Instead of happily planning their weddings together, my two engaged daughters were constantly arguing. But when I discovered that my youngest daughter’s wedding dress had been destroyed and my stepdaughter was standing over it in tears, I realised that I had completely misread the signs of what was really going on in our home.
I am the mother of two children: my biological daughter Hannah (22) and my stepdaughter Christine (23). They grew up together after my husband passed away many years ago, and I have always tried to do everything I could to keep our blended family together.
Last year, both girls were still living at home with me — well, most of the time. They spent a lot of time with their fiancés.
Our house should have been buzzing with excitement over the two upcoming weddings. Instead, the atmosphere grew heavy every time Hannah scrolled through wedding ideas on her phone while Christine sat across from her, barely hiding her irritation behind a forced smile.
‘Look at these decorations, Mum!’ Hannah held out her phone one evening, her blue eyes sparkling. ‘Aren’t they gorgeous? They do this thing with floating candles and flower petals. John says it might be over budget, but I think we can manage if we do some of the arrangements ourselves.’
Christina picked up her glass and headed for the kitchen. ‘I need to refill this. Because apparently we have to listen to every detail of the wedding every night.’
‘Christine,’ I warned.
‘What?’ She turned around. ‘I’m just saying that some of us are trying to have dinner without a Pinterest board shoved in our faces.’
That was typical of Christine. She always turned everything into a competition with Hannah, from their grades to their hobbies and even the attention I gave them after their father died.
Hannah never played along, which only upset Christine even more.
‘Christine, sweetie,’ I called to her. ‘Would you like to show us your wedding ideas? Last week you mentioned a vintage theme.’
‘What’s the point?’ She leaned against the kitchen doorframe. ‘I won’t be able to find the place I want anyway. All the decent places are booked until next summer.’
‘There are other lovely places,’ Hannah suggested gently. ‘I can help you find…’
‘Of course you can,’ Christine interjected. ‘Because you’re better at Googling than I am.’
I sighed. They continued to argue until I intervened. Little did I know that this was only the beginning of the breakdown of our family.
A few days later, Hannah ran into the living room, practically beaming. ‘John and I have set a date!’
Christine froze with the TV remote in midair. ‘What?’
‘At the end of January!’ Hannah twirled around the room. ‘The Winter Garden cancelled a booking, and everything just fell into place. The coordinator said we were so lucky!’
I saw how haggard Christina looked. She had been engaged to Eric for eight months, but couldn’t find a place for the wedding. I also suspected that Eric was hoping the engagement would last even longer before their wedding.
Meanwhile, Hannah had only been engaged for two months and was already ready to get married first. John also seemed happy with the progress of their plans.
‘You can’t have a wedding in January,’ said Christine, throwing the remote control on the sofa and standing up. ‘It’s too early. Can’t you wait?’
‘But we’ve already booked everything,’ Hannah replied, her excitement subsiding a little. ‘The deposit’s been paid, and… oh! Do you want to see my dress? I still can’t believe I found it!’
Without waiting for an answer, Hannah took out her phone and showed us a photo of herself in a stunning £1,500 wedding dress.
‘I bought it yesterday,’ she added softly. ‘I’m so sorry. I wanted to have a fitting with my bridesmaids and you, Mum, so we could all choose. But this dress appeared for sale online, and I just clicked! It just needs a little alteration. It’s as if it was meant to be!’
‘Oh, dear! It’s beautiful. Do you keep it in your room?’ I asked. ‘We can take it to the seamstress today.’
‘Of course! I thought…’
‘I need some air,’ Christina snapped and ran out of the room.
Hannah sighed and went back to her room. Christina might be disappointed about the postponed wedding, but she had no right to make the event miserable for everyone else.
I just didn’t know how to say all this without sounding like I was taking sides.
A week passed, and Christina completely avoided us. My messages were met with short replies like ‘busy’ or ‘with Eric.’ But a few days before Hannah’s wedding, Christina showed up for dinner. John was there too, and something was wrong.
The dining room was unusually quiet. John was picking at his food, avoiding eye contact with everyone, especially Christina. Even Hannah seemed to notice that something was wrong.
‘Are you okay, sweetie?’ she asked John, gently touching his arm. ‘You’ve hardly touched your food.’
‘Yeah, just… work stuff.’ He pushed his chair back, and his fork clattered against his plate. ‘Do you mind if I go out for some air? I need to clear my head.’
‘Do you want me to come with you?’ Hannah asked.
‘No!’ The word came out too sharply, making us all jump. ‘I mean, no, thank you. I need a minute.’
A few minutes after John left, Christina went to the toilet. When she didn’t come back for a long time, I started to worry. Then she suddenly appeared in the dining room doorway.
‘Eric is waiting outside,’ she announced, her voice tense. ‘I have to go.’
‘But you just got here,’ Hannah said. ‘Can’t he come in? We haven’t had dessert yet.’
‘No, it’s… um… I have to go. Sorry.’ Christina turned on her heel.
Something in her tone made me follow her. I was only a few seconds behind, but the front door was already closed. I also noticed that her coat was still hanging on the coat rack, which was strange for such a cold January evening.
When I stepped outside, Eric’s car was nowhere to be seen. Had they left so quickly?
My stomach churned at the realisation of what had happened. It must have been maternal intuition, because I hurried back into the house and headed straight for Hannah’s room. As I approached, I heard a sigh.
I pushed the door open and froze. Hannah’s beautiful wedding dress lay on the bed, cut to pieces from the waist down. Christina stood over it, tears streaming down her face.
‘I SWEAR TO GOD, IT WASN’T ME,’ she said, her hands shaking. ‘Mum, I know how this looks, but you have to believe me. I didn’t do it.’
My mind raced, trying to make sense of what was happening. But Christina’s emotions, her desperate plea of innocence, made me pause.
‘Okay, if you didn’t do it, tell me what’s going on,’ I whispered.
With a new wave of tears, Christina told me everything. The truth was that she wasn’t angry at Hannah for getting married first. She was worried about her because of… John.
A few months ago, during Hannah’s birthday barbecue, she noticed that he was acting suspiciously and even caught him texting someone in our backyard.
‘He said they were just messages from his ex,’ Christina explained, wiping her eyes. “When I pressed him, he broke down and admitted that he had doubts about the wedding and had been talking to his ex about it. I told him, ‘You better figure out your feelings quickly, because if you hurt my sister, I swear to God…’
She took a shaky breath. ‘I gave him a deadline to tell Hannah, or I would. A few days later, he promised everything was fine, and I dropped it. I should have known better.’
I closed my eyes and shook my head. “Yes, you should have said something, but I understand. You’re the older one. You wanted to protect her,‘ I sighed and thought for a moment. ’How did you end up here?”
“I saw him coming out of Hannah’s room when I was on my way to the bathroom. He looked… guilty about being caught, and he walked past me into the back garden. I followed him and bumped into him again. I asked him, “What did you do?” He just kept saying everything was fine, but his hands were shaking.”
Christina clasped her fingers together. ‘When he didn’t confess, I pretended to leave with Eric, but instead went to check Hannah’s room. That’s when I found the dress.’
‘Oh, my God,’ I said. ‘He must have torn the dress to pieces to postpone the wedding. Why not just talk to Hannah?’
‘That’s what I’m saying,’ Christina snorted. ‘But that’s not all. Mum, I think he’s cheating on her. We have to tell her the truth.’
I nodded. ‘Of course. Otherwise she’ll think you did it,’ I pointed to the dress. ‘I’m sure he was counting on that. How brazen of him. Come on, it’s time to stop our girl from making a mistake!’
Christina took my hand and we went outside.
We ran into John right there in the living room. I thought he would resist, but he broke down almost immediately, confessing that he had destroyed the dress to postpone the wedding and used Hannah’s problems with Christine to cover his tracks.
Hannah was devastated. ‘Why didn’t you just talk to me?’ she sobbed when he confessed. ‘If you had doubts, why didn’t you say anything? Anything would have been better than this.’
‘I’m so sorry,’ he muttered, not meeting her gaze. “I’ll pay for the dress. I just… I couldn’t go through with it, and I didn’t know how to tell you.”
‘Tell her about the messages!’ Christina demanded.
‘What texts?’ Hannah asked.
‘Nothing, I…’
‘Tell her the truth!’ I shouted. Enough! No one was going to play games with my child anymore.
Under my stern gaze, John confessed that he had been seeing his ex for some time, and that was why he had doubts about the wedding.
‘Get out of here,’ Christine said, protecting Hannah. ‘Right now! And don’t ever come back!’
I agreed, and John ran away like a coward. When the door closed behind him, something amazing happened.
Christine sat down next to Hannah, who was sobbing on the sofa, and took her hand.
‘Do you remember when Dad taught us to sew?’ Christine asked quietly after a while. ‘That summer we sewed those awful matching sundresses?’
Hannah let out a watery laugh. ‘They were so crooked. Dad said they had “character”.’
‘Yes! Well, I learned how to do it right later. Give me the dress.’ Christine squeezed Hannah’s hand. ‘I have an idea. Let me fix everything, okay? Not the wedding part, but… maybe I can salvage something from this mess.’
‘Why would you want to do that?’ Hannah snorted. ‘I thought you hated me.’
‘I never hated you,’ Christine said quietly. “I just… I always felt like I had to prove that I belonged here. After Dad died, I was so afraid of losing my place in this family. But you’re my sister, Hannah. I should have been protecting you all this time, not competing with you.”
That’s when I burst into tears.
Christine spent the next day turning the ruined wedding dress into a stunning cocktail gown. And when the original wedding date rolled around a few days later, instead of a ceremony, we had a small family gathering at the venue.
Some of our relatives had travelled from all over the country, so it was the perfect way to make use of the money that had already been spent. Everyone was happy, including Hannah, who got to catch up with her cousins and tell them how we found out John was a coward.
I was glad that my daughter was able to smile after that, and I knew that it was partly because Christina had been trying to protect her all along. That day, our family changed… for the better.
‘Mum,’ Christine said as we watched Hannah twirl in her new dress, showing it off to her aunts and cousins, ‘will you and Hannah walk me down the aisle when it’s my turn? Both of you? I know it’s not traditional, but…’
‘It would be my honour,’ I said, pulling her close.
‘Me too!’ Hannah chimed in, joining our embrace.
This work is inspired by real events and people, but it has been fictionalised for creative purposes. Names, characters, and details have been changed to protect privacy and enhance the narrative. Any resemblance to real people, living or dead, or actual events is purely coincidental and not intended by the author.
