Chapter 1

On my wedding day, I was the bride, and Stuart Gilbert put me in the very back row of the wedding car.

His childhood sweetheart, Jocelyn Cox, took my place inside.

When I clung to the door and demanded to know what he thought he was doing, he only said, lightly,

"Jocelyn gets carsick. What's wrong with letting her have the seat for a bit? We're all going to the same place anyway."

I refused, flatly.

"When we get to the hotel and I climb out of the last car in the line, how are my parents supposed to show their faces? How am I supposed to face all our relatives?"

Jocelyn tugged carefully at Stuart's sleeve.

"Stuart, just let her sit, please. I'll be fine even if I'm a little uncomfortable."

Stuart didn't spare me a glance. He lifted her gently into the wedding car, then turned back and said, impatient,

"We're getting married today. I'm warning you, don't make a scene. If we miss the lucky hour, there won't be a wedding at all!"

In that instant something in me just went flat, and I reached up and pulled the veil off my head.

"Fine. Then there won't be a wedding."

...

Stuart's hand was still frozen in the air, halfway to grabbing me.

His eyes went slowly wide.

"Sylvia Sinclair, do you know what you're saying?"

My voice wasn't quiet. The man running the motorcade heard, and slipped over to my side.

"Miss Sinclair, is the wedding really off?"

I looked up.

Ten cars, every one of them booked by me before the wedding, all in the styles and designs Stuart liked.

I nodded.

"Yes, it's off. Whatever time the motorcade has lost, take it out of the deposit. If it's not enough, I'll pay the rest later."

He nodded and waved the drivers off.

Stuart's eyes went red. He strode over to the man and roared,

"What do you think you're doing? I'm paying you to drive off? You ruin my wedding, can you afford to cover that?"

The man looked to me, a question in his eyes.

"Mr. Gilbert, Miss Sinclair signed for this motorcade when it was booked. Now that she's canceled the engagement, of course we're leaving."

While he spoke, the driver had already made Jocelyn get out of the car.

The crew started stripping the decorations off the wedding car.

The ribbon flowers on the door handles, the roses across the hood.

Every piece of it, something I had chosen and arranged myself.

Stuart was sweating, frantic.

I stood off to the side and watched, not moving.

"Sylvia, are you dead on your feet? Can't you see they're leaving? Stop them, now!"

Stuart rushed over and seized my hand.

"Can you please stop this? It's our wedding day. Do you really have to humiliate yourself in front of everyone?"

I looked down.

Stuart was in a real panic.

The light makeup the stylist had put on him was flaking a little.

He was pulling at me with one hand and shouting at the motorcade manager with the other.

He looked like a man who cared very much about this wedding.

I drew my hand out of his, finger by finger.

"Stuart, can you not understand plain words? I said the wedding is canceled."

Stuart froze.

Before he could get anything out, Jocelyn came over, crying, and caught hold of my hand.

"Sylvie, it's my fault, I didn't think. Please, just go to the hotel with Stuart, don't worry about me. I'll walk there if I have to."

She wept, so moved by her own words.

But my eyes stayed fixed on her hand.

On those pale fingers sat a ring.

The same brand as my wedding ring.

Back when Stuart and I went to pick out our rings, it was the one he couldn't bring himself to buy for me. Now it was on Jocelyn's hand.

Jocelyn felt me looking and dropped her hand in a fluster, even trying to hide the ring with her sleeve.

"Sylvie, don't misunderstand. Stuart saw that I liked it, so he gave it to me. It was a birthday present!"

I let out a short laugh, the bitterness in me rising and rising.

"A diamond ring for a birthday present. And the matching couple's set, at that."

The tears on Jocelyn's face slid down in bigger drops.

She choked and waved her hands, as though I were the one bullying her.

Stuart's face turned a little unnatural.

He took Jocelyn's hand and pulled her behind him.

"It's just a ring. Jocelyn's my sister. She likes it, so I bought it for her. What's wrong with that?"

I looked at him and said, softly,

"But I told you I liked it too. Why didn't you give it to me?"

That fifteen-thousand-dollar diamond ring could have bought all ten of the ones on my hand.

Stuart didn't see her as a sister.

The truth was, in his heart, I had never held any place at all. I was only ever someone he could make do with.