There Wont Be a Wedding
“Why are you so quiet today?” asked Emily. “We agreed, remember? This Saturday, were supposed to go look at bedroom furniture. But you seem out of sorts. Whats the matter?”
Michael knew it was now or never. Better to say it now.
“Em… Theres something I have to tell you. About the wedding.”
Emily had been waiting for this conversation. The two of them had talked before theyd keep the celebration modest. Still, she could see Michael wanted to give her a proper English wedding: big guest list, a photographer, maybe even a wedding planner. Shed hoped this would be the day.
“Just say it straight, Michael. I think I know what youre going to say,” she smiled.
But Michael said, “Lets put it off… Lets postpone the wedding for a while.”
That was not the conversation shed prepared for.
“Postpone it?” she stared at him, stunned. “Out of nowhere? Why? We just picked out the invitations. You chose them yourself… We decided who to invite! Have you changed your mind about marrying me?”
She waited for a scene worthy of a soap opera for him to say his feelings had faded.
But Michael didnt follow the script.
“Its just that money is a bit tight at the moment,” he mumbled. “My wages have been delayed at work. We cant seem to save up. And… well, weve only lived together for half a year. Isnt it a bit soon?”
“Soon?” Emily spluttered. “Michael, weve been together for three years! Three years courting, six months under the same roof and you think its too soon?”
Michael suddenly didnt look quite so worried.
“Emily, please dont start. I dont want a row. Its just… a pause. I still want to marry you, but weddings cost a fortune.”
“Fine… Then lets just sign the register together, and celebrate with friends after,” Emily suggested.
“But then it wont be a real wedding, will it?”
“Let it go, then!”
“But you always dreamed”
“Ill manage!”
His excuses were growing stranger by the minute.
“Emily…”
“Just be honest. Has something happened? Are you not sure you love me? Or is there someone else? Because the wedding is too expensive doesnt sound convincing.”
Michael shook his head. “No, Emily, I swear. I just want everything to be perfect, you see? And right now I cant give you a perfect day. And yes, its only been half a year. Were still getting used to one another… Still need to see if we truly fit…”
His logic made sense but Emilys instincts screamed otherwise. It was rare for Michael to bend over backwards to convince her of something. Hed been the one, after all, eager for them to marry quickly.
But she acted as though she believed him.
After that conversation, Michael became not just a good boyfriend, but the ideal one. He lavished attention on every little thing hed ignored before, as if trying to atone for calling off the wedding. At the shops, he always asked what she fancied, he did all the washing up himself but he walked about mulish, gloomy. He wasnt just thoughtful; he sighed at night, staring upwards, brushing aside Emilys questions with, “Oh, just tired, thats all.”
Emily tried not to press him. “Not now, later, later,” her inner voice whispered.
A fortnight passed, and Michaels parents invited them around. Emily resisted for ages. She didnt want to go, not with the wedding now a forbidden subject and Michaels parents sure to bring it up.
But they had to make the visit.
Naturally, weddings came up.
“So, when will you finally put a smile on our faces?” Michaels mother asked, once his father disappeared to watch the football. “Weve found the perfect place for the reception. A table for twenty what day should I book it for?”
Both Michael and Emily pulled faces as sour as last years apples. Book what? Thered be nothing to book.
“Mum, we said weve put it off,” he croaked.
“Put it off? Whys that? Short on money, is it? Michael, you ought to have thought about this sooner, as a man!”
After supper, with the men poking around in the garage for parts to fix a radio that hadnt worked in years, Emily slipped off to the bathroom to freshen up.
Everything was spotless, not a speck of dust. Only shower gel and shampoo on the shelf; Michaels mother kept her creams in her bedroom, carrying them to and fro every time. Emily always wondered how she found the patience.
She wiped her face, then caught voices through the wall. These house walls carried secrets almost too well. Michael had gone back to the kitchen and Emily heard every word.
“Michael, youre not leaving Emily, are you?”
Her hands froze, towel in midair. What? She wasnt imagining things. She pressed her ear to the cool tiles as quietly as she could.
“Mum, I told you weve postponed. Not split up.”
“Postponed, thats just an excuse!” his mother hissed. “I see how youre suffering. Why keep her? Shell never make a real wife. A wife should respect her husband, and she well, why marry at all if youll end up divorced in a year?”
“I love her, Mum,” said Michael.
Emily felt a flicker of tenderness but Michaels mothers next words wiped all that away.
“You say you love her? Shes a sly girl, Michael, I warned you! Shes not even become your wife and already shes turning you against us. You dont help your sister anymore, you dont visit us in the country… Shes changing you, and not for the better.”
Emily pressed herself to the wall, the cold tiles biting. Turning him against family? When had she ever? Shed always been as polite as she could, even when Mr. Pearson tore into her new haircut. Shed bitten back the hurt in silence.
She couldnt recall a single moment shed set Michael against his family. If anything, shed encouraged him to keep in touch she knew how much they meant to him.
Suddenly, it all clicked: postponing the wedding was nothing to do with money. His mother, well-practiced at polite lies, simply didnt want their wedding at all.
Emily hurried to join them.
“Ah, Emilys back! We were just saying theres no sense in putting off the marriage. I know youre both young, but I dont approve of living together, dont you know.”
How kind of her.
“Of course, Mrs. Pearson,” said Emily. “We wont delay for long. Once weve saved a bit straight to the registry office. Isnt that right, Michael?”
“Yes, Em. As good as married already,” he agreed.
That night, on the drive home, Michael tried to put his arm around her, but Emily pulled away. She had no idea how to bring it up; whether to even ask. If Michael hadnt left her because of his family, then surely he must love her… Yet hed still called off the wedding.
“You acted strange when your mother started talking,” she said, watching the lights of the riverside vanish into the distance.
“Me? Oh, shes just keen for us to tie the knot, and”
“Dont lie. She doesnt want us to marry at all. She told you I turned you against her. She wants us to split up,” Emily said.
Michaels hands tightened on the wheel.
“So, you overheard? Em, Mums just afraid her boy will forget her if he marries. Happens all the time. Dont take it to heart, shell calm down soon.”
Emily wasnt troubled by his mothers words, by a woman unwilling to let her son go. It was Michaels own silence that hurt. He hadnt defended her hadnt even argued, only accepted it for the sake of peace.
The wedding question hung there, unresolved. Michael walked about with a face like week-old lemons, and now, whenever Emily hinted at future plans, he just said, “Perhaps, later…”
Then, one afternoon, Michael left his phone unlocked. “Just checking the time,” Emily told herself. “Not reading messages, just… a glance.”
A notification from his sister Jessica flashed on the screen. Jessica was only two years younger than Emily but acted like she was twelve. No job, no university, living off her parents.
The message couldnt be misread:
“So thats it, I wont see any money. Shes got you under her thumb again. Go on, live with her if some girl means more to you than family.”
Emily reread it. “Under her thumb.” That brought up a recent memory…
Even before the wedding was called off, when Jessica had rung Michael (again) begging for cash, Emily couldnt help herself and said, “Michael, shes twenty-seven, still living at home and asking you for money to go out. Maybe she should find a job of her own? Our budgets not endless.”
Shed never intended to interfere, but it was as much her money as Michaels she earned just as much, and hadnt signed up to bankroll his family. Michael had reluctantly agreed then. “Yes, youre right, Em. Its time.”
No wonder someone was turning the family against her.
Emily took Michaels phone, opened Jessicas chat, copied the message and sent it to herself just in case she ever needed proof. Then she put the phone back exactly where it had been.
Michael came in, brushing bits of slush from his overcoat.
“Got bread, and your favourite chocolate with hazelnuts. Thought maybe we could”
“Michael,” Emily interrupted.
“Who else would it be, huh?” he teased.
But she didnt play along.
“What exactly does Jessica mean, under her thumb?” she asked.
Michael remembered the old tactic: best defence is offence. He bristled.
“So youre snooping round my phone when Im out?”
Classic attempt to shift the blame.
“It doesnt matter what I did, Michael. I want your explanation. Now.”
He stood there, face twisting from anger to anxiety.
“Look, Emily, dont give it a second thought. Shes young takes offence at anything.”
“Offence at what? That I asked her to grow up?” Emily pressed.
“Shes just used to being able to ask her brother for help. Hard habit to break. Shell get over it, dont worry so much.”
“Has she turned your parents against me too?”
“Well… yes,” Michael admitted. “I tried to explain, but Mum just said, Emilys got you wrapped around her little finger, youve deserted your family for her! But thats not what I think…”
“But you called off the wedding… Fine. Your familys against me. I get it. I cant be around them. But what about you? Do you want to marry me or are you just putting it off because youre scared to tell your mum no?”
“Of course I want to marry you! But I cant, not right now… Maybe, later… when things settle down…”
So there was her answer.
“You know, Michael, Ive realised something… I dont want to marry someone who isnt sure of his feelings, who flinches every time his sister sneezes. Its lucky the weddings off, really.”
