The mayor tried to ruin me at the altar—until the pastor spoke a single name that brought the entire ceremony to a halt

importantly, the only son of Evelyn Sterling, the formidable three-term Mayor of Oakridge. But for me, that single signature meant something far simpler: safety. It meant a father for the baby turning inside me, making the heavy silk of my custom maternity wedding gown shift in the warm, floral-scented air of the grand ballroom.