Chapter 1 - Five Words
Emily Whitmore leaned toward her sister’s wheelchair with a perfect bridal smile fixed across her face.
To the guests, it looked as though she were sharing one last affectionate word before the ceremony.
Her whisper carried no affection.
“Go sit in the back. You’re ruining my wedding.”
Hannah’s gloved hands tightened in her lap.
She had positioned her wheelchair at the end of the second row so it would not block the aisle. Her burgundy dress covered most of the scars across her body, but nothing could conceal the healed marks along her neck and one side of her face.
She looked at the sister she had once carried through a burning house.
“I came because you were my sister.”
Emily’s smile trembled.
Before she could answer, Margaret Callahan rose from the front row.
The groom’s silver-haired mother wore a deep green dress and an expression so controlled that the entire church seemed to feel it before she spoke.
The organ stopped.
Margaret looked directly at Emily.
“She saved your life, Emily.”
Every guest went still.
Daniel, waiting near the altar, turned toward his bride in confusion. Hannah’s parents lowered their eyes.
Margaret stepped beside Hannah’s wheelchair.
“Then maybe today she should be treated like family.”
Emily’s face lost all color.
May you like
The ceremony had not yet begun.
But the image she had spent months perfecting was already falling apart.
