3: 3

I was pregnant?

Since when? How did I not know?

It took me a couple of seconds to catch up.

A few days ago I'd eaten something bad and gagged over the sink a few times.

But we used protection every single time. There was no way I was pregnant.

Bedroom photos?

When had Paddy taken those?

I lifted my eyes to him and caught him turning his face away, guilty, gaze darting everywhere but at me.

And just like that, I understood.

Not long ago, right before things started, Paddy had dragged his feet forever.

So that was it. He'd been tampering with things, so I'd get pregnant before the wedding.

This wasn't some spur-of-the-moment idea. The whole family had schemed together to trap me.

They saw that my family had money, and figured they could use the pregnancy to pin me down and make me the sucker who paid for everything without a word of complaint.

Right then my phone buzzed in my pocket.

I looked down. A message from my mother popped up:

【The hotel has been notified. The bill is being drawn up. Payment recipient changed to the man's family.】、

【Leave it to your mother!】

I killed the screen, said nothing, and just stood there watching them.

Seeing me go quiet, they thought I'd been scared into it.

Paddy's mother was the first to switch to a smile. She came over and patted the back of my hand.

"Sweetheart, now that your body's in this condition, we're all one family. One family doesn't talk like strangers. Those dowry things of yours, sooner or later they're yours to give anyway, aren't they? If you won't think of yourself, at least think of the baby."

The brother's fiancée eased up too, smiling as she came and hooked her arm through mine.

This time I didn't shake her off, so she took it as me resigning myself, and got as chummy as if we were real sisters, tugging me around the venue, her finger jabbing here and there at everything she wanted added.

"See here, sis, let's add a flower arch over here, made with those Ecuadorian roses you ordered."

"Add a tier to the champagne tower. Looks grander."

"Two more spotlight rigs on the lights, aimed at the main stage and the arch. Photographs better."

Every time she named something, she'd turn and tack on a line to the staff standing nearby:

"Put it on my sister-in-law's tab."

Breezy as someone shopping the mall on another person's card. It wasn't her money, after all.

Once she'd finished picking out everything on the floor, she turned back to me, all smiles.

"You know, sis, you've got a Dickerson baby in your belly now, so we're family from here on. That riverview place of yours, high floor, great view, I hear. We've got no wedding home for our own wedding, so how about you let us borrow it for a while? You and Paddy are still young anyway, no rush for you two."

Paddy's mother chimed in from the side, picking up the thread without missing a beat.

"Right, right, and that Porsche too. It isn't safe for a pregnant woman to drive such a nice car. Let his brother use it first. We'll talk again after you've had the baby. Would we old folks ever shortchange you?"

Paddy sidled up too, grinning as he tugged my arm.

"Babe, my mom and dad and my sister-in-law have all asked, so just give a nod. Your family's got money anyway, this is nothing to you. And look, you're expecting now. From here on it's the three of us building a life together, and your parents won't shortchange the two of us either."

Arms folded, I watched them finish their little routine, one line each.

I looked at them.

Every face wore greed and smugness they couldn't hide, all of them sure they'd finally landed me, their "sensible" rich daughter-in-law.

"Fine. Whatever you want to add, go ahead."

"But everything you add has to be written down, line by line. I'd hate for something to get missed at settlement and then no one can sort it out."

The brother's fiancée nodded fast, grinning ear to ear.

"Of course, of course, write it all down, write it all down. We're all family now, you think we'd cheat you out of anything?"

They thought I'd agreed.

Every item was written down, clear as day.

Wait for tomorrow's wedding. Then I'd go through it with them, line by line, and settle every last cent.

4: 4

At ten the next morning, the wedding started right on schedule.

The woman marrying the older brother stood on the rose-covered stage I'd spent hundreds of thousands building, wearing the custom bridal veil I'd ordered.

She had her arm looped through Paddy's brother's, soaking up the guests' congratulations, chin lifted high, smiling like she'd never had a day this glorious in her life.

While she worked the room with her glass, raising toasts, she told everyone she met that this wedding was something I had "carefully prepared."

From the flowers to the lighting to the stage, every detail was my heartfelt gift to her wedding.

I stood in the corner, and her look was pure gloating, as if to say:

Doesn't matter how much you spent. I'm the one standing up here.

The in-laws sat at the head table, teacups in hand, faces creased with smiles.

Relatives came up in waves to toast them, praising how grand the wedding was, how beautiful the bride looked.

Paddy's mother took a slow sip of tea and said, smiling:

"It's all our family's heart in it. Only right."

Not one word about me, as if this wedding had been for the eldest son all along.

They stuck me at the table in the far corner, wouldn't even seat me at the head table.

Paddy's mother had made a point of crossing my name off the head-table list, and she explained it to me without so much as lifting her eyes:

"The head table's for the couple's elders. You sit off to the side for now. You've got your own ceremony tonight anyway."

A relative leaned in, looking at me, curious.

"Aren't you getting married today too?"

Before I could open my mouth, Paddy's mother cut in, all smiles:

"She's got her own ceremony tonight, no rush. Let her rest. The brother and his bride come first."

Paddy never said a word for me the whole time.

He sat at the head table, taking drinks in his brother's place, passing napkins to the bride.

Now and then he'd glance back at me, but his backside stayed welded to that head-table chair.

I kept my eyes on the two of them up front, pressing down the anger again and again, just waiting for the real show to start.

Six-thirty in the evening.

Per the schedule, the brother's party was supposed to clear the room and hand it over.

She showed no sign of leaving.

The guests were still there, the banquet still going, and she'd changed into a new toasting dress and was flitting around the room with her glass.

When she ran into someone she knew, she'd take their hand and smile like a flower in bloom.

"There's another one at eight, my brother-in-law and his bride. Don't go, everyone, stay and join us."

Light as air, like she was mentioning some throwaway bonus gift.

The place had long since fallen into a mess.

Table flowers tilted with no one to right them, the dessert table stripped bare since the afternoon, wine stains trodden all over the carpet.

Under the crystal ceiling I'd ordered hung their balloons and paper double-happiness cutouts, and even my welcome sign had been shoved off to the fire exit.

Some guests recognized the setup and murmured:

"Isn't this the venue the bride's family posted about earlier? She said she'd spent three months on it. How did it turn into the older brother's wedding?"

"Who knows. Didn't you see her sitting in the corner the whole time? Nobody's paid her any attention from start to finish."

The whispering grew, little by little.

She heard it, pretended she hadn't, and laughed louder.

Seven o'clock sharp.

She picked up the microphone again and stepped to the center of the stage.

"The person I have to thank most for today's wedding is my dear future sister-in-law. Thanks to all her care and effort preparing the venue, arranging the flowers, and even letting me use her gown and veil. I'm so touched."

She lifted her glass toward the crowd, her smile dazzling.

"There's a wedding for my brother-in-law and his bride at eight tonight too. Everyone has to stay and cheer them on!"

As soon as she finished, the in-laws led the applause.

Paddy clapped along, then nudged me with his elbow and urged under his breath:

"Go up and say a few words. Give everyone some face." I smiled a little.

Smoothed my skirt and walked up onstage, unhurried.

She eagerly held the microphone out to me, adding in a low voice, "Just say a quick thank-you."

I took the mic without looking at her.

I turned to face the room full of guests, unlocked my phone, opened an itemized bill, and read it out to the whole hall.