“You
really should have had that second fitting done, honey. Closer to the
day.”
“It doesn’t matter now, Mum,” said
Corinne, shifting uneasily in her seat. Carefully sipping her water as if
each mouthful might burst her seams, she lamented the fact her beautiful dress
was already much fuller than its maker had intended.
“Are you feeling any better? Can
you make it to the end?”
“I’ll last as long as I can but it
doesn’t matter anyway.”
Susan was horrified and grabbed her
daughter’s hand. “How can you say that?”
“Look at him,” said Corinne waving her
hand dismissively in the direction of her new husband, Andrew. “He
doesn’t care. He’s oblivious.”
“He’s a little drunk, and enjoying this
special day.”
“Rubbish,” scoffed Corinne. “He’s
almost legless and he’s drinking to take away the pain of the realization he’s
married now.”
“Corinne,” said Susan, but that was all
she could think to say under the circumstances. Gently patting her daughter’s
thigh, she eventually added, “I’ll let Andrew know you aren’t well and I’m sure
he’ll come to you.”
“Don’t bother mum. He doesn’t
care. He just wants this day to be over.”
Susan smiled weakly and squeezed
Corinne’s hand before standing and walking over to Andrew who was staggering
about on the dance floor.
Watching as her mother tapped Andrew on
the shoulder to get his attention and began to talk to him while gesturing in
her direction, Corinne sipped her water again and winced at a sharp pain in her
stomach. Has to be cramp she thought to herself, I need to try to get up
and walk around a bit. Struggling to her feet, she listened hard for the
sound of splitting seams but heard only the groan of the chair as she launched
herself upright. Brushing a stray lock of blond hair from her watery red
eyes she looked around the reception hall and noticed that everyone seemed to
be having a great time, quite apart from her. Perhaps she was just a
convenient excuse for a family and friends booze up. What a terrible
mistake it all was.
Three mistakes compounding each other
actually. The first, to get involved with Andrew romantically in the
first place, and sleep with him. The second to fall pregnant, and finally
to marry him when she knew it was only for respectability’s sake. What a
quaint concept. Respectability.
Before Corinne could get far enough
away, Susan returned with Andrew trailing behind her.
“Here he is,” said Susan hopefully.
“Are you sick?” asked Andrew.
Corinne was suddenly disgusted by
him. “As if you care,” she said.
“So you’re all right then?”
“You see Mum? See what I mean?”
Again all could Susan could muster was
a faint smile. “He’s here now honey. Why don’t you just tell him
what’s wrong.”
Corinne looked at Andrew and saw he was
looking over his shoulder back to the dance floor where a long-haired,
long-legged vixen in a slinky red come-and-get-me-boys dress was smiling at
him. Susan noticed this as well and quickly nudged Andrew in the ribs.
“You’re pathetic,” said Corinne
spitting the words out.
“I came to see if you were all right,”
said Andrew. “Your mum said you weren’t feeling well. Tell me
what’s wrong?”
“I feel hot and faint and I have bad
stomach cramps.”
“Period pain,” said Andrew flatly
before laughing at his own joke.
“I’m pregnant you moron. With
your child. Remember?”
“A joke, babe, that’s all. A
joke.”
Corinne’s mouth dropped open as she
squinted at Andrew and shook her head.
“That’s a great look babe, should I
call the photographer?”
Susan had been searching for a way into
the conversation so she could defuse the escalation in vitriol. She told
Andrew that Corinne’s dress was too tight and that was why she felt faint and had
cramps.
Andrew’s childish laughter caused
Corinne’s hands to tremble, then clench into white knuckled fists. As she
lifted her right hand to strike, Susan stepped forward and grabbed her
daughter’s wrist. After a few moments of staring at each other, during
which Andrew kept smiling and Corinne fought back tears, he walked away.
Corinne collapsed into her chair
sobbing. “You see Mum? He doesn’t love me. Has any woman been
treated like dirt by her husband on their wedding day, like this?”
Susan vainly continued with the
lie. “He does love you, he married you didn’t he?”
“He married me because Dad threatened
him. It’s obligation, mum, not love. This is a mistake.”
Catching the eye of Terry who was
holding up the bar as usual, Susan motioned for him to come over. “Look
Dad’s coming over and he’ll talk to you. He’ll tell you there were no
threats made against Andrew. Andrew’s just a bit drunk at the moment. He’s
happy. Celebrating.”
Corinne recovered her emotions and
became angry. “Stop defending him Mum! Andrew has been lying and
pretending to all of us for a long time now. He lied to get me in bed
with him by telling me he loved me and he lied today in the church. Made
promises to me before God, Mum, before God and all our loved ones.
Promises he never intended to keep. I can’t marry him.”
“It’s too late for that honey.”
“Too late for what?” asked Terry
arriving with warm kisses for his two favourite girls. Then noticing
Corinne had been crying and Susan was wearing her this-is-the-end-of-the-world
face, he said, “What’s going on, sweetheart?”
“Daddy, this is a mistake. Andrew
doesn’t love me. He doesn’t even care about me.”
“Nonsense,” replied Terry firmly.
“He married you didn’t he?”
Corinne could only shake her head.
Susan said, “Corinne thinks Andrew only
married her today because you told him he had to.”
Half a dozen beers in quick succession
had washed away Terry’s resolve, and he realized a lie would only hurt his
little girl more. “It was the right thing for him to do. To take responsibility
for his actions, to be a man. All I did was point that out to him, in
case he didn’t know it.”
“We thought given time and the arrival
of your baby that Andrew would settle down and mature into the role of husband
and father,” added Susan.
Corinne felt sick. This fairy
tale was never going to reach a happy ending. It would have to be
terminated. She knew it would not work and she did not want to make it
work. Well intentioned though they were, her parents had brought her to
an intolerable situation. No, that wasn’t totally true; she really needed
to accept responsibility for herself. It was about time she grew up.
“Please get the minister back in
here. I want a divorce!”
Terry swore so loudly that he instantly
caught everyone’s attention while Susan was too stunned to speak. They
called Andrew over and argued amongst themselves for ten minutes, only stopping
when the master of ceremonies approached to ask if they wanted to start the
speeches now.
“There’s only going to be one speech,”
said Corinne. She looked first at Susan, then Terry. “Please Daddy, just
make one speech and then we can all go home.”
“Give us a few minutes mate,” said
Terry. Pulling his mobile phone out of his pocket, he started to dial the
minister’s number, but stopped and asked, “Are you sure, sweetheart?”
“I’m sorry to cause all this trouble
but it will only get worse if we go on pretending. Yes, I’m sure, Daddy.”
Terry thought of what on earth he could
say to all these people, then he thought of the embarrassment and the cost-what
a waste of money, but he simple could not force his little princess to marry a
man she plainly did not love. Holding Corinne’s cheek gently in his hand
he dialed the number and smiled.
“Sorry to trouble you but we’ve got a
bit of a problem. Can you come immediately?...well Corinne wants a divorce...I
know, I know but that’s what she wants and she has our support...yes, okay I
understand. Yes, thank you. Bye.”
Terry held both his daughter’s hands in
his and said, “I’ll make the speech but you’ll have to stay married to him for
a year before you can apply for a divorce. You can come back home.”
Corinne threw her arms around
Terry. “Thanks Daddy.”
Terry finished the remains of his beer,
took a deep breath and marched over to the microphone. After his short
speech, shocked silence exploded in the reception room. This was followed by
the quick and quiet departure of most of the wedding guests, leaving Andrew and
his family and some close friends to grasp what had happened.
Corinne had never felt happier or more
relieved.
