Page 75 of Secrets of the Past
The officiant, a kind woman from the island who had been hastily called in, welcomed everyone, but Nicole hardly heard her.She could only hear the sound of Tripp’s breathing, could only feel the warmth of his hand gripping hers.
The officiant smiled at the gathered friends and family, her voice rising clear against the hush.She gave a quick lecture on the sanctity of marriage and love before she asked the question that Nicole dreaded.
“If anyone here knows a reason why these two should not be joined in holy matrimony, speak now or forever hold your peace.”
Nicole’s breath caught.She knew this moment.Twenty years ago, no one had spoken, but later, voices had destroyed them anyway.
And then the doors creaked and slammed.
The entire congregation turned.
Suzanne Masterson walked in, pearls gleaming at her throat, her face pale but proud.Nicole’s blood ran cold.The silence was so deep that Nicole could hear her own pulse hammering.
Suzanne’s eyes locked on her son.For a long, unbearable moment, she said nothing.Then, to everyone’s shock, her voice cracked through the stillness.
“I object,” she said, and the chapel gasped.
But she didn’t stop there.
“I object to what I did twenty years ago.To the lies.To tearing you apart.To thinking I could buy and bully my way into controlling your happiness.”Her voice faltered, her shoulders sagging.“I was wrong, Dustin.I thought I was saving you, but all I did was destroy the one thing that ever truly mattered.You once asked me if I had ever loved.The truth is, I did.You, my son, you were the one I loved.And I was wrong…so wrong…to destroy your trust.”
Nicole’s chest clenched.Tripp’s grip on her hand tightened like a vow.
Suzanne’s gaze shifted to Nicole then, softening in a way Nicole had never seen.“I was wrong about you too.You loved him when you were a girl, and you love him still.That kind of devotion isn’t weakness.Its strength.And I was too proud to see it.”
The chapel buzzed with whispers, but all Nicole saw was Tripp, his jaw hard, his eyes fierce as he turned to face his mother.
“This is Nicole,” he said, his voice ringing with power.“My wife.My family.If you can accept her, you’ll still have me.If you can’t, then leave and don’t come back.But hear me, Mother, this marriage stands.Tonight, tomorrow, always.No one will ever take her from me again.”
The words struck like a gavel.The crowd seemed to lean in, breathless.
Suzanne’s lips trembled.For a heartbeat, she looked like she might collapse under the weight of it.Then she gave a slight, shaky nod.Not triumph, not approval, but surrender.
“I won’t stand in your way again.You have my blessing,” she whispered.Then she sank slowly into a pew.
Nicole’s chest heaved, her tears threatening anew.Tripp turned back to her, his eyes steady, fierce.He had chosen.Publicly.Irrevocably.The officiant cleared her throat softly.“Let us continue.”
When it came time for vows, Tripp went first.
“I chose you then, Nicole Reyes,” he said, his voice steady though his eyes shimmered.“I choose you now.And I’ll keep choosing you every day we’re given.No more secrets.No more shadows.Just us, together, as it always should have been.”
Her tears fell freely, spilling down her cheeks.“You were my first love, Tripp Masterson.My only love.They tried to take it from us, but they never could.My heart remembered.My soul remembered.And I am yours.Forever.”
The officiant nodded, smiling.“By the power vested in me… I now pronounce you husband and wife.”
The chapel erupted in applause as Tripp pulled her into his arms and kissed her, a kiss that erased twenty years of pain.Her friends whooped, Crystal sobbed, Amanda yelled, “Finally!”and Jennifer snapped a picture with her phone.
A few minutes later, they burst through the doors, laughter tangled with tears, birdseed and flower petals raining down from their friends.And there, parked at the curb, sat a cherry-red Mustang convertible, gleaming under the lamplight.
Nicole gasped.“Tripp… it looks just like yours.”
He grinned, tugging her toward it.“That’s because I hunted one down.Thought we might need it tonight.”
Her heart swelled until she thought it might split.They climbed in, her veil fluttering, his jacket tossed aside.When he revved the engine, the familiar growl sent a thrill down her spine.
Someone had tied Coke cans to the back and painted just married on the back window.
As they sped away from the chapel, from the shadows of the past and into the bright unknown, Nicole leaned close, laughter bubbling through her tears.
