A sharp pain crawled through my chest. The scene in front of me was so blindingly painful, it felt like I couldn’t breathe.
Before I could even call his name, James suddenly looked up, his eyes locking onto mine.
In that instant, shock and panic washed over his face.
He looked as though he’d forgotten where he was, his mouth snapping shut out of reflex.
The bride yelped, “James, what are you doing? You bit my lip!”
Everyone turned to look at me, and the bride angrily wiped the blood from her lips.
Across the room, through the layers of people, James and I stared at each other.
He quickly snapped out of it and rushed over. “Oh, Natalie! When did you get back? Why didn’t you tell me ahead of time?”
James looked at me with a warning in his eyes, gripping my arm tightly, almost painfully.
The bride, clearly annoyed by my interruption, gave me a hostile once-over before asking, “Who is she?”
Still holding my arm, James quickly tried to explain, “Oh, her? She’s the one I told you about… Natalie Clark, the one who’s been taking care of my mom…”
Before he could finish, I raised my hand and slapped him hard, twice.
The sharp sound of my hand hitting his face left everyone in the room stunned.
His head snapped to the side from the impact.
Before I could say anything, James straightened up and spat blood onto the floor. Then, trying to take control of the situation, he barked, “Natalie, don’t get out of line. Today is my wedding day with Quilla.”
I yanked my arm free from his grip, turned to the bride, and said, “I married him two years ago. What you’re doing is illegal. This is bigamy.”
The bride let out a shrill scream and turned to James, shouting, “James, you better have a damn good explanation for this!”
James obediently ran over to comfort the bride, and the way he handled it, you could tell he’d been doing this for a while. He knew exactly what he was doing.
Prepared for this moment, he returned holding a red marriage certificate. “I never married her,” he said, pointing at me. “She’s just making it up.”
I stared, stunned, at the certificate in his hand. Clear as day, it had his name and Quilla Garner written on it.
Wasn’t that supposed to be our certificate?
How did the bride suddenly become someone else?
James took advantage of my shock, pointing at me with a smug look. “Natalie, you tricked me when I was young. We were never really together. What marriage? And what bigamy?”