His First Love Called, and My Wedding Ended

1: 1

Ten years into my relationship with a top veterinarian,

I had built him into the most popular celebrity pet doctor around.

But when the kitten who'd been with me for five years came down with a rare illness,

and I finally worked my way to the front of his line, he refused to treat her.

He moved me to the very back, to keep things fair, he said.

Then he let his childhood friend cut in line so her cat could get a routine checkup,

and by the time my turn came around again, my kitten nearly didn't make it.

Back home, I packed my things in a fury and was ready to walk out.

But Warren Delgado, who was never anything but calm, stood there with red-rimmed eyes,

holding out a diamond ring, dropping to one knee to block the door.

"Gail Sullivan, I thought you understood. My position is sensitive. As the woman I love, you have to avoid any hint of favoritism."

"Nanette Perez's mother put her in my mom's care right before she died. Nobody's going to say anything if I look after her a little."

My heart softened, and I took the ring.

Until the day of the wedding.

Thirty minutes before the ceremony, I walked in on him talking to the officiant.

"Nanette's cat suddenly started vomiting. Find a way to push the wedding back a bit, wait until I've seen the cat and come back."

Nanette clung to his arm, tilting her face up, all sweetness.

"You always spoil me, Warren. But what if Gail makes a scene?"

Warren tousled her hair, indulgent.

"The whole wedding's hers already. Spoiling you a little is only fair."

His expression was relaxed, his tone certain.

"Besides, she won't make a scene. One wedding was enough to keep her happy."

I froze where I stood, my heart going cold all the way through.

So ten years of love earned nothing from him but a line: she won't make a scene.

Calmly, I slid off the ring that had never quite fit,

pushed the door open, and said in a steady voice,

"If her cat matters that much, why not just cancel the wedding?"

The smile froze on Warren's face,

and then he frowned at me.

"Don't be ridiculous! It's just a short delay."

This was our marriage,

but in his mouth it sounded like a children's game,

something you could put off for a while whenever you felt like it.

I let my eyes move to him.

The suit he was wearing today was sharp and well-cut,

the piece I'd spent half a year pulling strings to get a haute couture designer,

to design just for him.

The day the suit arrived he laughed and spun me around in his arms,

swearing he'd treasure the thought behind it.

But now Nanette was holding his arm,

quietly tightening her grip.

The sleeve of the suit was getting crumpled where she pulled at it,

and he didn't care in the slightest,

just patted her hand to soothe her.

I pulled my eyes away and said softly,

"Am I the one being ridiculous, Warren?"

"The one who wants to abandon his bride to go treat his childhood friend's cat, isn't that you?"

An indifferent smile came to the corner of his mouth.

"Don't blow this out of proportion. If you ask me, you're just jealous of Nanette."

"It's a small thing, easily solved by pushing the ceremony back a little."

A small thing. To Warren, everything of mine was a small thing.

My kitten's rare illness being delayed was a small thing, missing the auspicious hour for the ceremony was a small thing.

But Nanette's cat sneezing was a crisis.

The officiant, who'd been standing there like he wasn't part of any of this,

glanced at me, then at Warren,

and ventured carefully:

"Is there any chance we could have another doctor look at the cat?"

"That way neither side gets held up."

"It is a wedding ceremony, after all. It wouldn't be great to miss the auspicious hour."

At that, Nanette pressed her lips together, looking a little tense.

And I stroked the diamond ring in my hand,

still unable to keep a faint flicker of hope from rising.

But Warren blurted out,

"No!"

"I've always been the one caring for that cat. Nanette won't feel safe with anyone else."

Nanette's face relaxed, the smugness in her eyes impossible to hide.

"But what if Gail really does cancel the wedding?"

"She's just trying to scare us."

Warren turned to look at me and gave a soft, scornful laugh.

"Being Mrs. Delgado, a title you finally got. Would you really give up this wedding?"

So he knew, too, exactly how much he and this wedding meant to me,

which meant it was my love that had given him the right to trample on me.

I gave a self-mocking little laugh, and hesitated no longer.

Dragging my trailing white gown, I stepped forward,

and set the ring down on the table beside him.

Warren clamped a hand around my wrist,

gripping hard enough to crush the bones.

His eyes swept over the ring,

then landed on me,

as if he'd only just caught on.

The curve of his mouth finally dropped,

and his voice came squeezing out of him,

"You're serious?"

"I'm serious."

Nanette tilted her face up at Warren, her voice all soft.

"Forget it, Warren. I'll take Snowy to the vet myself."

"Don't upset Gail."

Warren's expression turned uglier at that,

the hand pinning my wrist not loosening.

"So I've been too good to you, is that it?"

He gave a cold laugh and ordered me,

"Put the ring back on and wait for me to come back for the ceremony."

He paused, looked at me, and spelled it out word by word,

"Otherwise, Hudson Sullivan's imported medication stops today."

I struggled to twist free of his grip, a stab of pain in my chest.

I looked up at him in disbelief.

"You're actually threatening me?"

Hudson is my kitten, the one with the rare illness.

After she nearly wasn't treated in time last time,

Warren was the one who offered to keep her at the hospital,

saying she'd get better care there.

Hudson had been with me through countless days and nights,

and I'd thought he was good to her because he knew how much she meant to me, that he loved her for my sake.

I never imagined he'd use Hudson's life to keep me in line.

He straightened his cuffs and looked down at me from above.

"How is that a threat? I'm only asking you to be good."

"And my reputation can't have a single stain on it."

He turned his head and instructed the officiant,

"For the reason we're delaying the ceremony, just say the bride's family is running late and we're waiting for them."

"After all, no family of yours is going to show up, are they?"

I clenched my fists,

cut too deep by his words to speak,

and he took my silence for agreement.

He lifted my chin with his hand,

leaned down and put his mouth close to my ear. "There, that's better. Wait for me to come back."

Then he wrapped an arm around Nanette and swept off.

2: 2

The officiant looked at me with pity.

"Ms. Sullivan, I'll go handle it the way Mr. Delgado asked, then."

I nodded, the motion stiff and automatic,

while my mind circled numbly around what Warren had said.

That not one member of my family would show up today.

Warren knew better than anyone why that was.

And he still chose those two words to cut me with.

The air conditioning in the lounge was turned up too high. Why else would I be shivering like this.

I picked up the ill-fitting ring off the table and turned toward the dressing room.

I'd realized the ring was too big the moment I accepted the proposal.

My fingers are long and thin, and it slipped off a dozen times a day,

but I could never bring myself to take it off, as if keeping it on could keep the whole thing alive.

Now I understood. Even the ring size had been Nanette's.

Passing the trash can, I stopped.

A light toss, and the ring dropped in, clean.

I didn't look again. I kept walking.

Back in the dressing room, I typed out a few lines and sent them to the hotel manager.

The officiant had already announced to everyone that the ceremony was postponed.

The makeup artist hovered, not knowing what to do,

and my two best friends, both bridesmaids, looked at me with worry.

I pulled off the veil that kept getting in my way

and, with a bitter smile, told them what had happened in a few short sentences.

"This is unbelievable!"

Maggie Matthews paced back and forth, furious.

"What kind of precious cat is worth a groom ditching his own wedding to go see it in person? Are you really going to swallow this, Gigi?"

Mercedes Walker's face had gone red too, her fists clenched.

"Of course not."

I took Maggie's hand.

"Which is why there's one important thing right now that only you can do for me."

"Take my ID. While they're off collecting Nanette's cat, get Hudson out of the hospital for me."

"Leave it to me!" Maggie nodded at once.

"But what do we do after? The special medication for Hudson's condition only exists at their hospital."

Mercedes was gripping her phone, a flicker in her eyes as she thought it over.

"Get him out first! There'll be a way!"

Maggie left without even changing out of her bridesmaid dress,

while Mercedes rubbed my back, aching for me.

"I never would have believed Delgado could do something like this."

"Back then you bet everything on him. Was it really worth it?"

At the mention of that old wager, I stayed silent.

I only found myself remembering the Warren from back then.

The Warren who would run halfway across the city to buy me roasted candied chestnuts and carry them back tucked against his chest so I could eat them warm,

the Warren who, when he was down to his last hundred dollars, borrowed another two hundred from a friend just to scrape together three hundred and take me out for a big dinner,

the Warren who drove five hundred miles just to watch the sunrise with me, who wanted to grant my every wish, whose whole heart belonged to me alone.

Somewhere along the way, that Warren had disappeared completely.

I finally admitted it: the Warren worth betting everything on had died somewhere in the years, and I hadn't noticed when.

I let out a slow breath,

stood, and started toward the changing room.

But Carrie Delgado pushed the door open and closed in with the groomsmen, blocking the way.

Seeing that I wanted to change out of the wedding dress, she folded her arms and spoke with contempt.

"Warren's only gone to treat a cat. It's not like he's not coming back."

"Gail Sullivan, it's your big day, and you're throwing a tantrum like this. Have you no manners at all?"

The groomsmen chimed in.

"Come on, you're the one marrying Warren. He said himself this wedding is something you begged hard to get, so stop making a scene."

Someone got Warren on a video call.

On the screen he listened quietly, the corner of his mouth curling as he nodded along,

still wearing the limited-edition watch I'd bought with half a year's salary.

I let out a scoff,

my eyes moving over the groomsmen's faces one by one, passing over the video of Warren, and finally settling on Carrie.

"So your son abandoning his bride right before the ceremony to go treat his childhood friend's cat, that's good manners?"

Carrie's aging face flushed, and she snapped in humiliated rage,

"You live off my son and eat for free. You've got no right to say a word!"

Warren's cold voice came through the video at the same moment.

"How dare you! Is that any way to speak to my mother?"

"Gail Sullivan, do you still think you're the high-and-mighty eldest Sullivan daughter you used to be?"

3: 3

My chest went tight.

Back when our relationship had settled into something steady, I told him the truth about who I was: the eldest daughter of the Sullivan shipping family. I brought him home to meet my father.

I never expected that one meeting would be enough. My father dug in without room for argument and forced us to break up.

"Gail, this poor nobody isn't good enough."

For his sake, I stiffened my neck and fell out with my father. We hadn't spoken in years.

After I built his account into a following that made him an online-famous vet, he never once brought up going back to see my father again.

I assumed he was waiting until he'd grown a little bigger before facing him.

I never imagined he'd been nursing the grudge the whole time.

Worse, now he was using it as leverage against me.

Because no family stood behind me, I deserved to be brushed aside. I deserved to be bullied on my own wedding day.

Something cold slid down my face. I wiped it away without thinking.

On the screen, Carrie sneered along with him.

"The Sullivan shipping family, my foot. No word in years. For all we know she made the whole thing up!"

"She's just an orphan girl. She's the one reaching above her station for my Warren. It's only because my son's soft-hearted, holding on to old feelings, that he'd even marry an old maid like her."

The groomsmen nodded and chimed in.

Mercedes charged over and planted herself in front of me.

"Warren! Have some conscience when you talk! Your whole account was built by Gigi!"

"Who do you think Gigi gave all that up for? She walked away from being an heiress to eat bitter with you!"

Nanette squeezed forward, her eyes curving into a smile on the screen.

"You never eat bitter with Warren. It's nothing but sweetness with him!"

Mercedes shot her a glare and said nothing.

When they saw me still trying to reach the changing room, they actually put their hands on me. In the scuffle I was shoved to the floor, part of my skirt trampled underfoot. I only managed to cover my chest, and my knee split open in a wide raw patch.

Two groomsmen pinned Mercedes's arms, one on each side, and someone had already started reaching for the hem of her dress.

My eyes felt like they'd tear at the corners. Sitting on the floor, I broke and cried out.

"No!"

"Enough! I won't change my clothes!"

"I'll wait quietly for the ceremony!"

Watching how wretched I looked, something flickered across Warren's face on the screen, close to reluctance, before he hardened his heart again in an instant.

"See, isn't that better? Be good, and wait for me to get back."

I was shaking with rage. I didn't answer him. I turned and helped Mercedes over, and we held each other up as we sat down. I couldn't stop apologizing to her. Her eyes were red and her hands trembled as she hugged me back and told me it was fine, and hearing that only broke me more.

For the first time in my life, I began to hate someone.

He could stop loving me. I'd made the bet and I'd lose it and live with that.

But he had no right to treat my friend like this, to treat my cat like this. How dare he.

Two groomsmen were left to watch us. Carrie and the rest went off to see to other things.

The makeup artist came over on her own to straighten our gowns. I held Mercedes's hand and told her with a look that this was not over.

About ten minutes later, my phone buzzed once.

The surveillance footage from the lounge and the makeup room had just landed in my hands.

You don't build Warren into the most popular online vet in the country without knowing a few tricks. Quietly gathering material was one of them.

To collect more footage for the wedding videos, so I could grow Warren's following, I'd made a point of sponsoring the hotel with free ultra-high-definition 4K cameras, and I'd gotten the manager's blessing to pull my wedding-day surveillance anytime I wanted.

I never thought it would become my trump card for proving I'd done nothing wrong.

4: 4

An hour passed, and Warren still hadn't come back.

Guests in the ballroom kept asking what was going on, laughing that the bride's family clearly had no manners, showing up late to their own wedding.

Nanette posted to her social media feed and tagged me.

It was a girlfriend's-eye photo of Warren holding the kitten, examining it.

The caption read: What a lucky little baby. The second he heard the kitty was sick, kitty's daddy dropped his own wedding and rushed over.

Warren commented: "Of course I did. Or someone would start crying again."

Below it, a row of comments from the groomsmen: "Warren really spoils her."

Reading the feed, I felt, strangely, no more ache. I even tapped a like with a blank face.

Two hours passed, and Warren still hadn't come back.

Plenty of guests had grown restless and left their seats, and the media friends who'd come to shoot photos and video were already starting to record the bad impression.

I used to be the one who managed all these relationships for him, tending them carefully.

Now I sat in the dressing room, waiting at my leisure.

Carrie came into the dressing room ten times, wound tight,

opened her mouth to say something and swallowed it every time, then went back out.

Two and a half hours, and Warren finally made it back.

Seeing me still in my wedding dress, sitting there perfectly fine,

he let out a breath without thinking,

then rounded on me for not going out front to soothe the guests.

I shot him a look and said nothing.

All at once he felt a flicker of panic,

as if something were slipping past what he could control,

"You did terribly today. As punishment, you won't be handling my account anymore."

"Everything you were in charge of will be handed over to Nanette from now on."

"If you behave through the rest of the wedding, there might still be room to reconsider."

I still ignored him.

Seeing that I wasn't begging him, nervous and desperate the way I always had been, Warren's eyes narrowed in surprise.

Nanette had already nodded, her face flushed.

"Warren, I'll do it even better than Gail did."

Then she rose onto her toes, tilted her face up, and pressed a kiss to the corner of Warren's mouth.

Warren, caught off guard, didn't pull away. And when he saw I still had no reaction, it only made him angrier.

My phone buzzed with an incoming text,

and there, startlingly, was that number I knew by heart and had never once dialed.

Some instinct told me at once: Mercedes had made the decision for me.

I stared at it for three seconds, then opened the message.

"You little brat! More stubborn than your old man! Would swallowing your pride cost you a pound of flesh?"

"Anyway. Wait for your old man. I'm coming by private jet. Ten minutes out from the venue."

Reading the words,

I could almost see the old man standing beside me,

scolding me with a laugh, full of that booming energy of his.

I bit down hard on my lip to keep from sobbing aloud,

but the tears came with no warning, falling one after another like beads off a snapped string.

I hadn't cried when I caught Warren pushing back the wedding to treat his childhood friend's cat.

I hadn't cried when Warren used Hudson's life to force me to go through with it.

I hadn't cried when everyone sneered that I had no family behind me.

Now I couldn't stop the tears at all.

Warren only knew my father had ignored me for years,

but he had no idea why,

that it was because, to make my family accept him, I'd made a bet with my father,

that I couldn't go home and couldn't use my family's connections.

Seeing me cry, the panic that had gripped Warren steadied instead.

He thought I'd finally caved,

so he stepped up and gently wiped my tears,

opening his mouth with grand magnanimity.

"Good, so you do know to be afraid. When the ceremony starts, apologize to the guests properly."

"Just say your family came late and held up the wedding. My account goes back to you after that."

I gave a soft laugh, shook off his hand,

closed my eyes and wiped the tears from my own face,

and when I opened them again, everything was clear.

Up front, the officiant was calling for the bride and groom to take their places.

I lifted my skirt and walked toward the front hall, steady on my feet.

Warren called after me to wait. I didn't look back.

At the entrance to the hall,

the man stood waiting at the door, towering as a mountain, as dependable as he'd always been in my memory.

Seeing me look over, he gave me a nod from across the room.

And Warren, coming up behind me,

went white the instant he saw who it was,

a cold wave shooting up his spine straight to the crown of his head.

""