what you planned to happen after the honeymoon.”
Sloane’s lips parted.
Nothing came out.
“You don’t have to humiliate yourself,” Julian said quietly. “Walk inside. My attorneys will meet with yours. This ends here.”
That was his mercy.
A doorway.
A final chance to leave with some dignity.
Sloane looked around.
Five hundred people watched her.
Her mother was crying.
Her father seemed unable to move.
Something inside Sloane broke.
Not guilt.
Panic.
“You’re lying.”
Julian’s expression tightened.
“Sloane.”
“You’re lying!”
She turned toward the guests.
“He’s having some kind of breakdown. He’s terrified of becoming a father. He’s been unstable for weeks.”
Julian closed his eyes briefly.
There it was.
The final choice.
She had been given an exit.
She chose another lie.
Sloane pressed a hand dramatically to her stomach.
“You’re doing this to your own baby.”
Margaret Mercer began to cry.
Julian looked at Sloane.
“Don’t.”
“How can you say that?”
“Don’t use that child again.”
“There is a child!”
“No.”
Julian’s voice cracked.
For the first time, the controlled businessman disappeared.
The wounded man stood exposed.
“There was never a child.”
Sloane stepped backward.
Her heel caught the edge of the platform.
She stumbled.
Julian reached forward instinctively.
She jerked away from him.
“Don’t touch me!”
The sudden movement twisted her torso.
A harsh ripping sound tore across the silence.
Sloane froze.
So did everyone else.
One side of the prosthetic belly slipped beneath the loose fabric of her gown.
The shape dropped several inches.
Someone in the front row gasped.
Sloane clutched it.
Too late.
The strap beneath her dress had torn loose.
The false abdomen shifted sideways against her hip.
For five full seconds, nobody moved.
Julian stared at it.
Even though he had known.
Even though he had touched the harness.
Even though Dr. Keene had confessed.
Seeing the thing with his own eyes destroyed something that evidence had not reached.
Months of dreams had been strapped to her body with nylon and Velcro.
Sloane began sobbing.
Real tears now.
“No.”
She tried to hold the belly in place.
“Please.”
Julian looked away.
“Get her inside.”
Security staff approached slowly, not touching her until she nodded.
The guests remained silent.
No cheers.
No triumphant applause.
Nothing cinematic.
Only discomfort.
Shock.
And the terrible sound of a woman crying as she walked back toward the house carrying her fake pregnancy beneath both hands.
Julian remained beside the empty altar.
His mother approached him.
“Come inside.”
He shook his head.
“Just give me a minute.”
Margaret touched his shoulder.
The ocean rolled behind him.
Julian looked at the hundreds of empty white flowers swaying in the wind.
He had imagined today differently.
A wife.
A future.
A child.
Now there was only an aisle leading nowhere.
May you like
For the first time since Elise died, Julian allowed himself to cry in front of strangers.
