"Shelagh, enough. It was a joke. Denise is our unit's medic. If you keep making a scene, you're embarrassing all of us."
My eyes burned as I looked at his commanding officer's stony face and Ezra's exasperated expression.
In the end, for the sake of his reputation and his career,
I swallowed every last drop of humiliation.
But not this time. Never again.
I shoved Mrs. Abbott aside,
wound my arm back, and slapped Denise across the face with everything I had.
She stumbled and fell to the ground, staring up at me in open-mouthed shock.
Her shriek turned every head in the room.
Just like in my previous life, Ezra came striding over with his commanding officer close behind.
Denise's eyes reddened instantly. She scrambled to her feet and lunged toward Ezra's arms.
But I moved first. I ripped the veil from my head and hurled it to the ground.
"Ezra Mason, if your wedding gift to me is letting your medic spread lies that I'm diseased, then this wedding is off!"
Ezra stared at me, stunned:
"Shelagh, what are you talking about? What lies?"
He turned to Denise with a furrowed brow, though his voice stayed gentle:
"What happened? Walk us through it. How did this misunderstanding start?"