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Oakley
My granny had said this was the first of many heartbreaks that life would deal me.It was best for me to face it young, toughen up, and learn to love the moment because tomorrow could always bring a pain we weren’t expecting.That was quite possibly the saddest thing I’d ever heard.
But as I stood there, in the back of the church, I knew there was truth to it.Besides, you didn’t live seventy-six years and not know what you were talking about.Granny had to be wise.I just wished she were as senile as my stepmother claimed.Then, at least there might be hope for my future just yet.
The guests had started to arrive, and I was expected to have a bright smile, happy for my stepsister, Sylvia, but I knew I couldn’t manage that right now.I also wasn’t sure I could stomach watching her get ready to walk down the aisle.With my dad giving her away when it should be me he was giving away.Sylvia had her own dad.It wasn’t my fault she had chosen to ignore him.It felt as if she was taking everything from me.But then hadn’t that always been what she wanted to do?She wanted my life, and it seemed she was getting her wish.Taking it all.
Trying my best to flatten the layers of chiffon on the skirt of the most hideous bridesmaid dress there ever was, in order not to brush past people and draw attention to myself, I hurried to the back door of my granddad’s church.Okay, fine, technically, it was the Lord’s house, but my granddad had built it with his own hands and preached here for over fifty years.I felt as if he had a claim on it.I was sure the Lord would agree.
Pressing my hand on the smooth, aged wood, I pushed hard and bolted from the building that would soon witness my worst nightmare.The cool, early spring breeze hit me, and I inhaled, wishing it didn’t burn my chest to take a deep breath.
How was I going to make it through the ceremony?If it hurt this bad right now, without even seeing … him …
I pressed a hand to my chest and winced.God, how was I going to survive it?
Wrapping my hands around my waist, I bent over and fought back the tears.I thought I had cried enough over the past two months.Since the moment they’d announced their engagement.
“Oakley.”The familiar, deep voice startled me.He wasn’t supposed to be out here.
Tightening my hold on my stomach, I straightened and turned to see the only man I had ever truly loved standing beside the oak tree that shaded the memorial gardens behind the church.I’d never seen him in a tux, and, oh God, he was beautiful.
Why?What had I done to deserve this?
I stared at him.Those brown eyes that seemed to read into my soul.
Before him, I had been happy.Enjoying my life, my first real boyfriend, being a normal teenager.Then, I met him, and … he made me love him.He became the center of my world.He had been everything … and in less than an hour, he would be my brother-in-law.
“Why are you doing this?”I cried, unable to pretend this wasn’t destroying me.
How had it all changed in such a short amount of time?When I had gone off to college, Wilder had been proud of me.He texted me daily, checking on me.We talked on the phone at least once a week.He had promised to wait for me.He’d loved me.Lies.All lies!
His jaw clenched as he jerked his gaze from mine.“Go inside, Oakley,” he said with a hard edge to his voice.One he had never spoken to me with.
That only added to the agony this was causing me.That he and my stepsister were inflicting on me.
“You said you loved me,” I spit out.Anger tangled with the anguish inside my chest.
I hadn’t made him explain.I never asked questions.The betrayal had been so fierce and overwhelming that I ignored him.Sylvia was a little harder to ignore.She had never allowed anyone to overlook her.If Sylvia wasn’t the center of attention, she did whatever must be done to change that.Granny had said it was because she was jealous of me.But right now, I would do anything to trade places with her.
Once, I had hoped Sylvia and I would be as close as real sisters.Losing my mother to uterine cancer when I was six years old had been hard, and the years following, it felt as if I had lost my dad too.He withdrew from life, drinking too much, forgetting things like picking me up from school and my birthday.Then, he met Cleo, my stepmother.She had a daughter a couple of years older than me.He slowly became my dad again.Smiling, laughing, being there for the everyday life.I believed we would become a real family.To think, I’d once believed there was a chance at that.Those days were gone now.Never to return.
“Go inside, Oakley,” he repeated.
His refusal to even give me a reason, an explanation, even an apology ignited the burn building in me.I needed to scream and cry.To demand to know why.
Was I that easy to toss aside?To forget?
My hands dropped to my sides and fisted as I glared at him.No.He was getting what he wanted, and so was Sylvia.They were getting their happily ever after.While they stepped over my broken pieces without a thought.He was going to say something.Give me a reason.I deserved that much.
When I began stalking toward him, his eyes swung back to me, and his brows drew together in a scowl.I didn’t care!He could be pissed.I was far beyond that emotion.
Stopping a few feet from him, I tilted my head back and glared up at him.His angular face, wide mouth, thick lashes, and those deep chocolate eyes that appeared black at times, but at other times, when he was happy, it was as if there were golden highlights trying to break free.It all made my heart race and my knees weak.I hated that.I wished I could rip him from my heart, my head, forget how I felt for him.Go back and stay with Wells, his cousin.Why had I thought Wilder was better?Wells was good to me.He had told me he loved me.He wouldn’t have done this to me.
“Not until you tell me why!Give me a reason, Wilder!I deserve to understand how it happened.How—” I swallowed hard and refused to break down.Not in front of him.“How you could stop loving me so easily and fall in love with her.”
He winced and closed his eyes briefly before leveling me with them.“I can’t do this with you.Not when I have to get through this fucking day.”
I shoved him in the chest, surprising myself.He didn’t budge, but the veins on his neck stood out.He was clenching his teeth.Needing to push him more, make him feel a little of the fury inside me, I took both hands and shoved him again.Still, he stood there, doing nothing.
