Eighteen Weddings Too Late

"For the eighteenth time, I walk down the aisle—only for Chicago mafia Don Julian Hart to call off our wedding because I’m a split second late with my vows. For seven years, I’ve done everything possible to prove I’m worthy of becoming the Don’s wife. I’ve learned every rule of the Hart family, installed over a hundred countdown clocks, and rehearsed my vows more than two hundred times. Yet whenever I fail to keep up with Julian’s impossible standards, he lets my best friend, Chloe Reed, put on my veil and take my place at the altar. This time, I’m not late. Chloe deliberately speaks before me, but Julian ignores what she’s done and cancels our wedding for the eighteenth time anyway. That’s when I finally understand: my timing was never the problem. The problem is that the bride standing beside Julian isn’t Chloe. So when Julian takes her hand and leads her to the altar to demonstrate how the Don and his wife should complete their wedding, I place our family wedding rings on their fingers myself. No more demonstrations. I wish the Don and his bride a lifetime of happiness."