June 10th
I stepped out of the gym and noticed seven missed calls from Mum on my phone. It was nearly eleven, but I rang her back anyway. Mums a worrier; shell stay up all night over the tiniest thing. She was clearly upset when she answered, begging me to come round. She was sobbing, saying something terrible had happened, and that the wedding might be off.
My sister Abigail is only twenty-threea talented, up-and-coming designer. She finished university last year and landed a job straight away. Abigails always been the golden girl, working hard, studying design, and quickly making a name for herself at the firm she interned with. Her personal life was pretty enviable as well, or so I thought until tonight.
Shes been seeing Oliver for just over a year. Hes three years her senior, lives independently, has a solid job, and is saving up to buy a flat. Mum likes himhes polite, well-spoken, just the sort she always hoped for her daughter. Abigail and Oliver filed their wedding paperwork at the registry office, and now the big day was only a couple of weeks away.
Then the trouble began. Someone messaged Abigail on Facebook, I explained to Mum. Weve never met, but I know your fiancé wellyou should find out more before the wedding Abigail checked the ladys profile and saw she was in her forties. Neither of us could quite figure out what she wanted.
This stranger wouldnt let up, messaging Abigail from different accounts until they finally agreed to meet at a coffee shop near Abigails office. Mum was furious and slapped Abigail, warning her never to go to these sorts of meetings. But Abigail ignored her and waited for the mystery lady at the café.
A pregnant woman came in. Abigail didnt realise at first, but then the woman headed straight for her. Are you Abigail? she asked, as if they were mates. Im Emma, and Ive been seeing Oliver for over a year. Im expecting his son in four months.
Naturally, Abigail thought it was all rubbish. She and Oliver had been dating for a year and were planning their wedding! Emma didnt argue; she just gave Abigail her phone number, saying she could ring any time, and added that she should talk things through with Oliver.
So what did Oliver have to say? Thats when it all became clear. Abigail explained she wanted to wait until married for anything beyond kissing and cuddlingshed always believed in those old-fashioned values. Raised by Mum and taught by books, Abigail was bright, top of her class, but inexperienced in romance. I was gobsmackedits hard to believe in this day and age! But there it was.
Oliver, meanwhile, was a patient young manat least, up to a point. He sought out Emma for a casual relationship to satisfy his physical needs. He told her from the outset that it wasnt serious and that he had no intention of being with her long-term. At first, Emma accepted it; shed just separated from her husband, had a child, collected good child support, and worked full-time. She knew there was a big age gap.
Oliver said when Emmas baby arrived, hed take a DNA test, and if the child was his, hed offer support. He told Abigail it was her own fault for sticking to her medieval values. No one expected Emma to go public like this. Now shes decided to raise the baby herself; Oliver offered to pay for an abortion, but she refused and said shed manage on her own.
Olivers asking Abigail not to break things off, insisting he loves her and that Emma was simply a way to satisfy his urgesif Abigail had been cleverer, there wouldnt have been an Emma at all. He said hed help financially if it was his child but planned no relationship with the baby.
This whole situation made me wonderwas Oliver in the wrong, or was it simply his masculinity getting the better of him? Is lack of intimacy a valid excuse for cheating? Or should Abigail leave him, since theres no justification for betrayal? Tonight, I learnt that modern relationships are always more complicated than they seemand that old-fashioned values can still surprise us, sometimes not in the ways we expect.
