Grace was convinced the hardest part of the day was behind them.
The last guest had left the place, the catering company was packing away their things, and she could finally have some peace in the house. She was happy because her son married Katherine, the woman she loved like she was her daughter.
Exactly an hour later, the fairytale broke into pieces.
A scream pierced through the air from the bedroom upstairs.
Without a second thought, Grace rushed down the hall; her husband Robert and Frank, his brother, followed right after her. They started knocking on the door, but there was no response, and once Robert managed to burst into the room, it seemed anything but a honeymoon suite.
Katherine lay huddled in the far corner of the room, still in her wedding dress, terrified beyond belief. Caleb sat nearby, acting as though he had no idea how he’d found himself inside that room.
Grace got near Katherine to comfort her, but she flinched away before she realized who it was.
Then she said something no one saw coming. “I can’t stay married to this man a second longer.”
Robert demanded an explanation from Caleb, but all he could do was sputter that he had only “wanted to scare her.” That was ridiculous and pathetic, but Grace knew there had to be something else behind it all. Frank went to take Katherine to one of the guest bedrooms, leaving Grace alone with her son.
“What have you done?”
Caleb put his face in his hands. “It was not supposed to go down this way.”
Not surprisingly, no one could fall asleep that night.
Around 4 am, Katherine came downstairs. She looked completely exhausted. There was no trace of makeup left on her face, and her wedding dress had turned into a messy pile. She and Grace sat down in the kitchen.
Then Katherine told her what had happened.
Once inside the room, Caleb locked the door. At first, nothing spoke trouble, but then Caleb started acting strangely. He started accusing her of destroying some woman’s life and told her she’d finally learn what betrayal feels like. Katherine had no idea what he was talking about. The more she tried to defend herself, the angrier he got, ending up with pinning her against the wall and hitting the drywall right beside her head.
He didn’t hit her, but the damage was done.
It made Grace nauseous hearing all of this. That man she raised just turned this woman’s dream into a living nightmare.
Of course, Grace wouldn’t stop until she learned the truth. She went upstairs and told Caleb they needed to talk, and this time, he didn’t hold back.
Years ago, Caleb was engaged to a girl called Beatrice. They ended their relationship because of the photos that came out online, ruining the whole Beatrice’s career and reputation. Caleb believed that Katherine was responsible for all of this because Beatrice mentioned that in her journal before disappearing from Caleb’s life.
Time passed, and eventually, Caleb met Katherine through mutual friends. He then started dating her in order to make her suffer and revenge Beatrice.
Except, his plan backfired because Katherine proved to be a truly nice woman who perfectly fit into their family, was loved by Grace, and, even though he would never admit that, Caleb realized that somehow, somewhere along the line, he really fell for Katherine. However, instead of confessing that, he decided to stick to his sick plan.
Grace only looked at him, horrified. “So your whole marriage… is a fraud?”
He did not even have the guts to look into her eyes.
At dawn the next day, Katherine called everybody to the kitchen and put an old picture of three young girls on the table. One of them was Vanessa.
Katherine said that several years ago, Vanessa was so infatuated with Beatrice’s fiance that she had taken Katherine’s cell phone in order to send those pictures of Beatrice and frame Katherine for that. Katherine could do nothing about it because Vanessa had threatened her mother’s job. Being twenty-two years old and powerless, Katherine believed she had no choice but to keep quiet.
It was then that Caleb realized he hated the wrong person all along.
One single act of selfishness had destroyed the lives of three individuals. Beatrice lost her career and the love of her life while Katherine had carried the blame for something that she never did for several years without fighting for her right. Finally, Caleb lost precious years nurturing an intense hatred based only on a lie.
The tape ended leaving everybody dumbfounded.
Caleb seemed as if he had been struck in the stomach. He covered his face with his hands but he could not feel any trace of anger, now he could only feel intense regret.
“I have ruined everything,” he said to himself.
Grace did not offer him any comfort. “You have,” she said. “You had enough time to ask the simple question; instead, you opted for revenge.”
A bit later that night, someone knocked on the door. It was Katherine’s mother and she was there to take her daughter home.
The moment Caleb set eyes on her, he jumped up and apologized, even before she got to ask any questions.
But Katherine’s mother wouldn’t listen to whatever he had to say. “My daughter is going back home without her wedding dress, without her ring and without any hope that she can be loved in your home.”
Before leaving, Katherine turned to Grace and thanked her for the love and the support. She had always treated her as her daughter, and always trusted her, even when her son didn’t.
Could that marriage be saved? Not really, because where there is no trust, there is no love.
The divorce was finalized in the months to come, and both Katherine and Caleb went their separate ways.
Katherine eventually moved to the city where he found a job and started a new career. She never contacted Caleb again, but she did stay in touch with Grace who still keeps a photo of her son and Katherine’s wedding night to remind her just how dangerous assumptions can be.
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