Page 169 of Be My Wife

“Brogan!” she says happily.

“Mrs. Garcia—”

“I told you to call me ‘Mama’.”

“Mama,” I swallow hard, “I need directions to the church.”

With Mama’s directions, I turn into the gravel lot outside a big, fancy church fifteen minutes later.

As I sit in the car, fear tries to creep over me.

You’re going to make a fool of yourself.

This changes nothing.

You can’t trust love.

You can’t—

I shut that voice down and climb out of the truck.

My steps are slow at first.

Unsure.

Then I think about Elizabeth and I start running.

My arms stretch out and push the doors wide open. They slam against the wall. It’s more noise than I intended to make, but I can’t stop now.

I step inside.

My chest heaves.

Sweat runs down my face.

I drag a hand over my chin, watching as the wedding rehearsal crashes to a halt.

There are candles everywhere.

Flowers.

Novah’s standing at the altar, holding hands with Oren.

There are three bridesmaids.

The one all the way at the end is the woman I came for.

The woman I crave.

The woman I adore more than life itself.

She’s wearing a simple dress that hugs her willowy figure.

Her soft pink lips are falling open.

“Brogan?” Mama gasps. She’s sitting in the front pew, her thick neck stretching around to look at me.

The pastor glances between Novah and Oren. “Is this… supposed to happen?”

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