Chapter 1

Where we come from, the flowers on every bride's wedding car are one of a kind.

You only get one such bouquet in your whole life—it stands for being the only one for the rest of your days.

And if not a single flower is missing by the time the car reaches the groom's house, it means an even happier marriage.

But on the wedding day, my fiancé's childhood sweetheart suddenly leaned across the wedding car and plucked the roses off the lead car.

I moved to stop her at once, but my fiancé blocked me. "Have you forgotten? When you were little, you were always snatching Tracey's things—flowers included."

"Now she just wants you to give a few back to her, and share a little of the good luck. Don't be so petty."

Tracey Pruitt held the flowers, stuck her tongue out at me, and said, "Actually, Derek and I made a bet—whether you'd get mad over something this small."

"See? It's really nothing."

I was shaking with rage. "But that's the wedding car! The car hasn't even left yet—how could you pick the flowers?!"

Derek instantly shoved her behind him, looking annoyed. "So what if it's the wedding car? Does it stop being a wedding car just because there are no flowers?"

"It's just a few flowers. Is it really worth yelling at Tracey like that?!"

With that, he plucked off the rest of the roses himself and handed them to her. "If you like them, put them on your car hood. She owes you this anyway."

Suddenly the whole thing struck me as absurd. I looked down and called another man. "Can you have a wedding car ready in thirty minutes?"

"Let's get married."

......

Tracey stopped in front of her own car and fixed the bouquet of roses to the hood. "Derek, don't you think this looks pretty?"

The groomsmen, never ones to let a scene die down, egged it on. Someone whistled. "Another wedding car! Derek's marrying two brides!"

Laughter broke out at once. "Marry two! Marry two!"

I hung up the phone and looked at Derek, but he wasn't angry in the slightest, nor did he deny it.

Derek grinned and teased Tracey. "Someone like you? A bride?"

"Back in the old days you'd be a dowry maid at best!"

The groomsmen kept up the ruckus. "Same difference—the dowry maids all got taken too, big or small!"

Tracey walked back and pounded Derek on the chest a few times. "Pah! Am I a dowry maid?"

Then she cut me a sidelong glance. "The lead-car bouquet is on my hood now—who knows who the real dowry girl is!"

Derek half-lifted a hand to push her off, but he was smiling. "Fine, fine, you're not, you're not—happy now?"

Tracey couldn't keep the smile down anymore. "Jemima, we're only joking. Derek says you're big-hearted—you'd never take it to heart!"

Derek turned his head to me. "Jemima, you know how Tracey is. I'll straighten her out later!"

The groomsmen snickered again; they were long used to this kind of horseplay.

I couldn't help remembering how the three of us had been the closest playmates as children, until Tracey moved abroad with her family.

Later, when she heard Derek and I were engaged, she came back.

The moment she returned, she was dropping by our place at every excuse.

Sometimes she'd even find all sorts of reasons to stay the night, saying she was just there to mooch food, drink, and a bed.

Right up to the wedding, Derek shot down every other bridesmaid I proposed, insisting it had to be Tracey.

Derek and I had argued and fought over it too. Every time, he'd say I was just born too sensitive, couldn't take a joke, always ruining the mood.

I'd told myself we were already this close to getting married—let it go.

But now, I wasn't going to keep fooling myself.

My thoughts came back to the present, and just as I was about to speak, I heard footsteps behind me. It was my mother.

She hurried up and asked anxiously, "What's going on? How did the flowers from the wedding car end up on Tracey's hood?"

Her voice grew more and more urgent. "Don't you know the custom around here? The flowers on the lead car are tied to a marriage's luck."

"On the way to the groom's house, even one missing flower is a bad omen!"

"Today's the big day—who told her she could pick these flowers?!"

The scene went quiet for a moment, everyone watching as Tracey shrank behind Derek.

Derek shrugged and said with a smile, "Ma'am, Jemima used to snatch Tracey's flowers when they were little. Tracey's just taking hers back. It's no big deal."

My mother froze, then her face flushed bright red. "What on earth are you talking about?"

"Do you know why Jemima grabbed that bouquet back then?!"

"That year Tracey was ten. A strange man came up and tried to coax her with plastic flowers, and she was about to climb into his car!"

"If Jemima hadn't run over and snatched the flowers away, if she hadn't dragged her off by force, Tracey would have been kidnapped—do you understand that?!"

Tracey's brow furrowed, and her eyes had already gone red. "Ma'am, just because your family has a mean streak, don't go assuming everyone else does too!"

The next second, tears rolled down her face. "He was my friend. He simply thought I was cute and wanted to give me flowers, and Jemima insisted he was a bad person."

Someone nearby murmured, "Right, how many kidnappers can there really be?"

"Jemima Fox probably just didn't get any flowers, got jealous, and framed him."

My mother was so angry her hands were trembling. She strode forward and reached out to snatch the bouquet off the hood. "Stop this! Give it back right now!"

Seeing that, Tracey hurried over as well.

But after deliberately bumping into my mother, she let herself topple backward first.

"Tracey!" Derek lunged forward, catching her with one hand while his other arm shoved my mother hard.

My mother stumbled into the flower stand, then fell to the ground, her wrist hitting the ground with a dull thud.

The whole place went silent for a second.

"Mom!" I rushed over and helped her up. Her wrist was already swelling, and she was in too much pain to speak.

Derek didn't even lift his head, bending down to check whether Tracey was hurt.

Once he saw Tracey was perfectly fine, he turned to my mother. "Don't think that just because you're my mother-in-law today, you can do whatever you please!"

"Tracey is a guest I invited. Laying hands on a guest—is this how badly your family was raised?"

My heart went cold. I took a deep breath. "Right! My mother isn't lucky enough to be your mother-in-law."

"The lead-car bouquet is gone, so this wedding is off too!"