The Wedding Planner (Open Novella Contest)

Chapter 5

Rachel slumped into her bed, exhausted from the onslaught of emotions that had plagued her mind. It was only 2:30 P.M but Rachel was mentally exhausted. Snuggling into the soft, fluffy pillow she felt the sweet relief of sleep begin to take her away from this pain and into a land of bliss...

Pancakes. Rachel jumped out of bed as quick as her legs could carry her. Sunday had always been Rachel's favourite day, her mum always made pancakes on a Sunday. Not the dry kind either, the kind of pancake that was so fluffy, so sweet, that you could literally taste the love that went into making them. Rachel sat down at the table, shuffling her orange coloured chair underneath. She looked around the table, making sure the maple syrup was within arms reach. Her father, as usual, had a newspaper open covering his face. It wouldn't be a Sunday morning without father reading his newspaper. Rachel was becoming impatient, desperate for the taste of the fluffy pancakes, Rachel turned to her mother and asked "How much longer?"

"Stop your whining." Her father snapped, he looked up from his newspaper. His brown eyes glaring at her, as if he was warning her not to say another word. Rachel huffed as she slid down her chair a little in a sulk. She wasn't trying to whine, she just really wanted some pancakes. Before her mother could finish the pancakes, her mother came to the kitchen table.

"Oliver, I need to talk to you. Now!" It was the tone to her mothers voice that Rachel could not put her finger on, it was tone she had not heard before. "Rachel darling? Could you do me a favour?" Her mother smiled kindly.

"Yes!" Rachel replied excitedly, maybe she would be able to help taste the batter?

"Could you get changed out of your pyjamas this morning? We're going out after breakfast so it would be easier if you were ready to go!" Rachel's mum beamed at her, it wasn't unusual to see a smile on Rachel's mum's face. She was always smiling and laughing, she never had a bad word to say about anybody. This smile was different, it was sad? Rachel sighed and nodded reluctantly. She climbed off of her chair and made her way to the kitchen door.

"What's got you all riled up?" Her father grunted, clearly annoyed that his morning newspaper had been tainted by this conversation. Rachel heard something slam on the table.

"This, what are these Oliver? Because they're not mine!" She muttered, "I'm pretty sure I would know if they were mine. Unless... you've decided briefs aren't as comfortable for you anymore." Rachel could hear the sadness in her mother's voice.

"Do you want the truth?" Oliver snapped, his voice vicious and angry.

"Well I wouldn't be asking the question if I wanted a lie from your mouth would I?" Rachel could hear the sadness in her mother's voice, desperately she wanted to run to her mother and wrap her arms around her.

"They are Cassandra's. Oh darling, that look on your face, you're looking at me like you're going to cry." Oliver laughed. "It's like you would never have expected this from me." He laughed once more. "Lisa, how has it taken you this long to figure this out?" he pushed his chair away from the table, in an attempt to stand up. She could hear her mother sob. Rachel sat down on bottom stair next to the kitchen door, to listen. "I don't know how, I don't know why. Cassandra made a pass at me." She heard her father walk around the kitchen. "At first, I was a loyal and faithful husband. I declined her advances, happy with the wife and child I had at home." Oliver sparked up a cigarette, he took a long drag. "But soon...I started becoming flattered, a 21-year-old woman wanted me?" She heard her father shuffle his feet. "I wanted her too, she was beautiful. So we started the affair, it was purely physical at first but now, now I love her more than I've loved anyone else in the world." She heard her mother let out a heart wrenching sob, she began to wail. Rachel covered her mouth with her hands as she gasped.

"I should have ended it with you years ago, but I wanted to keep up the facade for Rachel." She heard her mother slump to the ground, "I am sorry, for what it's worth." Her father left the kitchen, he spotted Rachel sitting there on the steps, her hands over her mouth.
"Sweetheart, I'm sorry you had to hear all that." Oliver began to say, Rachel cut him off.

"I hate you for making my mummy cry." She hissed before running into the kitchen, she saw her mother, slumped on the floor with her head on her knees, sobbing uncontrollably.
"It's okay mummy. I'm here." Rachel tried to fight the tears that threatened to spill as she wrapped her small arms around her mother. "Shhh mummy it's okay."

Rachel shot up from her sleep, it had been so long since she had thought about that day, since she had thought about her father. Maybe the family picture she had found today stirred up the memories? As if knowing what she had dreamed about, her phone began to ring, it was Imogen. Her sister. Imogen knew about everything, she knew their father had begun an affair with Imogen's mother whilst he was still with Rachel's mother. Rachel would never hold it against Imogen. She was innocent in all of this, but they both agreed they'd never speak to their father again.

"Hello?" Rachel answered the phone, trying to hide her tiredness.

"Brian's brother is here. He has something of yours here at the office." Imogen paused. "You're at home sleeping aren't you? What's wrong?"

"How can I be sleeping if I'm talking to you?" Rachel snapped. "I'll be there in ten minutes." Rachel put the phone down and stared at the ceiling. She had felt like this before, to an extent. Everybody has days where they just feel overwhelmed by their emotions so they rest, they take a mental health day and do things that help their mental health. For Rachel, it was usually sleep unless she was dreaming about the past then it was a trigger. Rachel forced herself to climb out of the safe space she had created in her bed, everybody has days like this. Everybody gets overwhelmed. Rachel tried to remind herself that nobody is perfect, everybody has emotions and sometimes they get the better of you and that's perfectly okay. But for her, it didn't feel okay. She hated not being in control of everything and that included her emotions.