Chapter 4 - The Reception Must Go On
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Slowly, without taking my eyes off Ryan, I reached down to my left hand. I unclasped the two-carat emerald-cut diamond ring he had placed on my finger a year ago.
Ryan stared at my hand, his breath hitching. "Victoria, don't..."
I walked up to the front pew and set the diamond ring down on the polished wooden cushion.
"I think this belongs with the plan you two made behind my back," I said softly.
Ryan looked completely stunned. Danielle gasped, her hand flying to her throat. They had come here expecting a hysterical woman. They expected me to scream, to ruin my makeup, to run out the side door sobbing so they could play the tragic, star-crossed lovers forced together by destiny.
Instead, I turned around and faced the two hundred guests sitting in the pews.
"Thank you all so much for coming today," I said, my voice carrying clearly through the stone arches. "The flowers are imported. The three-course lunch at the plaza is fully paid for. Many of you flew across the country to be here."
In the fourth row, my best friend Laura stood up instantly, her eyes blazing with fierce pride.
I looked at her and smiled. "So I’m still having the reception."
For half a second, dead silence hung in the air.
Then Laura threw her hands in the air and cheered. "Abso-freaking-lutely!"
Someone in the back burst out laughing. Another person started clapping. Within ten seconds, half the church was standing, applauding loudly. The atmosphere shifted from a funeral to a declaration of war.
Ryan looked at me like I had suddenly spoken a foreign language. "Victoria... you can't be serious. You're going to your own reception alone?"
I adjusted the lace cuff of my wedding dress. "I am going to my party with the people who actually care about me."
Danielle's face contorted in anger. "In that dress?!"
"Especially in this dress," I replied coldly.
My mother stood up from her seat, her face pale. "Victoria, sweetie... maybe everyone just needs time to process this. Maybe we should cancel—"
I stopped her with a look. "Did you know about this, Mom?"
"No! Of course not!" she cried out.
"Dad? Did you know?"
My father shook his head vigorously, his eyes filled with genuine regret.
I looked at my mother, the woman who had spent my entire childhood telling me to sacrifice my comfort for my sister's drama. "If you had suspected it, Mom... would you have told me?"
My mother hesitated. Just for a fraction of a second.
"Your sister is fragile, Victoria," my mother whispered defensively. "Getting involved always makes things more complicated..."
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There it was. The eternal family motto. Protect Danielle. Victoria can handle it.
"I love you, Mom," I said softly. "But I am done taking the hit for everyone else."
