Reborn to Dodge the Bad Marriage novel Chapter 30

Chapter 30 He Came for Her

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going to the Weston house to watch. I want to see her say her vows to a photograph. I want to see him collapse and get carried out.

None of it bothered Nora. “Of course.”

By every rule of the day he should not have laid eyes on her before the ceremony, and Julian came straight up the stairs anyway.

She stood there waiting for him, vivid and striking, lit up by every diamond on that gown, and he had the distinct sense that he would follow her anywhere she cared to lead him.

Nora watched him come toward her one step at a time with the light gilding him, like something divine walking out of a blaze to carry her up out of the dark.

The whole thing felt strange and wonderful at once.

Something soft and charged hung in the air between them.

Julian stopped in front of her, and the look he gave her burned. “You’re beautiful today.”

There was a tremor in his voice, as though nerves had gotten into it.

Julian chaired international conferences, represented the country as president of the chamber of commerce, and sat across from foreign boards perfectly at ease while he talked circles around them, and he

was nervous.

That relaxed her instantly, and she gave him a playful blink. “Wasn’t I beautiful before?”

“That isn’t what I meant. You were beautiful before. Today you’re beautiful past anything, and you’re my

bride.”

His voice was not only shaking by then. It had started to stumble.

Nora laughed under her breath and took his hand. “Let’s go, groom.”

The moment their hands met she looked down at his in surprise, because it was damp. His palms are sweating.

He really is nervous.

Julian answered with a low murmur, bent, and swept her up off her feet.

He had no intention of setting her down either, and she never touched the ground once between that room and the car.

Nobody made a production out of her leaving, and Nora preferred it that way.

He carried her down the stairs, found Victor waiting, and greeted him politely. “Dad, I’m taking Nora now.”

Victor was in no position to object, and that one word left him flustered and flattered at once. “Drive safely. Don’t let her be late.”

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Chapter 30 He Came for Her

Julian carried her out the door.

Finished

Yvette stood there stunned and turned to Mandy. “Is something really going to happen to him today? He looks perfectly healthy. He’s carrying her and walking that steadily. That is not a man at the end of anything.”

Mandy’s teeth set. “It will. I’m going to the Weston house to see it.”

He collapses today. They carry him out today.

Mandy was not the only one on edge that morning. Olivia was too.

Olivia paced the living room watching the minutes go by and checking her phone over and over, waiting for a call.

Cordelia had taken all she could of it. “Olivia, stop pacing. You’re making me dizzy.”

Olivia took two more steps and sat down beside her. “Grandma, it’s past 10 and Grandma Weston hasn’t called. Has Julian collapsed or hasn’t he?”

Cordelia was entirely calm about it. “Constance cares about appearances more than anything else. It’s his wedding day. If he’d gone down, she’d sit on it before she told a soul.”

“But Julian matters more than appearances.”

Cordelia settled her. “Relax. As long as you read that compound correctly, he goes down today, and the call asking for help is only a matter of when.”

Olivia made herself patient and waited a while longer.

Eleven o’clock came around.

Still no call had come, and she could not sit with it any longer. “I’m calling Grandma Weston to ask.”

She dialed, and it rang for a long stretch before anyone picked up.

The worry came straight out of her. “Grandma Weston, I’ve been so worried about Julian. Is he all right?”

The car had already come through the gates of the Weston estate.

Constance was laughing with happiness. “He’s well. He’s a great deal better. He had eggs Benedict this morning, and he’s just brought his bride home…”

A burst of cheering and horns and popping corks drowned out whatever came next, and the line went dead before Olivia heard the rest of it.

Olivia called straight back.

Constance had no time to take it and had Bess shoot a video and send it over as proof that he was fine and in good health.

Olivia watched it.

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Chapter 30 He Came for Her

In it, Nora stood in that diamond gown throwing light in every direction, beautiful past describing.

an was in a beautifully cut suit with her in his arms and nothing in his eyes but her.

Finished

Guests lined the path on both sides and threw petals over them as he carried her through, and the whole of it was romantic and lovely and full of happiness.

Even through a screen, the moment he looked down at her came across clearly, and those eyes held nothing but Nora, tender and devoted in a way Olivia had never once seen in them.

Olivia’s hand closed until her fingertips lost their color and the veins stood up across the back of it, and she turned to Cordelia in real distress. “Grandma, he’s fine. He got married. Did I not learn well enough? Did I read it wrong?”

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