I stared, stunned, at the certificate in his hand. Clear as day, it had his name and Quilla Garner written on it.
Wasn’t that supposed to be our certificate?
How did the bride suddenly become someone else?
James took advantage of my shock, pointing at me with a smug look. “Natalie, you tricked me when I was young. We were never really together. What marriage? And what bigamy?”
Frantically, I pulled out my own marriage certificate from my bag.
James snatched it from me, holding it up for everyone to see. “Look at this! It’s obviously fake. The photo’s been edited. People will go to any lengths these days, huh?”
Suddenly, it hit me. I remembered the day we supposedly got married. Right after the ceremony, I’d gotten a call that my mom had been rushed to the hospital.
I left in such a panic that I didn’t even look closely at the certificate he gave me later.
I turned to James, my voice trembling with anger. “Does your mother know about all of this?”
He didn’t respond directly, just said, “My mom’s fine now. Stop using her as an excuse to try to control me.”
It all started to make sense.
He and his mom were in on this together. Of course.