Chapter 2 - WHAT RYAN KNEW
“What exactly did you tell my fiancé not to do?”
Ryan said nothing for three seconds.
Three seconds was long enough to destroy whatever small hope I still had that there was an innocent explanation.
Behind the locked bridal-suite door, I could hear footsteps approaching from the hallway.
Noah.
I knew the rhythm.
Fast when he was angry.
Heavy when he thought somebody had embarrassed him.
“Ryan.”
His voice finally came through the phone.
“I told him not to marry you while he was still involved with Lucy.”
Every sound in the room disappeared.
Not physically.
The champagne glasses were still rattling faintly when someone moved in the adjoining room.
The air-conditioning still hummed.
Jenna was still standing near the vanity staring at me.
But my brain stopped accepting sound.
“Still involved?”
I repeated the words carefully.
Ryan exhaled.
“Kate.”
“Still means there was a before.”
“Yes.”
My knees weakened.
I sat on the edge of the sofa.
“How long?”
“I don’t know exactly.”
“That is not good enough.”
“Probably eight months.”
Eight months.
My wedding was two hours away.
Noah and I had been engaged for eighteen months.
Eight months earlier, I had been touring florists.
Choosing invitations.
Arguing with Noah about whether we really needed fourteen kinds of liquor at the reception.
Eight months earlier, Lucy had been sitting beside me on my apartment floor helping me assemble boxes for bridesmaid proposals.
My maid of honor had been sleeping with my fiancé while helping me plan my wedding.
“Did you see them?”
“Yes.”
The answer came quietly.
“Together?”
“Yes.”
“When?”
“Last November.”
I closed my eyes.
Thanksgiving.
The Harper family lake house.
I had been there.
I remembered that weekend because Noah and I fought after he disappeared for almost three hours Saturday afternoon.
He claimed he had driven into town for ice.
Ryan continued.
“I went down to the boathouse because I thought Noah was there.”
My stomach turned.
“He was.”
“With Lucy?”
“Yes.”
“What were they doing?”
Ryan went silent again.
My voice dropped.
“Say it.”
“I saw them kissing.”
My fingers curled into the fabric of my gown.
Jenna sat beside me.
She could hear only my half of the conversation, but she understood enough.
“Did Noah know you saw?”
“Yes.”
“What did he say?”
“That it had happened once.”
A laugh escaped me.
Not because anything was funny.
“He told you that?”
“Yes.”
“And you believed him?”
“No.”
That answer came fast.
I opened my eyes.
“Then why didn’t you tell me?”
The question hurt more than I expected.
Ryan had always been the person in Noah’s family I trusted.
Perhaps that was why his silence felt like a second betrayal.
“I should have.”
“That isn’t an answer.”
“I know.”
“Why?”
Ryan breathed slowly.
“Because Noah begged me not to.”
I laughed bitterly.
“Wonderful.”
“He said it was over. He said Lucy kissed him after a fight with her boyfriend. He swore he had already told her it could never happen again.”
“And apparently you decided protecting your brother was more important than protecting me.”
“No.”
“That is exactly what you did.”
“You’re right.”
I stopped.
Ryan rarely defended himself badly.
Apparently he wasn’t going to defend himself at all.
“I was wrong.”
His voice hardened.
“I told myself I needed proof before I destroyed an engagement.”
“You had proof.”
“I had one kiss.”
“You had enough to ask me whether I wanted to marry him.”
“I did ask you.”
My chest tightened.
The lake-house porch.
Coffee.
Are you sure about him?
Suddenly that conversation looked different.
“That was why?”
“Yes.”
“Why didn’t you just tell me?”
“Because I was a coward.”
There it was.
No excuse.
No clever explanation.
“I knew what would happen if I told you. Noah would say I wanted you for myself.”
I went still.
“What does that mean?”
Another pause.
Then someone slammed a fist against the bridal-suite door.
“Kate!”
Noah.
Jenna jumped.
I didn’t.
“Open the door.”
I looked toward it.
Then back at my phone.
“Ryan. What does that mean?”
“Not on the phone.”
“Do not do this to me.”
“I’m coming upstairs.”
“Why?”
“Because Noah is outside your door.”
My heart stopped.
“How do you know?”
“I’m around the corner.”
A second later, another voice sounded in the hallway.
Ryan.
“Noah.”
Silence.
Then Noah snapped:
“Stay out of this.”
“I should have gotten involved months ago.”
I stood.
Jenna moved toward the door.
I held up one hand.
No.
Outside, Noah’s voice rose.
“What the hell is your problem?”
Ryan answered quietly enough that I almost missed it.
“You.”
The handle rattled.
“Kate, open the door.”
I walked toward it.
Noah continued.
“Lucy was joking around. Everybody saw it. You’re humiliating yourself.”
Ryan laughed once.
“Interesting strategy.”
“Shut up.”
“Calling the bride irrational after you let your mistress put on a wedding dress?”
“Lucy is not my mistress.”
There was a pause.
Then Ryan said:
“That’s not what you told me in February.”
My hand froze above the lock.
February.
Not November.
February.
Four months ago.
Noah had continued.
I opened the door.
Three men stood in the hallway.
Noah.
Ryan.
And Daniel, one of Noah’s groomsmen, who apparently had arrived because somebody feared a fistfight.
Noah’s face changed when he saw me.
He immediately stepped forward.
“Kate.”
I held up my hand.
He stopped.
Ryan stood several feet behind him.
Dark tuxedo.
Black bow tie.
The best man’s boutonniere pinned perfectly to his lapel.
His face looked furious.
And guilty.
I looked at Noah.
“Were you sleeping with Lucy in February?”
Noah’s jaw tightened.
“Who told you that?”
That was all the answer I needed.
I nodded slowly.
“Wow.”
“Kate, listen to me.”
“How long?”
“It wasn’t what Ryan is making it sound like.”
“How long?”
Noah glanced at his brother.
“I knew you’d do this.”
Ryan’s expression darkened.
“Don’t.”
“You’ve wanted her since college.”
Silence.
My heart stumbled.
Noah saw my face and smiled bitterly.
“There. He didn’t tell you that part?”
Ryan looked at me.
Not denying it.
Noah continued.
“He’s been waiting for me to screw up.”
Ryan took one step forward.
“You did more than screw up.”
“You think she’s going to choose you?”
“Stop.”
My voice cut between them.
Both brothers went silent.
I looked at Ryan.
“Is it true?”
His face changed.
“Kate.”
“Have you wanted me?”
He swallowed.
“Yes.”
The hallway seemed to tilt.
“How long?”
“A long time.”
Noah laughed.
“There it is.”
Ryan never looked away from me.
“But I never touched you.”
Noah scoffed.
“I never interfered with your relationship.”
“That question at the lake house was interference.”
“I asked because you were cheating.”
“You loved her.”
“Yes.”
Noah stopped.
Ryan’s voice remained steady.
“I loved her enough to stay away when she chose you.”
Something painful moved through my chest.
Noah’s face twisted.
“What a hero.”
“No.”
Ryan looked at me.
“Not a hero. If I were, I would’ve told her the truth.”
That was the sentence that mattered.
Ryan was not asking me to forgive him.
He wasn’t trying to use Noah’s betrayal as an opportunity.
He looked ashamed.
Noah reached for me.
“Kate, can we please talk privately?”
I stepped backward.
“No.”
“We are supposed to get married in less than two hours.”
“No.”
His face tightened.
“This is ridiculous.”
“What is ridiculous?”
“One stupid situation with Lucy.”
“Eight months.”
“What?”
“Ryan saw you in November.”
Noah glared at him.
I continued.
“And apparently February.”
“That doesn’t mean we were sleeping together for eight months.”
I stared.
He realized what he had just said.
Too late.
“So you were sleeping together.”
Noah rubbed both hands over his face.
“Kate.”
“Say it.”
“Fine.”
His voice sharpened.
“Yes.”
Everything inside me went strangely calm.
“How many times?”
“I don’t know.”
Jenna whispered something behind me.
Probably a prayer.
“Did it stop?”
Noah hesitated.
My stomach dropped.
“No.”
He looked at me.
“It was supposed to.”
I almost smiled.
“That is a fascinating sentence.”
“Lucy kept pushing.”
Of course.
Blame Lucy.
“She kept threatening to tell you.”
“And that forced you to sleep with her?”
“No.”
“Then stop talking.”
Noah stared.
I had never spoken to him like that.
Maybe that was the problem.
For three years, every cruel joke became stress.
Every cancellation became work.
Every suspicious text became something I was embarrassed to question.
I had spent more time protecting our relationship from the truth than Noah had spent protecting the relationship itself.
A voice came from farther down the hallway.
“Kate?”
My father.
I turned.
Robert Bennett stood beside my mother.
They had clearly been told something was wrong.
My mother saw my face.
Then Noah.
Then Ryan.
“What happened?”
I looked at the engagement ring still sitting inside the bridal suite.
Something inside me became absolutely certain.
“The wedding is changing.”
Noah’s head snapped toward me.
“What does that mean?”
I looked down the hallway toward the ballroom entrance.
Guests were beginning to arrive.
Two hundred people.
Flowers.
Music.
Dinner.
Every detail I had planned for six months.
Noah expected me to cancel all of it.
Run upstairs.
Cry.
Hide.
Let his betrayal become another thing I lost.
I turned toward Ryan.
He must have seen the thought before I said it.
His eyes widened.
“No.”
I almost laughed.
“I haven’t asked yet.”
“I know what you’re thinking.”
“Do you?”
“Yes.”
He stepped closer.
“Don’t marry me to punish him.”
The hallway went silent.
Noah actually laughed.
“You’re insane.”
I looked at Ryan.
“I’m not asking you to marry me.”
His shoulders relaxed slightly.
“Good.”
“I’m asking you to stand under that arch.”
His expression changed.
“Kate.”
“The ceremony is happening.”
My mother whispered:
“Sweetheart.”
I looked at her.
“I spent six months building that day.”
Then at Noah.
“He doesn’t get to take it.”
Noah’s face reddened.
“What exactly are you planning?”
I turned back toward Ryan.
“When Dad walks me down the aisle, I don’t want Noah waiting for me.”
May you like
Ryan stared.
“I want you there.”
