Part 1Reborn To Reverse The Test

It was the first time my parents, my brother, and my sister-in-law had met my fiancé, Graham Scott.

Graham was poised, courteous, and handled the grilling with practiced ease. My parents, David and Carol, and my brother, Aaron, seemed placated. Satisfied, even.

But Sienna, my sister-in-law, frowned.

She looked at me with an expression of deep disapproval and spoke in a tone heavy with misplaced wisdom.

“Willow, I’ve been around the block, and I can tell you: you’re clearly still hung up on Patrick, the man we met last week! You need to stop this.”

“This is your whole life, darling. You cannot be rushing into this marriage, using Graham as a fallback just because you’re pregnant!”

“Yes, the doctor warned you that one more termination might leave you infertile, but you cannot settle! I’d rather support you for the rest of your life than watch you compromise like this.”

I rushed to deny it, appealing to my parents and Aaron to back me up.

But they only started to waffle, their clarification vague, effectively muddying the waters instead of clearing them.

Graham looked utterly defeated. He left in a fit of anger, driving away only to die in a car accident moments later.

I went insane, demanding answers, cornering Sienna and the rest of my family.

But Sienna merely shrugged, her voice light and dismissive.

“I was only trying to help you, Willow. I was testing if he had one hundred percent faith in you.”

My family nodded along in support.

“Thank God we tested him, then! Imagine if you’d actually married that short-lived loser—you’d be crying for years!”

Rage blinding me, I grabbed them, insisting they come with me to Graham’s grave to repent.

I never made it. I was shoved down the stairs by one of them and died.

I woke up, back at the beginning.

I looked at Sienna, who was already starting to give me her knowing, conspiratorial eye-roll. I smiled.

If you’re so intent on "testing" my fiancé, Sienna, then I’ll be "testing" my brother for you.

* * *

Dinner had just wrapped up. We were settled on the plush sectional in my new living room, the conversation inevitably turning to the wedding plans with Graham.

Sienna Marshall couldn't hold it in any longer.

“Willow, this is a lifelong commitment. You can’t shortchange yourself like this.”

“Where is Patrick, the man we had lunch with just last week? The handsome one with the investment banking job and the condo in the West Village? He was so much better, and you clearly liked him more! Why are you settling for this Graham Scott?”

I paused, but I didn't feel the surge of anger I had the first time. I only felt a strange detachment.

“Sienna, what on earth are you talking about? I never—”

She cut me off before I could finish, not even looking at me, barreling forward with her speech.

“Even if you don’t want me to say it, I have to, darling. If I don’t say it now, it will be too late forever!”

“I know you’re rushing to get married because of the baby! But I stand by what I said: don’t let a big house and a fancy car from this man force you to have a child that will only be used as an illegitimate pawn in a family fortune fight!”

“I still hope you’ll reconsider, Willow. Terminate the pregnancy. Move on with your life. You’ve had so many, what’s one more?”

“If what the doctor said is true, and this one really does make you infertile, so be it. Mom, Dad, Aaron, and I—we will all take care of you for the rest of your life!”

Sienna went on and on, weaving a story about me being promiscuous and a gold-digger who was trying to trap an unsuspecting man for his money.

I remained perfectly calm.

I had lived through this exact scene before.

Last time, everything had gone smoothly until we started talking about the wedding, and then Sienna suddenly went manic. Under the "neutral" oversight of my parents and brother, I couldn't get a single word in edgewise. Graham believed me, but he couldn't stand against the united "testimony" of my whole family. He left, he crashed, and I didn't survive long after him.