Chapter 2

"How can this be?"

"Cora, you're Ian's girlfriend!"

Christina James reacted more strongly than anyone.

And who could blame her.

In the old days, my situation had a name: one woman married off twice, and to two brothers no less.

If I had even less shame, I could stand as the older brother's wife on one hand and keep tangling with the younger on the other.

And then where would that leave the James family's face?

But Otto said, "Sure."

The cool, low voice dropped the whole banquet hall into instant silence.

Everyone thought they'd misheard.

Christina came back to herself and stared at her eldest son in disbelief.

"Otto?"

Otto met her eyes, the corner of his mouth curving up.

"Mom, Ian was in the wrong first. And you heard him just now, he cares more about another woman. Do you really think, with things like this, Mr. Quinlan would still be willing to marry his daughter to Ian?"

"But..."

Christina never expected her eldest son to cut the ground out from under his own brother.

She wanted to argue, but she knew Otto had a point.

"No buts. Unless you no longer want the partnership between the James and Quinlan families."

"If that's the case, I'll listen to you and not marry her. But if you really think that with me out of it, Miss Quinlan will have no one, you're badly mistaken."

"Look at this room full of guests. How many of them want a marriage alliance with the Quinlans? The Barnes family jumped out. You think there won't be a Warner or a Lopez right behind them?"

Christina's face went white in an instant.

She turned to me up on the stage, her smile strained.

"Cora's right. Ian did wrong by you."

"An older brother is like a father. Our Otto is actually a fine match too!"

Otto smiled.

He rose from his seat, straightened a collar that hadn't been mussed, and walked up the runway with a steady stride.

"Gavin, shouldn't you be getting back to your seat?"

Gavin's face went ashen at once.

"Otto, well done."

He stepped down off the stage with his fists clenched, each stride hard enough to stamp a hole in the runway.

Otto turned back, his gaze sweeping over the wedding photos of Ian and me behind us.

"Since this is my wedding, you won't mind if I make a few small changes to the setup?"

"Of course not."

"But don't take too long. I'd rather not wait until dark for my groom to come marry me."

The groom had already been swapped. What did it matter whether the room got changed too?

"Don't worry. I only need half an hour."

I didn't ask how he meant to change it. I turned and went back to the dressing room to touch up my makeup.

Half an hour later, I was standing behind that door again.

As the emcee launched into a fresh round of vows, the tall red doors swung slowly open.

My father took my hand and led me toward the aisle.

I scanned the hall and couldn't spot anything different.

My father was holding back a laugh, murmuring the answer to me under his breath.

"That kid spent the whole half hour editing photos."

Only then did I see it. The wedding photos that had once been Ian's and mine now all wore a different face, and they didn't look off in the slightest.

With the groom swapped out, the wedding went remarkably smoothly.

The emcee's vows rolled off more easily by the line.

After skipping any number of steps, the wedding finally reached its close.

The exchange of rings.

When Otto took out his ring, I realized he'd changed the ring too.

It wasn't the pair Ian and I had picked.

"You switched them?"

Half an hour, and he'd edited the photos and swapped the rings on top of it. Wasn't that a little fast?

"Mm. I don't use another man's rings."

As he spoke, he turned the band to show a line of small print engraved on the inside.

Only This Life.

I smiled and was just about to hold out my hand when someone kicked the banquet hall doors open.

"Cora, the lucky hour's already passed. Our wedding is postponed. Today's reception goes to Delia Henson's welcome-home dinner first."