I remember coming out of the gym one evening and noticing I had seven missed calls from Mum, Amanda recalled. It was nearly eleven oclock and Id just seen her text, Call me back! Even though it was late, I dialled Mums numbershes a worrier and can stay awake fretting over the smallest things. When I got in, she asked me to sit down and with tears in her eyes, she said something had happened and the wedding might be called off.
My sister, Emily, was only twenty-three at the timean ambitious and talented designer. Shed graduated about a year beforehand and quickly landed a position with the company where shed interned. Emily had worked part-time while studying and was hired almost immediately after finishing her course. Her personal life had been viewed as exemplary, at least up until that day.
Emily had been seeing William for just over a year. He was three years older, lived alone, worked hard, and was saving up to buy his own house. He seemed kind and well-mannered.
Emily and William had set their wedding date at the registry office. The big day was just a few weeks away.
Amanda reminisced, Someone messaged Emily on social media! The note said, We dont know each other, but I know you well and thought you ought to know something before your wedding Emily checked the senders profilean older woman, roughly forty, and wondered what important information could possibly be there.
However, the stranger persevered, messaging from different accounts. Eventually, they arranged to meet at a café near Emilys office. Emily was waiting at a table when, unexpectedly, a pregnant lady walked in. At first she didnt think much of it, but was startled as the woman made her way directly over.
Are you Emily? My names Ellen, the woman said. Ive been seeing William for more than a year, and in four months, Im expecting a little boy.
Of course Emily couldnt believe what she was hearing. It sounded absurdsurely it wasnt possible! She and William had been together for over a year and were soon to be married. Ellen didnt try to argueshe simply gave Emily her phone number and said Emily could call at any time with questions. She also suggested Emily speak to her fiancé.
So what did William have to say? Thats when everything unravelled. Emily had decided she and William would wait for marriage before becoming intimate. They would go on walks, hold hands, and share kisses, but that was allEmily was inexperienced.
William, conversely, was a young man with more experience. Hed been patientthough, in truth, impatientand began seeing Ellen for companionship without commitment. He told her openly there could be nothing lasting between them, and Ellen, just out of a marriage herself, agreed. She was self-sufficient, had a child already and received good child support, and worked regularly. The arrangement suited her, as she acknowledged their age gap.
William said that when Ellens baby arrived, hed take a paternity test, and if the child was his, hed help financially. He told Emily it was, in fact, her fault: he was a healthy young man, and her old-fashioned ideals had led to this situation.
William now pleaded with Emily not to leave him, insisting he loved her, that Ellen was merely someone he turned to for physical needs. Had Emily been less naïve, Ellen wouldnt have entered his life.
Should the child be his, William agreed to provide support, but would not maintain any relationship with Ellen. She decided to keep the baby despite Williams offer to pay for certain proceduresshe refused. Now, the matter rests with her.
So, what do you thinkis William to blame for what happened? Was he simply acting out of youthful impulse, unable to resist temptation? Or should Emily run from such a fiancé, since lack of intimacy is hardly an excuse for unfaithfulness?
