No Future in the Seams

Pine Hollow has followed the same wedding custom for more than a century: the groom must hand-stitch a pair of bridal shoes for his bride to wear during the wedding send-off. If the shoes fit, it means the ancestors have blessed the couple with a lifetime of happiness. I tried on six pairs, but each one was either too large or too small. Every wedding had to be canceled. Each time, Cole Bennett promised me guiltily, "Audrey, wait for me. I swear I'll make you a pair of bridal shoes that fits perfectly." I believed him. Then, at our seventh send-off, I put on the shoes and my toe tore straight through a hole in the front. I froze, but Piper Dawson, who had come with the groom's party, pointed at me and burst out laughing. "Sorry, Audrey. I didn't know the pair I bought this time would be so poorly made. They're even worse than the first six!" I stared at Cole in disbelief. "She bought all the shoes? We prepared for seven weddings, and you let her turn every one into a game?" He frowned and looked at me as though I were the unreasonable one. "Piper is a tomboy. Why are you making such a big deal out of this? You already waited through six weddings. What difference does one more make?" Then he stroked my hair and spoke casually. "Stop making a scene. I promised Piper I wouldn't marry you until she turns twenty-five and can live independently. "I promise I'll stitch the next pair myself." I watched him in silence. He had forgotten that I no longer had the right to make a scene. In Pine Hollow, seven failed wedding send-offs marked a bride as ill-fated. Within three days, she had to enter an alliance marriage with someone outside the community. And she was forbidden from returning home for seven years. Chapter 1 "The groom has to be joking. He must be planning some special surprise for Audrey. "Come on, stop hiding them and bring out the bridal shoes you stitched." After a brief silence, my aunt, who had come to see me off, tried to ease the awkwardness. I studied Cole Bennett's face, a faint spark of hope stirring inside me. Under everyone's strange looks, Cole turned to me with open impatience. "This is the only pair. There aren't any others. "Besides, you've already been through this six times. Aren't you used to it by now?" My breath caught. "So you really did halfheartedly go through all seven wedding send-offs?" Then what did that make me, happily putting on my wedding dress and waiting for him every single time? A joke? Piper Dawson pouted in displeasure. "Who says Cole didn't put in any effort? "He stitched a pair every time. I liked them so much that he gave them to me." As she spoke, she lifted the hem of her dress and revealed the hand-stitched shoes on her feet. I dug my nails into my palms as the ache in my chest deepened. Cole had always favored Piper, using her age as an excuse to make me give in to her at every turn. I never imagined that even during our wedding send-off, he would give away my bridal shoes just to make her happy. He did not care at all that I had waited seven years for him. "Audrey, the ceremony window hasn't closed yet, and we wear the same size. "Why don't you just get married in the pair I'm wearing?" Piper said it with a smug smile. One of the groomsmen who had come with them nodded in agreement. "Exactly. Stop holding everyone up. Just put the shoes on and go." Before he had even finished, my aunt blurted out anxiously. "What are you talking about? Since when does a bride get married in another woman's worn shoes? "That would be humiliating her!" Piper immediately lifted her chin, but before she could speak, Cole glared at me in annoyance. "Audrey, I already said I'd marry you. Can't you just behave? "They're only a pair of shoes. Do you really have to embarrass a younger girl over them?" A bitter ache surged through my chest. From the day he swore he would marry me, he had worked relentlessly to learn how to embroider bridal shoes. He went from pricking all ten fingers bloody to stitching a flawless pattern. He told me he was not merely sewing a pair of shoes. He was stitching together our happy future. Yet now, to protect Piper, he was saying they were only a pair of shoes. My throat ached with everything I held back. I met Cole's eyes and smiled. "You're right. There's no reason to make everyone miserable over a pair of shoes. "This wedding isn't happening either. You should all go home." Cole froze, apparently not expecting me to smile. After all, each of the previous six times the wedding had been canceled, I had angrily grabbed his ear and made him repeat my shoe size. Cole stared at me, then suddenly chuckled, sounding almost pleased. "Piper was right. You love me so much that even after learning the truth, you still can't bring yourself to make things difficult for me." He looked completely certain, even proud of himself. In that instant, the last of my hope and love for him disappeared. Chapter 2 Once it became clear the wedding had been canceled, several guests began muttering complaints. "I've lived a long time, and I've never seen seven wedding send-offs fail. The ancestors themselves must disapprove of her." "Let's stay away from Audrey. She's bad luck." Before I could respond, Cole frowned. "Audrey, this wedding is between the two of us. Don't take your resentment out on everyone else." He instinctively stepped in front of Piper, watching me warily. He was afraid those remarks would upset me enough to lash out at her again, as I had the last time. The sixth pair of bridal shoes had been too small. No matter how hard I tried, I could not squeeze my feet into them. When Piper saw sweat beading on my forehead, she said I was so unlucky that even Pine Hollow's ancestors refused to let me marry Cole. Furious, I pulled off one of the shoes and threw it at her. Cole picked it up and hurled it straight back at me. "Audrey Mercer, what is wrong with you? If you bully Piper again, I swear I'll never marry you." I lost control. "Then don't marry me." Cole only sneered. "You've put on a wedding dress for me six times. Other than me, who would ever marry you now?" My chest burned, but I could not bear to let years of waiting come to nothing. In the end, I gave him an easy way out. I made him repeat my shoe size, then let him leave. I looked at Cole and calmly shook my head. "Don't worry. I won't blame anyone." Grandpa, the chair of Pine Hollow's Council, already knew the send-off ceremony had failed again. He immediately texted me the information about the man selected for the family alliance. The wedding date had already been set, and I had no desire to argue with Cole anymore. Cole stared at me blankly. He was about to speak when Piper hugged his arm. "Cole, there's a traveling circus performing by East Lake. Take me to see it." She spoke loudly enough to draw everyone's attention. Cole smiled at her indulgently without the slightest hesitation. "Sure." I lowered my head and forced a bitter smile. I had asked him many times to go see a show with me. Every time, he frowned and refused, saying I was too old to enjoy childish entertainment. I had been twenty then. Piper was twenty-four now. Apparently, age was not what decided whether something was childish. The person asking did. Piper pulled Cole away. Before leaving, he gave me neither a word nor a glance. After settling the details of the alliance with Grandpa, I returned to the house Cole and I had prepared for marriage. By then, night had fallen. The moment I opened the door and saw Piper sitting on the couch playing video games, I stopped cold. She was wearing the nightgown my mother had sewn for me before she died. "Take it off!" I walked up to her, my voice trembling. Piper looked up. The moment she saw me, her face filled with grievance. "Audrey, my clothes got soaked while we were out. If I take this off, I'll have nothing to wear..." Before she could finish, Cole rushed between us. "It's one piece of clothing. Do you really have to yell at her like that? "She's younger than you. What's so hard about letting her have her way?" There it was again. Why could I not just let her have her way? Ever since Piper had given Cole directions at a scenic overlook and helped him avoid a mudslide, he had funded her education and demanded without limit that I yield to her. When Piper and I were both hospitalized with severe flu and only one private room remained, he made me give it to her. Piper's birthday fell on the anniversary of my mother's death. He made me accommodate her then too, insisting I celebrate her birthday before visiting my mother's grave. "This is the only nightgown my mother left me." "So what?" Grandpa was already facing criticism from the other founding families because of me. I could not cause another scene. Looking at Cole's indifferent expression, I felt nothing but exhaustion. "Cole, we're done. "I'm marrying someone else." Chapter 3 He stiffened, then gave a cold laugh. "Everyone in Pine Hollow still remembers what you did for me back then. Do you honestly think any man would dare marry you?" My fingertips trembled. I remembered the winter when he was caught in an avalanche during a ski trip. Three people in his group were killed instantly, and Cole went missing. Terrified that something had happened to him, I gathered relatives and neighbors to help search. I dug through the snow until my hands bled, only to uncover a body dressed exactly like him. I clung to that body and screamed his name, sobbing like a madwoman in the snow. "Audrey!" Only when he emerged with someone supporting him and called my name did I realize the dead man was not Cole. Afterward, the story became a joke throughout Pine Hollow. Everyone said I was hopeless, that not even death could make me let go of Cole Bennett. It felt as though a stone were lodged in my chest, crushing the air from my lungs. At last, I understood. My unconditional love had given him the confidence to hurt me again and again. When I remained silent, the mockery on Cole's face deepened. "You aren't a young girl like Piper anymore. Playing hard to get only makes you look ridiculous. "You know no one else would marry you, yet you still lie to me. How do you keep a straight face? "I'm taking Piper home. Don't wait up." He took Piper by the hand and left. At the doorway, he glanced back and spoke as casually as if nothing had happened. "My mother is coming tomorrow to discuss the wedding. Clean up the house. "Don't give her another reason to criticize you." Piper had left snack wrappers all over the floor, yet he expected me to clean them up? I watched him in silence. After he left, I took my identification and other important documents and moved out of the house. I never expected Cole to show up at Grandpa's house at noon the next day. He looked displeased, and his tone was openly accusing. "My mother went to the house to discuss the wedding with you. Why did you run back here? "You didn't even clean the place. Now she dislikes you even more." I glanced at him without emotion. "This is my home. I can come back whenever I please. "As for your mother... she can think whatever she wants about me." Cole reached for my hand, then stopped in midair. "Are you still making a scene?" He raked a frustrated hand through his hair. "It took me forever to convince my mother to let us try getting married again in six months. "And now you're acting like this. Do you have any respect for me at all?" I met his gaze calmly. "I'm not making a scene. "And I'm not marrying you." Cole's pupils contracted. When several relatives passed us carrying ivory wedding boxes, mockery flickered in his eyes. "Still pretending? You say we're over and that you won't marry me, yet behind my back you're trying to pressure me into a wedding." "What are you talking about?" I could not understand how he had reached that conclusion. His lips curled. "You didn't take down the old wedding decorations. You had people replace them with even bigger ones. "You even bought a new wedding gown to replace the faded one. "You're obviously trying to force me to marry you as soon as possible." I drew a deep breath. "I really am getting married in two days, but the groom is..." His phone suddenly rang. He answered, and within two seconds his voice turned panicked. "Don't be afraid. I'm coming to get you right now." After hanging up, he said anxiously, "Something happened to Piper. She went into the mountains alone. "She can't find her way out. I have to go find her." He glanced at the relatives organizing my wedding trunks and added irritably, "Tell them to stop. I'm not coming to marry you in two days. Don't set yourself up to be humiliated again." With that, he hurried away. I watched his retreating back. The words "It isn't you" remained lodged in my throat, never spoken. I turned around and saw my aunt rushing toward me in excitement. "Audrey, the man you're marrying followed our tradition and made ten pairs of bridal shoes for you." Chapter 4 The shoes arrived ahead of time, and every pair fit perfectly. Ten pairs represented Pine Hollow's highest wedding honor, a tradition dating back more than a century. They symbolized that the bride was flawless and beyond reproach. I gathered everything in the house that had anything to do with Cole. Whether it was a once-sweet photograph of us or something he had made for me by hand, I threw it all in the trash. Afterward, I went to sleep. For once, I did not dream of wearing a wedding dress and chasing after Cole. When I woke again, it was already ten. I had just finished dressing when Cole shoved open my bedroom door. Piper stood behind him with red-rimmed eyes. "You went after Piper and drove her to run away from home. "Do you realize that if I hadn't reached her in time, she would have been bitten by a rattlesnake?" I looked at Cole's furious face, then fixed my eyes on Piper. "Tell me when I came to see you and what exactly I said that made you run away." The woman who always claimed she was too much of a tomboy to understand schemes now sniffled with reddened eyes. "Cole, this isn't Audrey's fault. She didn't say anything to me. I went into the mountains because I couldn't handle my own feelings." Her aggrieved tone and expression made Cole ache for her even more. He glared at me. "And you still claim it wasn't you? Look what you've done to Piper. "They were only a pair of shoes. Are you ever going to let this go?" I watched him quietly. He had forgotten that I had always been able to endure almost anything. Even he used to praise my patience to Mrs. Bennett, saying I loved him so much he never had to coax me. Yet whenever Piper was involved, I became the villain in his eyes. More importantly, because of him, Pine Hollow had branded me unlucky and barred me from returning home for seven years. And he still dismissed everything as a dispute over one pair of shoes? While I was wondering how to make him leave, Piper suddenly spoke. "Did Audrey try to drive me away because she wanted to marry you sooner?" As she spoke, she picked up the shoes I had not yet put away from the night before. Cole took them from her and looked at me with a scornful laugh. "You're so desperate to marry me that you even prepared the shoes yourself. "Here's what I'll do. Apologize to Piper and promise you won't bully her after we marry, and I'll go through with it. "But the wedding can't happen for at least two months. We have to wait until after Piper's twenty-fifth birthday." His tone made marriage sound like charity, and even in the future he reluctantly offered me, Piper still came first. I looked at him and laughed, making surprise cross his face. Then I said, one word at a time, "I won't apologize for something I didn't do. "And I am getting married tomorrow." Cole was furious. His expression darkened instantly. "I gave you an easy way out, and you refused it. Don't blame me when your wedding has no groom tomorrow. "Even if you beg me through tears, I won't show up." After saying that, he took Piper's hand and stormed out. Early the next morning, my aunt woke me to get ready. I put on my new wedding gown. Grandpa was already eighty. With tears in his eyes, he reminded me, "Audrey, whenever you miss home, call me. Grandpa will come see you." Then he personally lowered my veil, afraid to see how red my eyes had become. My relatives helped me into the car that had come to take me away. Cole tossed and turned all night without sleeping. "Forget it. I shouldn't stoop to her level." After hesitating until nine, he called his friends and told them to come with him to collect his bride. They were confused, but they cooperated. The group changed into formal clothes and arrived outside Audrey's family home. Several of Audrey's cousins were loading her wedding trunks into a truck. Cole laughed, then reminded the driver, "Audrey already gave you my address, right? Don't get it wrong. "Nothing can go wrong with this send-off ceremony." Aunt Helen, who had come outside to help, stared at him in disbelief. "Audrey already married into the Prescott family in Seabridge. What bride do you think you're here to collect?"