A New Beginning
Lena had spent her entire life feeling invisible. She wasn’t just left out of occasional gatherings—she had been excluded from every one of her siblings’ weddings. She watched them celebrate love, make lifelong promises, and share their happiness while she remained on the sidelines, always told she was too young, not included, or simply overlooked.
At first, she tried to be part of it. She pleaded with her sister, Ivy, for an invitation.
“If I let you come, Lena, I’d have to invite all the kids too. It wouldn’t be fair,” Ivy explained.
Fair. That word lingered with her for years.
By the time her brothers, Silas and Ezra, got married, she had stopped asking. The pain of rejection settled into quiet acceptance. But the final sting came when she discovered that a younger relative had been invited to Ezra’s wedding—while she was still left out. That was the moment she knew she had never truly been considered part of them.
But life has a way of coming full circle.
When Lena started planning her wedding, the decision felt simple—her siblings wouldn’t be invited.
“You’re sure about this?” Rowan, her fiancé, asked as he looked over the guest list. “I know they hurt you, but do you want to do the same? Or do you want to take the high road?”
Lena shook her head. “They don’t get to be there, Rowan. They don’t get to act like they’ve always cared.”
So, the invitations went out—without them.
The reaction was swift. Her siblings came to her apartment, demanding answers.
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