Hold Your Peace (Short Story) (2 page)

“Ryan, I’m so sorry, honey, but I didn’t have a choice.”

I cringed at hearing her call him ‘honey’.

She continued with her story as she clasped her hands in front of her and I noticed that she was wearing an engagement ring.

“I
t’s true that I
was in a car accident, but it wasn’t just an accident. Someone ran me off the road on purpose, they tried to kill me.
It was a miracle I survived.
”

“What?” Ryan asked, stunned.

“Remember the Peterson case, the one where I was supposed to be a witness?”

Peterson case…that sounded familiar. I remembered seeing something about it on the news a few years back.

“Was that the man who murdered someone in Hillcrest Park?” I interrupted.

She looked at me like she had just noticed me for the first time. The loving kindness she had in her eyes when she looked at Ryan completely disappeared when her gaze shifted to me. It was obvious she would have rather had this moment with Ryan alone. Too bad, lady, I thought, deal with it.

“Yes, Grant Peterson shot a man there on one of the trails.
He was murdering his wife’s lover and thought it would look like a random robbery gone bad, but I happened to be running on the trail and saw what happened. He hadn’t seen me because I hid in some bushes but I went to the police and it was my testimony that was going to convict him.”

“Let me get this straight-he
tried to ki
ll you, so you couldn’t testify?” Ryan asked
. “But, when I got to the hospital, they told me you were dead. I didn’t even get to say good-bye.” His eyes were glistening.

“I know you didn’t. I wanted to say good-bye, I begged them to let me but the police figured out what was going on and thought that the only way to save me was to hide me. I was in
a
witness protection
program
. When I was in the hospital, they explained to me what would happen. I was sent to another hospital under a fake name and when I recovered, got another fake name and was sent to live in Nebraska. They wouldn’t let me talk to anyone, Ryan, not even you. It was horrible.” She grabbed onto his hand.

“If only you could have told me. I grieved for you, for a long time. My family, our friends, we all mourned. It was a hard time for us.” It was obvious that even the memory of it was painful for him still.

“They told me that after the trial, I could come back and I didn’t think it would take l
ong. But that’s not the way it went.
Whatever could go wrong did, and the trial dragged on. But it’s finally over now.
Peterson’s behind bars and he can’t hurt me.
When I came b
ack to town, I wanted to tell you
, but I found out about your wedding and had to stop it.”

She looked up at him from her long lashes and asked, “You still love me, don’t you, Ryan?”

Hmm…I’d
really
like to hear the answer to that one, too.

He waited to answer. It was probably only a minute but it felt like several hours. Time stood still and I held my breath waiting for his response.

“Mandy, of course I do. I didn’t stop loving you when you died, but
I had to get over you. I had to, or I wouldn’t have survived. If I had known what had happened, of course things would be different,
but I didn’t know. And then I met Dana, I fell in love with her and we are planning a life together. Three years is a long time, Mandy.” 

I noticed he kept saying her name when he spoke. I’m sure he thought he’d never get
the chance
to speak to her again.

“What are you saying? I still love you, Ryan. I admit, I dated
other people
too,
I had to, for appearances. But the other guys meant nothing to me. I was waiting
til
I could be with you again. See, I’m still wearing the ring you gave me.” She held up her
well-manicured hand to flash him the ring
.

“I am sorry for everything that you went through
-that
we
went through-
and I’m so glad that you are alive, but I can’t lose another bride.” He looked at me and I got up and walked over to be at his side.

“And, I just have to ask you, why didn’t you come to me earlier? You chose to interrupt our wedding to let me know that you were still alive. How could y
ou do that to me?
And to Dana?
Do you realize how y
ou’ve humiliated her in front of all of our
guests.
” He put his arm around me and I felt a warmth come over me.
Things were looking brighter by the minute.

She looked at me with venom filled eyes. “
He
r? Are you kidding me? Look at her? You’d give up me for
this
?” And she pointed at me and w
rinkled her nose like I was a piece of garbage.

“Yes, her.
I would give up every
thing I have for her. And I know that she would never have done what you did, because she truly loves me. And I lo
ve her
.
We are getting married today.
”

Amanda started shaking. I would have expected her to be sad, but she was just angry.
“Fine!
If that’s how it’s going to be, here’s your damn ring back!” She took it off and threw it at him.

“You’ll be sorry, I know you will. And when you come crawling back, it will be too late. I hope you can live with your choice.” And with that, she stormed out the back exit of the prayer room.

I looked
at Ryan. This time, it was my eyes that were glistening. This was all too surreal, but I had never been more in love with him. He
pulled me close to him. He
took my head in his hands and kissed my forehead and then my lips. “I am so sorry that you had to go through all of this. She wanted to make a scene and it wo
rked. Even when we were dating,
she always did have a selfish streak.
I didn’t realize how self-centered she had actually been until I started dating you.
”

“Are you sure you want to go through with it, today? If you need more time to process everything, I’d understand, you know. “

He smiled and his green eyes twinkled. “
See what I mean? This is your wedding day and you’re worried about me. You always put me first, Dana, and I hope to always do the same for you.
This wedding is
definitely
going to happen.
”
I winked at him and pulled my veil back down over my face.

When we walked out of the prayer room and back onto the altar, all eyes were on us. The string quartet abruptly stopped playing. Because Amanda had left through the back exit, no one knew what
had happened.
  The anticipation was palpable. We moved to the front of altar, where everyone could see us. Ryan
looked at Father Patrick, smiled and nodded. Then he addressed the guests.

“Well, you’ve probably never seen that at a wedding before, have you?”  You could feel the tension in the room release as everyone laughed.

“Despite finding out that my
forme
r fiancé is indeed still alive, nothing changes the fact that I love Dana with all of my heart and that I want to spend the rest of my life with her. So for those of you worried that you’ll have to return that toaster you just bought, I am happy to say
you won’t need to do that. There is still going to be a
wedding today.”

The whole church erupted in cheers. Everyone jumped up and clapped and my bridesmaids smothered me with hugs. I was laughing and crying at the same time.  Father Patrick stepped forward, a wide grin on his face and said, “Well, then, shall we continue with the ceremony. 
And now
, by the power ve
sted in me
,
in front of God and these witnesses,
I hereby pronounce you husband and wife.
What God hath joined together let no man, and,
er
..or
woman
put asunder. Ryan, you may now kiss your bride.”

More cheers erupted as Ryan pulled me close, lifted my
veil and kissed me tenderly
.  I could hear Father Patrick say, “
It is now my privilege to introduce to you for the first time, Mr. and Mrs.
Ryan Murphy.”

We went down the aisle while everyone still clapped and cheered and then greeted our guests as they came out of the church with joyous hugs. Then it was off to our reception to celebrate.

Though my wedding
wasn’t exactly what I had envisioned, I couldn’t have asked for a better ending. I hoped that would be the last we’d see of Amanda, but realistically I knew it probably wasn’t. I was ok with that, though.
Anyone who thought they could break us apart would have to hold their peace.
I was starting a new chapter in my life with the man I loved and as long as we had each other, we could face anything that would come our way. 

The End

Author’s Note:
Thank you for purchasing this
ebook
, I hope you enjoyed the story.

If you
are a fan of sweet rom
ances, check out my newest release
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