When Forever Falls Apart (Cinnamon Springs #2)

Prologue Madelina

I have practiced it a million times in my head.

Walk down the aisle, recite my vows, then say I do.

My hands, adorned with pale pink French-manicured nails, begin to tremble as I stand alone inside the bridal suite. Despite the reasonably large room, the walls feel like they’re closing in, and I’m breathing faster as every second passes.

Outside the room, my family and best friend are waiting for my grand entrance, along with over a hundred people in the outdoor garden…

And Myles Whitney—my fiancé, soon-to-be husband.

Suddenly, the word husband fills me with an overwhelming urge to dry heave.

“It’s just cold feet,” I whisper to myself. Swallowing the thick lump inside my throat, I begin pacing the room in a failed attempt to slow my racing thoughts.

My whole life, I’ve dreamed of this very moment.

I still recall an antique porcelain doll dressed in a wedding gown that my mother showcased in the living room.

My brother was terrified of it. He said it was possessed and that its eyes would follow his every step when he lingered in the room.

As for me, I only saw the beautiful white gown and lace veil pinned to her blonde curly hair.

The heirloom was given to my grandmother on her wedding day, and my mother felt compelled to keep it.

The doll was beautiful, as was everything it represented. I believed it was the most beautiful bride I’d ever seen. At least, better than Barbie with her plastic head and fake boobs.

A wedding dress, as stunning as the one I’m wearing, is more than just a piece of material. It’s the start of a new life; a new beginning as Mrs. Madelina Beaumont Whitney. It’s becoming one with his family, and knowing that soon we’ll start our own. At least, if his mother has a say in it.

It’s never having another first kiss. Myles will be the last man ever to touch me, tell me he loves me, until the day I die.

It will just be him.

For the rest of my life.

“Deep breaths. One, two, three…” I coerce myself while taking a step toward the door. My hand lingers on the brass knob, unsure of what the world outside holds for me.

And if my future is the man waiting patiently at the altar for me.

With a slow turn, the door swings open, followed by a rush of excitement from everyone standing outside the room. The sudden attention brings the temperature to a boil, and my voice is trapped in my dry mouth.

“Maddy, you look perfect,” Eva, my best friend, gushes with a proud smile.

I remain quiet, but the voices inside my head are loud. They’re screaming at me to stop right here and listen to my stupid heart. The thing that keeps telling me it needs more than just Myles Whitney. Its cruel words taunt me, but then I glance up and gaze at my best friend.

The same best friend my brother has fallen in love with.

And it happened in a flash, all because of my impending wedding. Forced proximity at its finest.

My brother falling in love? Yeah, I didn’t see that one coming. He is, or was, impossibly selfish. I never imagined in a million years he would fall head over heels in excruciating love with my best friend, Everleigh Woods, while I begged them to work together to make this day possible.

But the universe, or fate, whatever the hell you want to call it, proved me wrong.

Their love and connection are unlike anything I’ve seen. A far cry from my parents’ toxic marriage—perhaps the most toxic ever to exist.

If my best friend and brother could find each other among the chaos of this world, then what about me? Don’t I deserve to find love with a man who completes me? Who makes the ground beneath me shake every time he enters the room?

My thoughts—they’re foolish, I know.

But my heart…

My heart is not here in this room, in this life that I’m supposed to start with Myles.

The heat inside this dress is unbearable. It feels like invisible parasites are crawling beneath the fabric and leeching onto my skin. Each breath I take comes out in ragged gasps, and the familiar swirl inside the pit of my stomach is rampant, like a wave ready to crash upon the shore.

Four words.

It’s all I need to say.

Four words, sitting at the tip of my tongue, which carry the weight of the world.

I battle the tears, for now, but with a shaking hand that I can’t seem to steady, I begin to tug on the diamond necklace around my neck.

Beneath the gold chain, my skin is sensitive and raw, but the pain brings a welcome relief from the stabbing inside my chest.

“I… uh…” The words, the fear, the crippling realization that my decision will impact far more than just the man waiting to become my husband.

But time is up.

The clock has struck, and it’s now or never.

“I-I can’t do this,” I sputter.

The damage is done.

My heart has revealed the truth, and in just a few minutes, there will be no turning back.