PECK PENALTY

#19 The Wedding

POV Anna

"You look handsome," I say to Joe as I enter his hotel room and see him pulling over his suit coat. He looks at me. "You look okay, too," he says before turning to pick up his tie.

I glare at him. I know I look better than okay. It took me hours to get ready for the wedding. After he knots his tie he calls me over and shows me his cuffs. "Help me button them." I manage to push the buttons through the slits that are way too small for them. After I'm done, he raises my chin and starts kissing me. I was going to ask him to stop so he wouldn't ruin my hair and makeup, but then, what the heck, this is more important.

He pushes me against the wall and starts to fondle with my breasts when the unlocked door opens and his father comes in. I quickly push him away. "Dad, come on!" Joe says. "Oh, I'm sorry, guys," his dad says.

"I, uh, I've to go see your sister," I say to Joe and quickly leave the room embarrassed.

Soon I find the bride's room. It's the one with a wreath on the door. I stand frozen when I see who Ruth is talking to. Ruth notices me. "Anna! You look great!" she says. She's having her hair done now. I give her a small smile. The woman she was talking to leaves the room after saying to her, "I'll go see Charlie now."

"Who was that?" I ask Ruth after the woman had left. "She's Penny, Charlie's assistant."

Ruth asks me to help her with something but I'm out of her room to follow Penny.

I see Penny get in the groom's room. Through the open door I peak in. There are others in the room. She gives Charlie a hug and moves away. For everyone else it would seem like a cordial hug between colleagues, but I saw the way her fingers slid over his hand when she pulled away.

I start to panic. I walk away and begin to pace. I make a group call to Marge and Lizzie and tell them what I saw. They sound hesitant at first, but then firmly tell me what to do — the same thing I already knew I should do.

Trembling from thinking about the consequences of what I'm about to do, I go back into Ruth's room. I quietly say to her, "Ruth, I need to talk to you alone. It's urgent."

She looks at my face. Then she says to the room, "Everyone, can you give us a second? This won't be long."

After they leave, Ruth asks me, "What's the matter?"

"I saw Charlie at a mall one day, with a woman. He— They were kissing. I saw the woman here again now. She's penny, his assistant."

Ruth looks at me like a woman whose whole world is crumbling down right in front of her eyes and she can't do anything but watch it horrified. "No. No. It was not Charlie. He would never."

I don't say anything and look down. "No!" she shouts, gets up and starts to shake me. "You must've mistaken. Tell me you were mistaken!"

I look at her. "I'm sorry," I whisper. Her eyes go wide and she starts to breathe rapidly, clutching her chest. She slides down to the floor. I start to worry. I call Joe and ask him to come.

Joe comes in, sees her sister's condition and runs in and holds her up. "What happened?" he asks. Ruth starts to weep into Joe's arms like a child. Seeing her cry like this, tears start flowing down from my eyes too.

"What happened, Anna?" Joe asks me. I tell him.

"That bastard," Joe says in anger and leaves his sister. I call after him but he's gone. I help Ruth up onto the bed. I don't know what Joe is going to do. I don't know what Ruth is going to do. All I know is there won't be a wedding today.

After all the commotion had died, we send away a still shaken Ruth to home with her mother, while Joe and his dad stay back to deal with the aftermath.

I go to Joe to say I'm leaving. He says, "Wait, let me grab my jacket."

"No. I'll take a cab."

"No. I'm dropping you. Give me second."

He returns with his jacket and we walk to his car in silence. We stop halfway. He says, "You said you saw him with his assistant."

I nod.

"Where?"

"In a mall," I say. He looks confused. "When?" he asks. "Not long after I first met him," I reply.

"So it was sometime after the dinner party?"

I nod.

"So you knew he was my sister's fiancé when you saw him with another woman?" he asks, his voice sounding angry.

I swallow. "I know how it lo—"

"You saw Ruth's fiancé cheating on her and you didn't say anything to me! Why?"

"I'm sorry. I just, I just..." I trail away not knowing what to say. I know why I didn't tell him at the time but I don't want to say it.

So he says it for me. "You didn't care, did you? You didn't bother yourself with it because she was only my sister. Why should that matter to you, right? Then why did you tell her today? Of all days, why you waited till her wedding day to tell her that the man she was about to get married fucking cheated on her! Is this some kind of sick jealousy from having cheated on by your own boyfriend?! Is that why you wanted to ruin my sister's wedding?" he says.

"No. No. No, Joe. Please. I saw that girl he was with today. I realized he's still cheating on Ruth, that's why—"

"You know what? Don't. I can't believe anything that comes out of your mouth anymore. You were right, you should take a cab," he says and leaves me. I start crying.