## Chapter 1 — Ten Minutes Before the Wedding

Ten minutes before our wedding, I overheard my fiancé telling his sister, “Don’t worry about daycare anymore. Natalie will take care of all three kids starting Monday.”

All three of her children were younger than six. I had a full-time job and had never agreed to care for them regularly.## Chapter 1 — Ten Minutes Before the Wedding

Ten minutes before our wedding, I overheard my fiancé telling his sister, “Don’t worry about daycare anymore. Natalie will take care of all three kids starting Monday.”

All three of her children were younger than six. I had a full-time job and had never agreed to care for them regularly.“Are you absolutely sure?” his sister Heather asked.

“Of course I’m sure.”

“Because it’s a lot, Seth. All three of them, five days a week.”

“She loves the kids.”

“Loving them isn’t the same as keeping them all day.”

For an instant, I appreciated Heather’s concern.

Then Seth implied marriage would leave me no choice.

I stepped nearer.

Heather had three children: five-year-old Maddie, Ben, who’d recently turned three, and eighteen-month-old Owen.

I genuinely adored them.I’d taken them to parks, made pancakes together, and occasionally watched them on Saturdays when Heather needed assistance.

Last Christmas, Maddie had drawn enormous purple flowers with my name written above them. Her picture still hung on my refrigerator.

But occasional babysitting was nothing like becoming their full-time caregiver.

I was thirty-four and had worked nearly seven years at a dental practice near Columbus, Ohio.

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Three days earlier, Dr. Bennett had offered me the office manager position.

It was a promotion I’d pursued for years.

Yet my future husband apparently believed my career was irrelevant.

“What about her job?” Heather asked.

“She’s leaving the dental office.”

“She told you that?”

“We’ve talked about it.”

We absolutely hadn’t.

Seth and I had discussed buying a home, eventually having children without rushing, vacations, retirement savings, and replacing his aging truck.

Never once had we discussed me abandoning my career to raise his sister’s children.

Heather sighed.

“I just don’t want Natalie to feel like I’m taking advantage of her.”

“She won’t.”

“Because I know how much she likes her job.”

I heard irritation enter Seth’s voice.

“Heather, we’ve been over this. She’s going to be my wife. We’re going to make decisions based on what’s best for the  family.”

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After a pause, Heather continued.

“And she’ll start Monday morning?”

“Seven-thirty. Same as we discussed.”

Monday morning.

My staff meeting began at eight.

Dr. Bennett planned to introduce new billing software for the following month, then discuss my promotion afterward.

Seth knew about both appointments.

I’d told him over dinner, and he’d replied, “Sounds exciting, babe.”

Now he’d assigned my Monday to someone else.

My pulse pounded in my throat.

I considered leaving to find Paige and gathering myself before confronting him.

Then Heather spoke.

“I wish you’d let me thank her properly before today.”

“Don’t make a big deal out of it. She’s already nervous about the wedding.”

“I suppose.”

A brief silence followed.

Then came the revelation that changed everything.

“I hope this works out. Because I already canceled their daycare two weeks ago.”

Seth showed no surprise.

“I know.”

“Their last day was yesterday. The director said those spots have already been filled.”

“Then it’s a good thing we have Natalie.”

I stared at the doorway.

This wasn’t an innocent misunderstanding about helping for a few days.

Three children’s childcare arrangements had been canceled because of a commitment I’d never made.

And the man responsible was about to become my husband.

I opened the door.

## Chapter 2 — The Job I Never Agreed to Quit

“Who told you I was quitting my job?”

Seth spun around, nearly colliding with a folding chair.

Heather stood beside a table of wedding programs, wearing a navy dress that complemented my bouquet.

Neither spoke initially.

Then Seth smiled.

It wasn’t his usual expression. It was the reassuring smile he used when customers complained about electrical repairs and he wanted them to believe everything was under control.

“Natalie. Hey. You’re not supposed to see me before the ceremony.”

“Answer my question.”

His smile vanished.

Heather glanced between us.

“Did you not know about the daycare arrangement?”

“What daycare arrangement?”

Seth approached.

“Let’s not do this right now.”

I avoided his hand.

“Heather, what exactly did Seth tell you?”

She swallowed.

“He said you wanted to take some time off after the wedding. That you were thinking about leaving the dental office.”

“I never said that.”

“He told me you’d be watching the kids while I worked.”

“For how long?”

She looked toward her brother.

“Until next summer.”

My stomach sank.

“Next summer?”

Seth rubbed his neck.

“It’s not as bad as it sounds.”

“Three kids. Ten hours a day. Five days a week. For almost a year?”

“Natalie—”

“Is that what you promised?”

His hesitation answered me.

I faced Heather.

“I haven’t quit my job. I haven’t even considered quitting my job.”

Her expression shifted.

“But Seth said you’d talked to your boss.”

I retrieved my phone from the satin purse Paige had given me that morning.

My hands trembled so badly that I entered the wrong passcode twice.

Finally, I opened Dr. Bennett’s email.

Its subject read: Office Manager Position.

I showed Heather the screen.

“This came Wednesday. Dr. Bennett is offering me a promotion. I’m supposed to give her my answer Monday.”

Heather examined the opening paragraph, frowning.

“You’re being promoted?”

“Yes.”

Seth leaned forward.

“You didn’t tell me you were accepting it.”

“I haven’t accepted it yet.”

“Exactly. So I thought—”

“You thought what?”

He sighed.

“I thought maybe this was a good time for us to rethink things.”

I stared.

“Us?”

“Your schedule. Heather’s situation. Everything.”

“Then why wasn’t I part of the conversation?”

Heather lowered my phone.

“Seth, you told me Natalie wanted this.”

“She does love the kids.”

“That’s not what I asked.”

He turned on his sister.

“Don’t start acting like I forced you into anything. You were thrilled when I came up with the idea.”

Heather went pale.

“I was thrilled because you said she’d agreed.”

I’d never seen her so alarmed.

Heather and her husband Colin had separated roughly a year earlier. They shared parenting duties, but his rotating warehouse shifts made childcare difficult.

She worked full-time handling insurance claims and couldn’t take three small children to her office.

“What about their daycare?” I asked.

Heather pressed her lips together.

“I gave two weeks’ notice. They require it.”

“Can you call and get their places back?”

“I tried asking about Maddie’s spot yesterday because her teacher said she’d miss her. The director told me all three places had already been offered to families on the waiting list.”

Seth waved dismissively.

“We’ll figure something out.”

Heather faced him.

“You told me it was figured out.”

His jaw tightened before he looked at me.

“Can we please stop making this into a crisis? It’s our wedding day.”

I nearly laughed.

“Our wedding day?”

“Yes.”

“The day you planned to marry me before telling me I was giving up my career?”

“That’s not fair.”

“What part isn’t fair?”

He lowered his voice.

“People are going to hear you.”

There it was.

He wasn’t concerned about betraying me or putting Heather’s employment at risk.

He was worried someone might overhear.

I stepped closer.

“Did you honestly expect me to wake up Monday morning, find out I was supposed to babysit three children, and just not go to work?”

He looked at Heather, then me.

“I thought we’d have a little time to talk about it after the wedding.”

“You told her I’d already agreed.”

“Because I knew we’d work it out.”

I turned toward Heather.

“Did you ever try asking me directly?”

She hesitated.

“I wanted to.”

“Why didn’t you?”

“Seth said you were uncomfortable talking about leaving your job. That you didn’t want everyone making a big deal about it.”

I faced him again.

He remained silent.

A chapel bell sounded in the distance.

It was five minutes before two.

Seth checked his watch.

“Okay. We need to get ready.”

He reached for me, but I pulled back.

“No. You and I need to talk.”

Heather started speaking, and I interrupted.

“Please. Give us a minute.”

She agreed and left, clutching her phone.

Seth closed the door, then faced me with the weary expression of someone dealing with a problem he hadn’t caused.

“Look,” he said. “I know you’re upset.”

“You don’t know half of how upset I am.”

He adjusted his jacket.

“Then tell me what you want me to say.”

I studied him.

He wore the tie I’d selected and was supposed to become my husband in five minutes.

Suddenly, I couldn’t imagine anything he might say that would make this right.

## Chapter 3 — He Thought I’d Come Around

“I need you to tell me why you did this,” I said.

Seth rested against the table.

“I was trying to help my sister.”

“By giving her my time?”

“By helping our  family.”

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“Heather’s your sister. They’re your nieces and nephews. Why aren’t you the one staying home with them?”

He frowned.

“You know I can’t just stop working.”

“Neither can I.”

“That’s different.”

“How?”

“My job pays more.”

That was generally true. As a licensed electrician who frequently worked overtime, Seth earned more than I did.

But I supported myself, had employer-provided health insurance and retirement savings, and genuinely enjoyed my work.

I’d invested years mastering insurance claims, scheduling, personnel issues, and the countless responsibilities that kept our dental office functioning.

He seemed to dismiss all of it.

“And what happens to my health insurance?” I asked.

“You’d be on mine after we got married.”

“What happens to my retirement contributions?”

“We’ll figure that out.”

“My promotion?”

“Natalie, people change careers all the time.”

I stared at him.

“I don’t want to change careers.”

He sighed.

“You’ve always said you wanted to spend more time with family.”

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“I meant our family. Someday. When we made that decision together.”

“That’s what this is.”

“No. This is a decision you made without me.”

His patience broke.

“Heather’s struggling, okay? Do you have any idea what she pays for daycare?”

“Yes. She’s told me.”

“Then you know how much we could help her.”

“We?”

He looked away.

“Come on. You know what I mean.”

I suddenly noticed how frequently he said we.

We could help Heather.

We could sacrifice.

We could manage somehow.

Yet I alone was expected to surrender my employment.

I imagined Monday morning: Heather arriving with Maddie, Ben, and Owen at 7:30, Seth heading to a job site, and me preparing meals, changing diapers, cleaning messes, arranging activities, and supervising naps.

The same routine would repeat every weekday.

Then Seth would return and praise how much we’d helped his sister.

“I’ve watched those kids before,” I said. “You know I have.”

“Exactly.”

“For a few hours. When Heather asked me and I was available.”

“What’s the difference?”