He Gambled Away Our Vows

2: 2

2

The whole room went quiet.

Eugene finally noticed something wrong in my face.

He frowned and cut his father off.

"Dad, why bring all that up today?"

Then he turned to me.

"My parents just like that Maura's got an outgoing personality."

"Don't take everything to heart."

I suddenly laughed.

Anything that hurt me could always be waved off as a joke.

Maura tightened her grip on Eugene's arm.

"All right, don't fight because of me."

"Marilyn, you said yourself you were giving me the wedding, so let me finish the rest of it."

She glanced at the gown I was wearing and smiled.

"It's not like you can't hold your own wedding next month anyway."

I didn't argue anymore.

I just took out my phone and called the hotel's event manager.

"The bride for today's wedding has been changed at the last minute."

"I'm refusing to pay the remaining balance."

There were a few seconds of silence on the other end.

The manager asked, hesitant.

"Miss Henson, you don't know?"

"A month ago, Mr. Weiss brought Miss Hughes in to revise the contract."

"The bride on the contract was changed to Miss Hughes a long time ago."

My hand tightened around the phone.

"A month ago?"

"Yes."

"Miss Hughes also reconfirmed the reception menu and the stage setup."

"Mr. Weiss said all the changes had your approval."

I looked up at the two of them on the stage.

So this so-called bet, the one supposedly settled only last night.

They'd had it all arranged a month ago.

I forced down the tremor in my voice and kept going.

"And the balance?"

The manager answered.

"It was paid in full last night."

"Mr. Weiss paid six hundred and eighty thousand from your joint wedding account."

I yanked open my banking app.

The account balance was three dollars and seventy cents.

That six hundred and eighty thousand was every cent I'd saved in five years of work.

I'd planned to use what was left after the wedding to open a studio of my own.

Eugene saw the screen on my phone and finally came over.

"The money's already paid. You can't get it back by canceling now."

I stared at him.

"What gives you the right to touch my money without asking me?"

Eugene answered like it was the most natural thing in the world.

"That money was for the wedding in the first place."

"The wedding's going ahead as planned, so the money wasn't wasted."

Maura leaned against him and gave the ring on her finger a light little shake.

"Marilyn, didn't you just say you were giving me the wedding?"

"Since you gave it to me, the cost of the wedding is naturally part of it."

Watching the two of them play off each other, I found I didn't even have anger left.

They hadn't just made my wedding the stakes of a bet.

They'd drained my savings too.

And sent Maura off in style to marry my fiancé.