Chapter 2
I did not go back inside the reception.
Neither did Mom.
Stephie begged me to talk somewhere private, so we went into a small bridal room behind the venue.
My best man, Marcus, stayed outside.
Mom tried to leave.
I stopped her.
“No.”
She looked uncomfortable.
“This is between you two.”
“It became about you the second she insulted you.”
Stephie wiped her face.
“This is ridiculous.”
I stared at her.
“You’re still saying that?”
“I apologized.”
“No. You panicked.”
Her eyes flashed.
“I said I was sorry.”
“Because I took the ring.”
“That doesn’t mean I didn’t mean it.”
I almost laughed.
“Then answer the question.”
“What question?”
“What have you been saying about my mother behind my back?”
Stephie looked toward the mirror.
That hesitation was enough.
My chest tightened.
“Stephie.”
She sighed.
“Sometimes I vent.”
“About what?”
“David, couples vent.”
“To who?”
“My friends.”
“About my mom?”
“Yes.”
Mom shifted beside me.
“I don’t need to hear this.”
I turned.
“Please stay.”
She looked exhausted.
That hurt.
This was supposed to be her son’s wedding.
Instead, she was standing inside a cramped room listening to my bride explain why she disliked her.
Stephie crossed her arms.
“I never said anything that terrible.”
“Then tell me.”
She remained silent.
I took out my phone.
“I’ll ask your bridesmaids.”
Her head snapped up.
“Don’t.”
That word was too fast.
“What did you say?”
“Nothing.”
“Then why can’t I ask?”
“Because they’ll exaggerate.”
I stared.
“Interesting.”
Mom whispered,
“David, stop.”
“No.”
I looked at Stephie.
“Did you call my mother dirty before today?”
Her face changed.
Not much.
Enough.
My stomach turned.
“You did.”
“It wasn’t like that.”
“How was it?”
Stephie sighed.
“She works cleaning houses sometimes.”
Mom’s jaw tightened.
“So?”
Stephie shrugged.
“My friends asked what she does.”
“And?”
“I said she cleans.”
“That’s true.”
“And one of them made a joke.”
“What joke?”
Stephie looked embarrassed now.
“About whether she’d be cleaning the venue after the wedding.”
Mom looked down.
My blood started boiling.
“And you laughed.”
Stephie did not answer.
“You laughed.”
“Yes.”
I stepped back.
For months, Mom had been asking me whether Stephie truly wanted her involved in the wedding.
I always reassured her.
“Of course she does.”
Now I understood why Mom had asked.
“What else?”
Stephie threw up her hands.
“This is becoming an interrogation.”
“Because you’re hiding things.”
“I’m not.”
Mom suddenly spoke.
“She told me not to wear the dress I bought.”
I turned.
“What?”
Mom immediately looked guilty.
“I shouldn’t have said anything.”
“When?”
“Two months ago.”
Stephie stared at her.
Mom continued quietly.
“I showed her a picture.”
I remembered the first dress.
A green one Mom had loved.
She returned it a week later and told me it did not fit right.
“What did Stephie say?”
Mom looked at the floor.
“That it looked cheap.”
My throat tightened.
“She said the photographs would look better if I wore something darker.”
I stared at Stephie.
“You told me Mom changed her mind.”
“She did.”
“After you humiliated her.”
“I was trying to help.”
“By telling her she looked cheap?”
“I didn’t use those exact words.”
Mom looked at her.
“Yes, you did.”
Stephie went silent.
That silence hurt more than shouting.
I had never heard Mom directly accuse someone unless she was absolutely certain.
“What else?”
“David.”
I looked at Mom.
“What else did she do?”
Mom hesitated.
“Nothing worth ending a marriage over.”
“That isn’t your decision.”
She closed her eyes.
“Before the engagement party, she asked me not to tell people how old I was when I had you.”
My stomach dropped.
“Why?”
Mom gave a sad smile.
“She thought her parents might judge.”
I turned toward Stephie.
“My mother was supposed to lie about her life so your family wouldn’t be embarrassed?”
“No.”
“That’s exactly what you asked.”
“I asked her to avoid uncomfortable topics.”
“She was fifteen and pregnant.”
“Yes.”
“She survived it.”
“I know.”
“She raised me.”
“I know.”
“Then what part was embarrassing?”
Stephie’s voice sharpened.
“Can you stop making everything sound ugly?”
I stared at her.
“I’m repeating what you did.”
She began crying again.
This time I felt almost nothing.
Not because I enjoyed her pain.
Because I was finally seeing a pattern.
When Stephie felt consequences, she cried.
When Mom felt humiliation, Stephie called it a joke.
There was a difference.
Someone knocked.
Marcus opened the door slightly.
“David?”
“What?”
“You need to come outside.”
“Why?”
He glanced at Stephie.
Her face changed.
That told me enough.
“What happened?”
Marcus looked uncomfortable.
“Her father is threatening to call security.”
Stephie closed her eyes.
“Great.”
I laughed bitterly.
“Of course he is.”
We walked into the hallway.
Stephie’s father, Richard Wallace, stood there.
Tall.
Expensive suit.
Cold expression.
Her mother, Diane, beside him.
Richard pointed at me.
“You are humiliating my daughter.”
I almost smiled.
That sentence had become popular tonight.
“She humiliated my mother.”
Diane rolled her eyes.
“Angela knows Stephie didn’t mean anything.”
Mom stepped forward.
“Please don’t drag me into this.”
Richard ignored her.
“You’re throwing away a wedding over an emotional overreaction.”
“No.”
I held up the ring.
“I’m stopping before I make an even bigger mistake.”
Stephie gasped behind me.
Richard stepped closer.
“You think you can embarrass our family publicly and walk away?”
I stared at him.
“Yes.”
His face darkened.
“You should think carefully.”
“About what?”
“The apartment.”
My stomach tightened.
Stephie and I lived in a condo owned by one of Richard’s companies.
He had offered it as an engagement gift.
I suddenly understood why.
Control.
Richard smiled slightly.
“The lease is in Stephie’s name.”
“So?”
“If you walk out, you walk out tonight.”
I nodded.
“Fine.”
Stephie grabbed my arm.
“David, stop.”
Richard continued.
“The car?”
I looked at him.
The luxury SUV Stephie drove had been called our wedding gift.
Apparently not.
“That stays with my daughter.”
“Fine.”
“Your position?”
That one surprised me.
I worked as a project manager for a construction firm where Richard owned a minority stake.
“You’d fire me?”
“I didn’t say that.”
“You’re threatening it.”
“I’m telling you decisions have consequences.”
I laughed.
Finally.
He frowned.
“What’s funny?”
“You’re exactly like Stephie.”
His face hardened.
“You hurt someone, then call the reaction the problem.”
Diane stepped forward.
“That’s enough.”
“No.”
I looked at Stephie.
“You want to know why I’m ending this?”
She cried silently.
“It isn’t because of one insult.”
I pointed between her and her parents.
“It’s because I’m finally seeing what marriage into this family means.”
Richard scoffed.
“You were happy to accept our help.”
That hit.
Because he was right.
I had accepted the condo.
The car.
Connections.
Expensive vacations.
I told myself none of it changed me.
Maybe it had.
Maybe I had ignored things because being connected to the Wallaces made life easier.
I took my condo key from my pocket.
Then the spare car key.
I placed both in Richard’s hand.
“You’re right.”
He looked surprised.
“I accepted too much.”
I stepped back.
“That ends tonight.”
Stephie sobbed.
“David, please.”
Mom touched my arm.
“Where are you going?”
I looked at her.
“Home.”
She frowned.
“You don’t have one right now.”
I smiled.
“Yes, I do.”
I pointed at her.
“With you.”
Mom’s face crumpled.
Richard laughed.
“A thirty-year-old man moving back with Mommy.”
I turned slowly.
Mom’s fingers tightened around my arm.
I could have shouted.
Instead I smiled.
“Better than becoming you.”
Richard’s face changed.
Marcus opened the exit door.
I walked outside with Mom.
Then my phone buzzed.
A message from an unknown number.
One photograph.
Stephie at her bachelorette party.
She was holding a champagne glass.
Beside her was one of her bridesmaids.
Across the image, a caption had been added.
CAN’T WAIT UNTIL DAVID’S CLEANER MOM SEES THE WEDDING.
My stomach turned.
May you like
Then another message arrived.
YOU SHOULD SEE THE GROUP CHAT.
