I Sent Back the Ring on Our Wedding Day

Synopsis

Thirty minutes before the wedding reception, the screen in the banquet hall flickered black. A second later, the wedding photos that had been playing on loop were replaced by hospital security footage. Jayden Grant was carrying Sophia West into the emergency room with his jacket wrapped around her. He pressed his forehead against hers, and his face showed a kind of panic I hadn't seen from him in a long time. Over two hundred guests fell silent at once. The emcee gripped the microphone so hard his knuckles turned white. He glanced at me and whispered, "Mr. Grant wants to postpone the ceremony. Ms. Lane, are you going to wait for him?" I looked down at the latest invitation proof resting in my palm. Two names were printed side by side in gold foil. [Lydia Lane and Jayden Grant] This was the ninety-ninth draft, and the ninety-ninth one to be thrown away. I slid the ring off my finger and placed it in a shipping box I had prepared long ago. A note was already tucked inside. [Jayden, the wedding is off. Here's the ring. Throw out the invitations.] I lifted my head and smiled at the room full of guests. "I'm done waiting."