I Called Off the Wedding in Front of Everyone

"I was going to put it on when we went up onstage."

"I was afraid I'd look shabby and embarrass you."

The shawl was soaked at one corner with wine.

Still, she kept dabbing at it, bit by bit, with a tissue.

When it wouldn't come clean, she just folded the dirty part inward.

My father took a cash envelope out of his coat too.

The envelope had been soaked through and gone crumpled, its corners already soft.

He kept his head down, wiping at it for a long time, his voice low.

"This is the gift money your mom and I set aside for our new daughter-in-law."

"We wanted to give it to her properly."

"And now it's turned out like this."

When he finished, he gave an embarrassed little smile.

"Homer, don't hold it against us."

Something jammed in my throat.

They'd spent so long preparing for this wedding.

Afraid they wouldn't be dressed well enough.

Afraid they'd get some courtesy wrong.

Afraid I wouldn't be able to hold my head up in front of the Hensons.

And what May Henson gave them was wine and cream all over their clothes, the guests' laughter, and a corner crammed with junk.

Right then, my phone buzzed.

A message from May.

"Come out once you've cleaned up."

"Colin was just having a little fun with your parents. Don't overreact. It's a small thing."

I looked at that line of text, and I laughed.

A small thing.

So in her eyes, my parents' humiliation, the blood on my father's hand, the dress she ruined on my mother, were all just small things she could wave away.

I helped my parents sit down.

"Dad, Mom."

"Wait here for me a minute."

Then I turned and walked out of the storage room.

At the end of the hallway, the wedding planner was waiting for me, anxious.

"Sir, are we still going ahead with the program?"

I looked at the harsh lights in the hall.

May stood at the end of the aisle, murmuring to Colin, soothing him.

I turned my eyes away and spoke calmly.

"Go ahead."

The planner let out a breath.

But I went on:

"Just change one thing in the program."

"Skip the wedding toast."

"After this, it becomes a broken engagement."

When I got back to the storage room, my father was sitting beside the cardboard boxes, the blood on his knee still not stopped.

Seeing me come in, his first instinct was to stand up.

"Homer, are they rushing us out there?"

"Your mom and I will be ready in a second."

I pressed him back down.

"Don't move."

My mother looked up at me, her eyes red, and still she was smiling.

"Don't you worry."

"A wipe and this dress is still wearable."

She glanced down at the hem, where the wine had bloomed and spread, then hurried to tuck the stained part behind her.

"When we go up, I'll stand off to the side."

"The cameras won't catch it."

Even now, they were still thinking about how not to embarrass me.

Footsteps came from the doorway.

May stood outside, frowning as she took in the mess in the storage room.

"Still not done cleaning up?"

"The ceremony time's almost here."

"If it's really too inconvenient for your parents, maybe they shouldn't go up after all."

She paused, her tone like she was talking it over.

"The way she looks won't come across well on camera anyway."

The smile froze on my mother's face.

In that instant, she looked down at her dress without thinking.

As if she'd only just realized how wretched she looked right now.

My father spoke up quickly.

"Yes, yes, that's right."

"We don't have to go up, it's fine."

"As long as your wedding goes off smoothly."

I looked at May, and all at once the person in front of me felt like a total stranger.

She used to say she'd treat my parents as her own and honor them like a daughter.

But now that they were hurt and humiliated, all she disliked was how badly they'd come across on camera.

Colin came in soon after.