The Wedding Planner (Open Novella Contest)

Chapter 10

"So, your dad huh?" Luke sipped his beer, he licked the froth from his top lip, Rachel nodded.

"My dad was having an affair behind my mothers back for years, he even fathered a child to her. We found out just before she announced her pregnancy - my sister and I have a great relationship but I watched the woman who raised me, this strong, independent, kind-hearted woman..." Rachel gulped down a few mouthfuls of her whiskey. "I watched my mother become a shell. She tried to hide her pain from me, but I could see every day she was struggling. I was about 10 and I came home from school with my friend and her mum, we were going to ask my mum if I could go for tea at my friends..." Rachel closed her eyes for a second, bracing herself for what she was about to relive. Luke watched Rachel intently, listening carefully to every word, empathising with every emotion she was showing. Rachel was extraordinary.

"I came home to find my mum on the sofa asleep, I tried to wake her up but I couldn't. My friends' mother pulled me out of the house and made me wait outside for an ambulance to come whilst she went inside. Back then I didn't understand when the paramedics talked about an OD on antidepressants, but as I got older I found out more and more about it all." Rachel drank the half a glass of whiskey in one go, grimacing at the burning sensation within her gullet. "I found out my father had gambled away their life savings, she couldn't afford the house any more, she couldn't even afford to feed herself. She had been pretending to have already eaten before I woke up or before I came home from school. She asked my dad - no - she begged my dad to help her but he told her he had a family to think about. She didn't know what to do so she took her own life. Ever since, I haven't been able to bring myself to love a man, if I'm being honest... I'm afraid to love someone. If love can do that to you, I don't want to risk it." Rachel leaned back in the hardwood chair and sighed. "There, now you know."

"Jesus Christ." Luke ran his hands through his hair. "I understand why you don't want to love someone. Hell, I wouldn't either." he took a mouthful of his beer. "But just remember, not every man is the same, every human being has a different personality, a different outlook on life. Sometimes love just finds you and there is nothing you can do about it." Luke shrugged, Rachel nodded in agreement.

"That's true. I just don't want to be 40, with a child, divorced, my ex-husband living it up with a younger version of me and I'm miserable and nobody else would want me because I'm a miserable divorcee." Rachel grimaced.

"My mum and dad got divorced when I was like 6, my mum is remarried to the most awesome man ever and my dad is married to this woman who is so kind and selfless. Sometimes two people aren't meant for each other and it takes them a while to figure it out." Luke reassured Rachel.

"Maybe, is that what happened to you?" Rachel asked.

"Oh god no, I didn't even get down the aisle." Luke chuckled. "I met Nancy when I was 17 but we didn't start dating until I was 23 - my father offered me and brian a job working at his company after we finished school. Brian said he didn't want anything to do with business and wanted to go to art school so he did, I, on the other hand, loved the idea of it and went with my dad. Fast forward to two years ago, I'm 27, My dads retiring in a couple of months and I'm set to be the CEO of this successful business. Nancy starts nagging me about marriage, saying how we had been together for so long and still I hadn't proposed." Luke leaned back in his chair. "I understood, I wanted to marry her, I wanted to spend the rest of my life with her I just wasn't sure she wanted marriage as she always said she hated the idea of a piece of paper defining a relationship. So I proposed a few weeks later, she said yes and we began to plan the wedding. Fast forward a few months and its the night before my wedding, my best man is at my house having some drinks with me and he goes to the bathroom. His phone won't stop buzzing and beeping so I look over." Luke breathed deeply. "On his screen was a picture message and I could see from the little square on the notifications it was Nancy. So I checked what it said, I knew his password, it was his dogs' name, the guy hadn't changed it since he got the phone. Anyway, I look at the message and my heart falls out of my chest, I see nancy lay on the hotel bed, in a room I was paying for, with some sexy lingerie on saying something along the lines of 'wish you were here sexy.'"

"Seriously? What a bitch." Rachel clasped her hand over her mouth, the words had forced their way out of her mouth. Luke laughed which eased Rachels fears, he nodded before continuing.

"She is, I thought it was weird so I checked his messages from her. There were over 1000 messages they'd sent to each other. She was saying how when she marries me she will take half of everything because I didn't make her sign a prenup, they'd take the money and be together. How she hated the sight of me and couldn't stand being with me. How crap I apparently was in bed, how she couldn't believe I still didn't realise she hated me and so on." luke drank the rest of the pint of larger on the table.

"So what happened next?" Rachel spoke softly, her eyes watched as Lukes' face played through a vast array of emotions.

"I went through with the wedding prep the next day, we got to the church and whilst she was getting ready we were supposed to have a slideshow of our relationship you know, cute pictures and quotes. So whilst the guests sat and waited, I watched her enter the church, smiling as she took a step down the aisle. I told everyone to watch the slideshow intently and I played the film. It was all the pictures she sent my best friend and texts. Nancy was screaming and pleading for me to forgive her. My best man left the wedding in a hurry. Guests gasped, Nancy's mother was furious, her father called her a harlot. My mother threatened to rip the hair extensions from Nancy's head. Honestly, it was a mess." Luke laughed as he recalled the chaos that unfolded that day.

"Oh my god, it sounds like something out of a soap opera." Rachel chuckled as she envisioned the scene, a screaming bride, furious guests and groom with a massive grin on his face. It sounded like the perfect comeuppance for nancy.

"It was, but it didn't stop me wanting to find love, I still do." Luke shrugged. "Do you think you'll ever be open to finding love?"

"I started this night off, defiant that I would ever be open to finding love but if you want my honesty I'll give it to you." Rachel inhaled deeply. "What about if we go on an official date?"