The groom stared at Rebecca.

“What did you tell my daughter?”

Rebecca shook her head quickly.

“She misunderstood.”

His daughter began crying harder.

“No, I didn’t.”

She pointed at the note.

“You wrote it.”

He looked down again.

The handwriting said:

After the wedding, your father will have a new family. It’s better if you don’t make things difficult.

His jaw tightened.

Rebecca reached for him.

“Please. I was trying to prepare her.”

“For what?”

Silence.

Then the little girl pulled something else from her pocket.

A folded photograph.

She handed it to her father.

“I found this in Rebecca’s bag.”

He opened it.

His breath stopped.

It was a picture of Rebecca standing beside his late wife.

Years earlier.

Long before Rebecca claimed they had never met.

He looked up.

“You knew my wife?”

Rebecca said nothing.

His daughter whispered,

“Daddy… there’s writing on the back.”

He turned the photo over.

One sentence.

If anything happens to me, don’t let Rebecca near my daughter.

The groom went completely still.

Rebecca stepped backward.

“That isn’t what you think.”

He looked at her.

“Then tell me what I should think.”

Tears filled her eyes.

“I loved you before she ever did.”

His daughter pressed herself against his side.

Rebecca’s voice broke.

“And when she chose you…”

She looked at the little girl.

“…I lost everything.”

The groom slowly removed his wedding ring.

“No.”

He pulled his daughter closer.

“You lost me today.”