Priest Asks Bride to Step Aside as Groom Proposes to Her Sister—Her Reaction Stuns Everyone
That was the breaking point.
Clara stumbled backward, her gown catching on the edge of the steps, her hands trembling as she ripped free.
She couldn’t breathe, couldn’t stand there another second while her sister spoke the words that were meant to be hers.
Tears blurred her sight as she turned and ran—the gasps and murmurs of the crowd chasing her down the aisle.
Guests rose in confusion, some calling her name, but she didn’t look back.
Every step felt like fire beneath her feet, her humiliation echoing louder than the music that had once welcomed her.
By the time she burst through the doors into the open air, Clara’s sobs tore free.
She pressed a hand to her chest as if she could hold herself together, her veil trailing behind like a ghost of the life she had just lost.
Inside, the vows continued, but she no longer heard them.
For Clara, the wedding was over.
And she had never felt so alone.
Clara didn’t remember the drive home, only that her hands shook so badly she could hardly keep them on the wheel.
By the time she reached the quiet safety of her house, her veil lay crumpled on the passenger seat, her gown torn at the hem.
She fumbled with the spare key under the mat, slipped inside, and collapsed against the door as sobs consumed her.
The silence pressed in—heavy and suffocating.
Her phone buzzed in her bag, flashing with calls and messages she couldn’t bring herself to answer.
She pressed her palms to her ears, trying to drown it all out—the whispers, the gasps, Liam’s voice choosing Stephanie.
Images looped in her mind: her bouquet falling, her parents rising in protest, Liam’s hands tightening around her sister’s.
Too vivid. Too real.
When her mother’s name appeared on the screen, then her father’s, then Phoebe’s, Clara switched it to silent and shoved it aside.
