She looked down at her shoes. “I don’t want to be a flower girl now.”
I nodded. “You don’t have to.”
We stayed for the ceremony.
Afterward, Jenna came over.
She crouched in front of Sophie.
“Can I talk to you?”
Sophie shrugged.
Jenna took a breath. “I owe you an apology.”
Sophie looked at her.
“I was angry at your dad, and I made a decision that hurt you.”
Sophie said nothing.
“You didn’t do anything wrong.”
“Then why me?”
Jenna’s eyes filled.
“Because I was angry and I wanted your dad to be angry too.”
Even I appreciated that she didn’t sugarcoat it.
Sophie frowned. “That’s mean.”
Jenna nodded. “Yes. It was.”
“You made me think you didn’t like me.”
Jenna started crying. “I know. I’m really sorry.”
Sophie looked at me.
- The Woman Who Altered My Wedding Dress Sewed a Note Into It – I Found It the Morning Before the Ceremony and Ran
- My Future SIL Planned Her Bachelorette Party at a Water Park, Certain I’d Refuse Because I Was ‘Too Big’ – But What My Husband Did in Front of Everyone Made Her Gasp
- My Husband’s Aunt Hugged Me Before the Ceremony and Slipped a Key Into My Hand – ‘You’ll Need This Sooner than You Think‘
I didn’t tell her to forgive Jenna.
That wasn’t my job.
Finally, she said, “Okay.”
We left before the reception ended.
I was exhausted and needed to process everything.
Marcus came with us, but we barely spoke in the car.
The real conversation happened the next day.
He showed me everything.
The loan messages.
The bank transfer.
Ryan’s debts.
The repayment plan that had never happened.
I asked him, “Is there anything else?”
“No.”
“Think carefully.”
He did.
Then said, “No.”
I believed him.
But I was not ready to trust him again.
Ryan came over that evening too.
He didn’t ask us for money.
He said he had started attending a gambling recovery group and had self-excluded from the betting platforms he’d been using.
He was working with a counselor.
He had also created a repayment plan with Jenna.
“I need to fix what I did,” he said.
Marcus said, “I’ll still help you.”
Ryan shook his head.
“Not like before.”
Marcus looked at him.
Ryan continued.
“You can’t keep lying for me.”
That surprised me.
“If staying sober requires everybody around me to hide things, I’m not actually fixing anything.”
