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

in his jaw twitched. “When you demand I hold a sealed dossier on a pregnant bride, my duty to God and my conscience requires me to ensure I am not participating in a deception. So, yes. I opened it. I read every single page.”

“Mom?”

The sound of Julian’s voice was jarring. It was thin, reedy, and laced with a pathetic kind of confusion. He was still continue reading …