‘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.