He Married My Best Friend First

My childhood sweetheart always harbored a silent, ugly doubt about whether I was still "pure." My best friend had screamed at him, slapped him across the face, and forced him to give me the grandest wedding money could buy.

Everyone whispered that I was the most pitiable bride in the city.

Yet, despite everything, I thought I was happy.

Until the middle of our reception, when the massive LED screen scrolling live digital wishes displayed a single line:

"If I cannot marry you in this life, I will wait for you in the next."