Calling in Backup
I did the only thing I could think to do: I called my sister, Maya.
For the first 15 seconds, I couldn’t speak. I just sobbed into the phone.
“Tam,” she said, her voice going sharp and steady. “What happened?”
“Jake is marrying Maddie,” I whispered. “The contract. The texts. All of it.”
Maya didn’t gasp. She didn’t say, “No, that can’t be right.”
She just said: “I’m coming over.”
When she arrived, I handed her the iPad and Emily’s email. She sat on the couch and scrolled in total silence — the dangerous kind, where you know someone is already ten moves ahead.
Finally, she closed the case and looked at me.
“We’re not blowing up tonight,” she said. “We’re going to handle this the smart way.”
In that moment, something inside me shifted. I wasn’t just a sobbing, blindsided bride.
I was a woman with a team.
Preparing the Exit
Over the next two days, Maya and I quietly dismantled the life Jake thought he controlled.
- We closed the joint account Jake and I shared.
- I removed his access to my credit card.
- I moved my wedding dress and anything sentimental to Maya’s apartment.
- I notified the landlord the lease would end that month.
Then I called my dad, Pete. I told him everything. He didn’t tell me to calm down, or ask if I was sure. He just listened.
“You don’t need to do this alone, my Tam,” he finally said.
The next morning, he and my stepmom, Diana, were at Maya’s place. No one defended Jake. No one said, “Maybe there’s another explanation.”
That hurt and healed at the same time.
The Rehearsal Dinner
The rehearsal dinner was at a warm, candlelit restaurant Jake’s mom, Catherine, called “intimate and elevated.”
Jake greeted me at the door like he hadn’t been planning to switch brides behind my back.
He kissed my cheek. “The next time we’re here, you’ll be my wife,” he said.
“Right. Almost there,” I replied, and managed not to flinch.
Maddie looked pale under the soft lighting. Her eyes were ringed with exhaustion, her smile too tight, her laugh half a beat too late.
If guilt had a smell, the whole room would’ve reeked.
Halfway through the meal, once the drinks were poured and everyone was relaxed, I stood and tapped my glass.
The sound cut through the conversation. Faces turned toward me, expectant and smiling.
“I just want to thank you all for being here,” I began. “It means the world to have both our families together. Especially before a day that’s supposed to be all about love and trust.”
Jake smiled widely, like he’d just won something.
“And thank you,” I added, turning to him. “For handling so much. You did it all, babe. From the contracts to the paperwork.”
He chuckled. “Someone had to keep the bride sane.”
“Actually,” I said, “it was one of the venue coordinators who reminded me that I should probably look at those documents myself.”
Right on cue, the TV behind me flickered on. Maya had already worked it out with the staff.
On the screen, in huge, clear font, the venue contract appeared:
Bride: Maddie L.
Groom: Jake Thomas W.
The room went dead silent.
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