“It’s like you’re deliberately trying to cut us out of the wedding. You haven’t cared to let me know how far along you are with the planning. For all I know, we’ll be sitting on hay bales and eating and drinking from disposable plates and cups.”
Rory pinched the bridge of her nose as her eyes squeezed shut. Her chest rose and fell rapidly while she tried to calm herself and not react to her mother-in-law’s insults.
“Lenora, I told you this before, Jenny, my wedding planner, has everything under control. She’s flying in after Thanksgiving to personally view the venue and make her final preparations. Also, my mom and I have already chosen my wedding dress in Seattle, the cake is taken care of, and the caterers and florists have been contracted,” she listed, making sure that the woman realized that without her help, she’d pulled it off.
“And you didn’t care to say any of this to me? You’ve already cut me out of making any meaningful suggestions or additions to this wedding, and yet you didn’t feel the need to let me know what was happening,” Lenora responded, her voice full of judgment.
Rory shook her head slowly as an exasperated breath released from her lips. What had she done to deserve this woman in her life?
“Look, Lenora, I’m sorry I didn’t call you to give you an update on the wedding; that’s on me, but the wedding is taking place here in Oak Harbor and not the city, which means I have been hyper-focused on having everything in place before the date and I am not cutting you out of the wedding…it’s just that your earlier suggestions are not in line with the theme that I have in mind,” she tried to explain even as her patience wore thin.
The sharp hiss of breath that only occurred by the locking of teeth and a sharp release of air coming through the speaker caused Rory to remove the phone from her ear to look to see that it was the same sophisticated, high society Lenora she was speaking to before placing it back at her ear.
“And what about my son, hmm?”
“What about James?” Rory tiredly asked.
There was a short pause before the woman spoke again, “It seems to me that my son does not have a say in this wedding at all. It’sall about you and what you want.”
“That’s not true, Lenora,” Rory refuted, her anger rising to the surface once more. “James has as much of a say as I do, and he knows that,” she defended.
“And yet…he’s here in San Francisco, and you’re in that God awful town planning for a wedding that would have been better suited for St. Ignatius and Le Meridien than what you have in mind…”
Rory had had it. “Listen, Lenora. This is the last time I am going to say this. The wedding is being kept in this God-awful town…Oak Harbor, that’s its name. The wedding will be kept here, or there won’t be a wedding at all,” she snapped.
“Well, I never…,” the woman drew in a sharp breath. “I told James he was rushing into something that you definitely are not ready or suited for.”
Rory had heard enough. “Lenora, I can’t do this with you now. I gotta go. Bye.” With that, she disconnected the call. She drew in a deep breath and slowly released it as her emotions ran amuck.
She had never felt alone as she did in that instant. It felt like she was fighting a losing battle, and her fiancé, who should have been fighting with her, she wasn’t sure what side he was on. The fact that he didn’t see anything wrong with the prenup he’d accepted from his parents and even after knowing how she felt about it was very telling. She felt betrayed. How could there be a wedding when they were having so many unresolved issues? She looked down at the phone in her hand, contemplating what to do. After a few minutes, she selected the number she had on speed dial and brought the device back to her ear.
“Hi,” James answered on the second ring.
“Hi,” she answered softly, wobbly voice.
“Ro, what’s wrong?” James asked, alarmed.
A tear slipped down her cheek, and she reached up to wipe it away with her palm. However, her action only seemed to aggravate the issue as more tears came spilling from the dam, running rapidly from her eyes and down her cheeks. Feeling weak, she leaned against the porch’s column.
“Ro…say something…please.”
She gulped back the sobs that threatened to escape her lips. “I…I think we should…we should postpone the wedding, James. I don’t want to get married like this,” she finally said.
There was a long pause. Her tears flowed silently, and her hand tightened around the device against her ear as she waited for him to say something.
James released a defeated breath. “Why are you doing this, Rory? You know I love you…why can’t that be enough?” he asked, his voice strained.
A sob finally escaped her lips. “Goodbye, James.” Pressing the end button, the phone slipped from her loosened grasp to fall to the floor with a thud. Rory bit her lip to contain her sobs as her shoulders slowly shook, the tears blurring her vision. Just then, there was a flash of lightning followed by the loud rumbling of thunder. The sky just as suddenly burst open, allowing droplets of water to fall to the earth’s surface. The rain fell slowly and steadily before it picked up the pace, pelting the porch roof with its amplified fury. It felt like her heart was taking a battering as well, as it squirmed with pain. Rory finally released the heart-wrenching sobs that had been riotously bubbling to the surface.
The holiday was creeping up fast— only three days to go. Rory clicked the checkout button on her Amazon purchases and proceeded to input her credit card information. She’d planned to wait until after Thanksgiving to do her shopping for gifts for the upcoming yuletide season as Black Friday, and Cyber Monday sales were just around the corner, but some of the items she needed to get would be delayed if she waited for the two biggest shopping days of the year. She’d get the other things that wouldn’t prove a hassle to receive on time then.
After placing the order, she switched off the laptop and rested on the nightstand. She remained in bed, propped up against the headboard, as she reflected on all the events that had taken place in the past couple of days.
She’d told James that they should call off the wedding, and she hadn’t accepted any of his calls since then. She’d gone through the voicemails and texts he’d sent pleading for her to reconsider her decision and him telling her that he would make everything right. She wondered what he’d meant by that. Her heart still ached from everything that had happened, but it also yearned for him, especially in her moments alone when she had nothing or no one to distract her from her thoughts. She’d itched to call him back on several occasions but, at the last minute, had managed to talk herself out of it. She just hoped he wouldn’t try to call Andrea. She had chosen to wait until after Thanksgiving to announce her intentions to postpone the wedding as she didn’t want that to be the focus of their family gathering to celebrate a year of being together like this after being apart from each other for so long.
“Mhmm, something smells great,” Rory quipped as she entered the kitchen to see her mom and aunts flitting around as they prepared food for the barbecue they were planning to have today. Most of the family would be arriving soon to commence their extended family get-together and holiday celebration. The temperature was warmer than usual, so it was perfect for their family gathering. The house would be full of family that she’d grown close to since coming to Oak Harbor and those she hadn’t interacted with since Grandpa Sam’s funeral.
“Hi, honey. How’d you sleep?” her mother asked, throwing a smile over her shoulders as she used a rolling pin to flatten and stretch the dough she had on the counter.
