Forced to Wear My Sister's Wedding Dress

minutes to put on your

other like the word

d on the door. A woman's voice - sharp,

wouldn't s

ather stood by the window, jaw locked, phone pressed to

started in u

's dress. To hold her bouquet. To cry

w a white gown across th

ister i

lau

not funn

r didn't

ed out in piece

light hours ago with a man nobo

ing wasn't j

lan - the kind of man whose

hat ballroom and found

t just be

ld end

her father had spent thirty years bu

already decide

" her mother said. "You

t doing

ore Eva even fini

nt silent except for her own

n't apologize.

," he said, voice flat

othing. There was nothing to say to a man w

dropped t

va knew her mothe

ur father goes to prison. Do you understand? Prison. four hundred em

hest ti

her mother loved

people hadn't don

" the lie better, her father's phone buzzed again. He st

dn't

through the gap - low, m

whispered into the phone, "h

eal b

omach

Eva wearing that dress

had been wait

id yes

e she beli

r hundred families were real, and she couldn't l

zipped up the dress that wasn't hers, and whispe

night, I

lf it would on

room doo

ed. Every whisp

ress, her heart slamming so hard she

tellan tur

ond, nothin

ery trace of warmth on his face v

her like a groom l

last person on earth he ever expec

ved."Interesting,

sent you