Left at the Alter

 

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The affair began the day my marriage should have.

When I first peeled open my eyes and looked around that morning everything appeared normal. In the bed to the left of me was Torre, my best friend and wedding planner extraordinaire. It was 7am and she was propped up against the headboard, the fluffy comforter pulled up underneath her breast, on her laptop handling business. I smirked, expecting nothing less of her. 

My beautiful wedding gown was hanging in the corner in all of its glory, protected from the debris of humanity by a thin piece of plastic. My father insisted I get Cassidy Jones stitched on the inside like I was going to forget it was my dress. It was thee dress. I only tried on four, and the last three were just to make sure that the silky off-white gown with the low dipping back was really what I wanted before my father spent his $1200 on it. It was a steal. All of the makeup that Torre said would look great in the photos was laid out neatly on the vanity in front of us. Next to it was an AKA pin I had acquired along the way, my something old. I had long diamonds that would rest on my collarbone, my something new. Anna, my soon to be sister in law, would be arriving in the next hour with my something borrowed and something blue. Everything was set to be perfect. 

I had to remind myself that I had made the right decision, that my doubts were classic cold feet syndrome. My present was bright, my future will be brighter and the man who I am going to make my husband in just a few hours loves me beyond belief and I actually love him back. This is as close as it gets. 

Torre smiled at me while she spoke on the phone. I smiled back thinking of how grateful I was to have her as a friend. I wanted her to be my maid of honor, but she is legit the best wedding planner I know and as a gift she offered to do the entire wedding for free. She and I both knew Grayson Jones wasn’t going to allow her to walk away without compensation of some sort, but the offer was deeply appreciated. 

I jumped when someone knocked on the door. 

“Housekeeping, I just have a package for you that was left at the front desk.”

“You can leave it by the door, and I will come get it.”

Torre laughed as she got up to retrieve it. She cracked the door to look out and the manila envelope, which was once propped against the door, slid to the floor. 

“Marriage certificate, maybe?” She laid across her bed and tossed the envelope over to mine. She was back to work before I could work the tape off.

“I brought that with me.” I said, carefully peeling the tape off of the envelope’s closure. Someone wanted to make sure that this envelope wasn’t opened until it was in my hands. 

I gasped as I pulled out a small stack of photos. Most were off guards and there were more than a few that captured my head in the air, my face full of joy and laughter. They were from the night that they installed my sculpture. My eyes watered as I admired the art in the photos. He had captured me beautifully. A lot of the photos from that night were black and white. There were a few that caught me gazing, proudly, as my sculpture was erected into the sky. I began to tear up as the next set were from the actual unveiling. Some of these photos I had seen already. Eli’s sister brought me a photo album that her and her boyfriend had made. The very last photo caught my attention the most. I was sitting on the hood of the car and you can just vaguely see the honored look on my face. Anna’s boyfriend who captured the photos was in this picture, but it was hard to tell if he had just finished taking a photo or if he was studying to snap another. I watched his gaze and studied his emotion. 

“Chile, he looking at you like you looking at your sculpture.”

“Yea.” I breathed.