I looked at Lily, who was trembling in my sister's arms
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“No,” I said. “I just found her.”
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***
When Marcus left, the place went quiet.
The guests milled around the ceremony area, unsure whether they should leave or not.
I asked Janine to stay with Lily, then I went to the front of the room dressed as a bride and picked up the microphone.
“There will be no wedding today,” I said.
Some people let out a stifled gasp. Most already knew.
“There will be no wedding today.”
“I brought them here because I believed I was going to start a new family,” I continued. “But I will never build a life with a man who believes my daughter can be taken away from her. So today I will not become Marcus’s wife. I remain who I have always been first.”
I looked at Lily.
“His mother.”
Janine cried first. Then Lily did.
I gave the microphone back and went straight to Lily.
She met me halfway, still wrapped in Janine's arms.
“I’m not going to become Marcus’s wife.”
“I’m sorry,” he whispered into my dress.
I held his face. “Never apologize for telling me the truth.”
“But I’ve ruined your wedding.”
“No,” I said. “You stopped me from marrying a man who wanted to kick you out of our family.”
Janine snorted. “And let it be known that no man alive is worth wasting buttercream. Let’s have cake.”
Lily let out a small laugh.
“I’ve ruined your wedding.”
***
That night we didn't go on our honeymoon. We came home with three boxes of wedding cake.
“Are you mad at me?” she asked.
I reached across the table. “I’m angry that I didn’t see it sooner.”
“He was nice when you saw him.”
"I know".
"It made me feel that if I told you, I would be stealing your happiness."
I squeezed her hand. “You’re not something I have to choose, Lily. You’re my whole life.”
“It makes me angry that I didn’t see it before.”
***
The next morning, I changed the locks and called the boarding school.
“Marcus has no legal right to enroll my daughter,” I said at admissions. “Mark her file as unauthorized and remove her from consideration today.”
***
Three months later, Lily wore the sage green dress to the debate final.
When they announced her as the winner, she found me in the crowd and said, "We did it."
Yes, we did it.
Marcus thought there was no place for Lily in my new life.
He was wrong. There had never been a place for him in ours.
“We did it.”
