What do you mean, you dont want to take his surname? my mother-in-law screeched at the registry office.
Ella had never really fancied getting hitched. But, at nineteen, she found herself unexpectedly expecting, courtesy of a classmate shed been seeing for three years. Options were thin on the ground she couldnt bear the thought of her baby growing up without a dad.
Despite being older than Ella, her boyfriend was about as mature as a toddler with a sweet tooth and clung to his mum like Velcro. To his credit, he didnt run for the hills: he agreed to tie the knot and step up as a father. So, wedding bells it was.
Ella wouldve been perfectly content with a quick ceremony and a cup of tea, but her relatives insisted on an all-singing, all-dancing affair. For the life of her, she couldnt see the point of splashing out ridiculous amounts of pounds on feeding second cousins, when that money could be far better spent on, say, nappies. But no one seemed to care for her opinion. Her mother-in-law and her own sister steamrolled her into everything from restaurant to dress to guest list.
When they marched her off to a dress fitting, Ella had to be practically dragged there. She couldnt shake off the image of a white marshmallow, speckled with rhinestones, looming ahead. Her sister and future mother-in-law werent exactly icons of British style. When she tried objecting, her family branded her ungrateful and worked up quite a lather. But honestly, Ella had bigger fish to fry: looming A-levels, the babys arrival, and all the chaos in between.
She turned up to the registry office in a simple white dress one that didnt swallow her whole and actually suited her. And thats when the real entertainment kicked off.
Neither side of the family knew that Ella had chosen to keep her own surname. Her fiancé was in the loop and couldnt have cared less. But her mother-in-law oh, she went off like a foghorn in a thunderstorm:
What do you mean youre not changing your name?!
Ella just smiled, stepped aside, and decided not to waste a single nerve cell there was still the village wedding tomorrow, surrounded by countless, mostly gossipy, in-laws. Stamina was required. The marriage itself lasted all of a few years. John, as it turned out, was a fairly useless husband and even worse at being a dad. Weekends saw him glued to his computer, family all but invisible. When Ellas patience wore thinner than supermarket loo roll during a cold snap, she packed her bags and left.
Her mother-in-law wasnt best pleased. As for our Ella she let out a huge sigh of relief. At last, she felt free and properly happy.
