Chapter 9 - The Wedding Morning
The ceremony itself had gone entirely too beautifully. Nora walked down the aisle in a custom gown, her heart pounding against her ribs, not just with love for Julian, but with the terrifying weight of the secret she carried. Ophelia sat in the front row, wearing a silver couture gown that made her look more like a reigning monarch than a mother.
That morning, Ophelia had received a phone call from a private doctor she had illegally paid for information. She had discovered Nora’s tightly guarded secret: she was pregnant. As Nora stood at the altar, she saw the knowledge burning in Ophelia’s cold eyes. The older woman looked alert, sharpened, and incredibly dangerous. Ophelia believed the pregnancy was Nora’s final, calculated move to secure her place in the family. The tension crackled in the air, a silent war waged beneath the veil of wedding vows.
:max_bytes(150000):strip_icc():focal(1048x378:1050x380)/Jenna-Bush-Hager-100223-c94955eb572d47ea815a340c18c6e771.jpg)