The Morning After the Wedding Before

by Laura Ziepe

  Chapter 27

  Holly

  Kim looked distressed and Holly wondered what the matter was as she followed her through the hotel. It was strange that Emma had done a similar thing the previous night and she felt like everyone suddenly needed to tell her their troubles. They told Fran and Danni to look after Emma, who hadn’t even noticed them leaving.

  ‘How far are we actually going?’ Holly asked, feeling a little tipsy and not wanting to veer too far from the rest of the group. She dreaded to think how Emma must have felt, knowing she had drunk about three times as much as her.

  ‘I don’t know,’ Kim told her solemnly. ‘I just have something to tell you and we need to be alone.’

  They passed a coffee shop that was fairly empty and Holly pointed to it. ‘What about in here? I could do with a coffee to sober up a bit. I feel like today is getting a bit out of control. Aren’t we supposed to be chilling out and relaxing before the big day instead of getting drunk? I don’t know how Emma does it and I’m not really sure this is a good idea. It wasn’t part of the plan, was it? It was just supposed to be a few Proseccos at lunch.’

  Kim bought two Americanos and they sat there for a bit before she started talking.

  ‘There isn’t more to do with Max, is there?’ Holly sighed.

  ‘No, not Max. Don’t worry,’ Kim attempted a smile, but her eyes looked fearful.

  ‘Okay. What is it then?’

  Kim explained how she found the messages from Lily on Andy’s phone and how she had a bad feeling in her gut about them. They were inappropriate and she was gutted that Andy was being so flirtatious with a woman he worked with. Then there was the Instagram likes and comment. She was concerned he was having an affair, and rightly so judging by the type of messages. Holly couldn’t deny she was stunned. She never had Andy down as the type to look elsewhere. She’d always seen Kim and Andy’s marriage as rock-solid. The last couple she would envisage splitting up. Andy was friendly and likeable, and Holly simply couldn’t imagine him as being capable of betrayal. Not to Kim.

  ‘Why have you kept this all to yourself?’ Holly wondered in puzzlement. Holly was her best friend; they usually told each other everything.

  ‘Ashamed, I guess. You’ve always thought that Andy and I were so strong as a couple.’ Kim shrugged her shoulder with a pained expression.

  ‘Why did you not ask Andy straight away about them? For all you know it could be absolutely nothing. I mean I know the messages are overfriendly, but you’re probably assuming the worst.’

  ‘I know it’s odd that I didn’t ask him about the texts, but I was too afraid of what he might say. I don’t want to lose him, and if he has been unfaithful, I can’t stay with him, Holly. I would never trust him again. I’m terrified.’

  ‘I do get what you’re saying, but if it were me, I wouldn’t have been able to hold it back. I would have confronted him right there and then,’ Holly told her. ‘I just can’t imagine him ever doing anything behind your back. He absolutely adores you and everyone knows how happy you two are.’

  Kim’s voice was laced with melancholy. ‘That’s the thing,’ she fiddled with her wedding ring, twisting it round her finger. ‘I’m not so sure Andy is happy, Holly. When I accidently fell pregnant with Mylo, I felt so guilty that I’d scuppered all the travelling plans we’d so been looking forward to. Andy wasn’t ready. He wanted a bigger place and to save money before we had children. So I always wanted to make his life easy when the children were born. I didn’t want him to feel that having kids earlier than planned had been a mistake, but by being the one in control of the children, I feel like I’ve kind of forgotten about Andy,’ she confessed plaintively, before telling Holly of Andy’s remarks about being left out. ‘Mylo being premature and in hospital for a month was the scariest time in my life. When I saw his tiny little body, I vowed I would protect him forever. But I think I may have gone overboard. I’ve never even given Andy a chance to get involved with our children like he should have, and I’ve always made the children my priority. I never want to go out at home when he asks, our love life is pretty much non-existent, which has been down to me never being in the mood and I realize that I’ve changed so much I hardly even recognize myself.’

  Holly couldn’t deny that Kim had really transformed as a person. She had also noticed that Kim struggled to let go where the children were concerned. She liked to be in control of them, and Holly had always put it down to Mylo being premature and the anguish she went through. Could you be too overprotective of your children? She knew Kim never let Andy deal with the children by himself, but not to the extent that Kim was now describing. She didn’t realize that having children had actually created a barrier between them . She imagined it must have been quite tough for Andy, being made to feel inferior and useless.

  It was a good thing that Kim recognized her issues because she and Andy could work through them together, and it certainly wasn’t acceptable to be messaging a colleague so flirtatiously. What on earth was Andy thinking? If he felt they were having some kind of trouble, the first thing he should have done was spoken to Kim about it, not looked elsewhere for attention. They needed to communicate and resolve their issues. They had to make their relationship work. Kim and Andy were made for each other; they’d just come across a little bump in the road.

  ‘I need to speak to Andy,’ Kim said faintly. ‘I need to see what’s going on. I wanted to escape it all by coming here, but it’s the only thing I’ve been able to think about. I’m petrified that I’ve pushed him away and it’s all my fault. I’m also worried I’m not going to be able to forget about these messages either. I’m so angry with him.’

  Holly squeezed Kim’s hand. ‘I’m sure you’ll be able to sort it, Kim. There’s never an excuse for being unfaithful either, despite what it’s been like between you. Andy should have spoken to you about it.’

  ‘I feel like he’s tried though and I’ve not been listening.’ Kim put her face in her hands, then looked up. ‘Sorry for not telling you all this sooner. I should never have kept it all to myself, I see that now. I feel so much better for telling you about it.’

  ‘It doesn’t matter. I understand.’

  ‘Thanks so much for listening, Holly. Right, let’s get back to the others,’ Kim said, standing up.

  Holly nodded, standing beside her. ‘I’m not drinking anything else. I feel much better after that coffee. I think we should get Emma back to her hotel room too; she needs looking after.’

  As the girls arrived back at the bar, there was no sign of any of them so they tried calling Emma, Fran and Danni on their mobiles.

  ‘There’s no answer,’ Holly said in puzzlement, after calling Emma yet again. ‘I don’t have any of the other girl’s numbers, do you?’

  Kim shook her head. ‘Maybe they’ve gone back already?’

  ‘Yes maybe,’ Holly said, yawning loudly. ‘Let’s go back ourselves. I’m so tired and we have a big day tomorrow. I’ll text Emma to let her know.’

  But as the girls started walking towards the taxi rank, Holly spotted Danni and Fran and a few others walking along.

  ‘Where’s Emma?’ Kim called out.

  They both shrugged. ‘We took her back to her room to sleep it off. See you tomorrow,’ Danni called out aimlessly.

  ‘Oh God,’ Holly grumbled, ‘shall we check on her? I wish we hadn’t let her out of our sight.’

  Kim agreed and they made their way to her hotel room, continuing to call and text her. They banged on the door when they arrived, but there was silence.

  ‘Shall we go to reception and explain what’s happened so someone can open the door so we can see she’s actually okay in there?’ Kim suggested.

  Holly thought it was a good idea, and five minutes later after speaking to someone and going back up in the lift, they had a member of hotel staff following them to Emma’s room.

  ‘Maybe she’s asleep?’ Holly said hopefully. ‘As soon as we see she’s okay, we’ll go straight to bed.’
>
  But as the door creaked open, Holly’s heart sank. Emma’s room was empty..

  Emma was missing.

  Chapter 28

  Emma

  Emma’s eyes peeled open and then shut again. The room was dark, but there was a crack in the curtains letting in a glimmer of light. Her heart was thumping in her chest as she gazed round the room. Where on earth was she? Her mouth felt as though it was filled with cotton balls. He head was throbbing and she had a terrible feeling in the pit of her stomach. Something was wrong. Very wrong.

  Emma sat up in the unfamiliar bed and looked at the figure lying in the bed next to hers. At least he wasn’t in the same one and she was pleased she was still fully clothed, wearing the skirt and top from the previous day. Who was it? She couldn’t tell from the back of his head, but she was sure from the height it was a man. Then something else dawned on her suddenly. Today was her wedding day! How had this happened? She exhaled when she noticed the time on the clock by the television read 05:01. At least she hadn’t overslept or anything like that, but she needed to get out of there. She could tell it wasn’t Charlie lying in the bed next to her because his hair was too dark.

  There was a bottle of water by the side of her bed and Emma took several gulps greedily. She was gasping, and she wiped her chin as some of the water trickled down from her mouth. She couldn’t remember a single thing about what happened. She felt pleased to see her bag lying on the floor; at least she hadn’t lost it. She picked up her bag and slipped her phone out, unable to believe how many missed calls and messages she had from her friends. Thankfully, there was nothing from Charlie, and Emma just hoped she would be able to creep out of the room she’d ended up in and no-one would be any the wiser. Not being able to recall what you did and how you got home was actually quite frightening, Emma realized, feeling foolish. She was about to carefully get out of bed without making a noise when she noticed something in the room that immediately made her feel more at ease. A blue pair of swimming shorts and flip flops, which she knew belonged to Frankie. She breathed out slowly, thankful he’d looked after her. Her eyes focused on a few other things she knew belonged to him too: a dark purple suitcase and a black cap with NYC written in white letters. Thank goodness.

  Emma took another few gulps of water, knowing there was far too much on her mind to be able to fall back asleep. That was it now, she was up for the day. She knew it was selfish, but she wished that Frankie would wake up so she could ask him what had happened. She felt humiliated that she’d blacked out, but it was hardly surprising given the amount of alcohol she had consumed. What was she thinking? She had so much to do today! Her head was pounding and she desperately needed a paracetamol. Perhaps she hadn’t got away with this particular hangover. Her eyes roamed the dark room, trying to focus on somewhere where Frankie may have put some painkillers.

  Feeling more confident now she knew it was Frankie’s room, she pulled the curtain open a little more, checking that her watch read the same time as the clock by the television, in case that one was wrong. That was when she saw it, and her heart was in her mouth.

  There was a ring on top of her engagement ring on her wedding finger. Where had that come from? She was puzzled and suddenly felt sweaty and faint, falling back on the bed and holding her hand up, wishing she were imagining it. She’d never seen the ring before and to be honest, it looked cheap. Tacky. A garish fake diamond on a silver band she was certain would make her finger turn green. It certainly wasn’t the one that Charlie was going to be placing on her finger that day, so where had it come from?

  Telling herself it was probably a joke one, and maybe from a game with her friends or something the night before, Emma tried to relax, taking deep breaths. There had to be a reasonable explanation for this and she was going to laugh about it one day.

  Do you remember when I woke up on the day of my wedding in Frankie’s room not knowing where I was and panicking over the fake ring?

  They would all laugh. It was be the joke of the year. Something they would tell their children when they were old enough.

  If only she could recall what had happened. But Emma had a really awful, fearful feeling. She rubbed the ring, turning it round and round with her thumb, when a flashback popped into her head.

  A trip in a taxi.

  Giving over her marriage licence.

  A vicar, standing in front of her.

  A little wedding chapel.

  A cork popping.

  Frankie.

  She got married.

  Emma felt sick, jumping out of bed and dashing to the toilet. She’d already got married, she realized, and as she rushed past Frankie, she knew then that she was actually looking at her new husband. Emma had got so paralytic she had married Frankie, her fiance’s cousin! It was a joke. A complete nightmare. Frankie was usually the one who rescued her, and Emma guessed he must have been in a complete state to have gone through with it. When had they met up? More importantly, why hadn’t anyone stopped them? Emma began to panic, the room spinning round, wondering how on earth she was going to face the day, before spewing up in the toilet.

  This had to be the worst wedding day ever.

  Splashing her face with ice-cold water, she told herself to calm down. The last thing she wanted was to have another panic attack all alone in the bathroom; the previous one had been petrifying. She realized at that moment that she wouldn’t actually be alone. Frankie was only just outside the bathroom door. He would hear her if she called out and she knew he would be up and by her side in an instant. Her husband. The thought made her almost laugh if it hadn’t been so tragic. How were they going to explain this to Charlie? She couldn’t even begin to imagine how furious he was going to be. It sent a chill down her spine, just thinking of it. She stared at herself in the mirror, racking her brains as to what she needed to do to fix this. Perhaps she could get the marriage annulled? She had no idea if that was even possible, and slowly walked back to her bed to Google it on her phone. When she pulled out the phone, she noticed a folded piece of paper in her bag with the title, Marriage Certificate, only confirming what she’d done. The rest of the document was blurry so she couldn’t see anything about being able to take it all back. She was pathetically hoping there was a line on it reading:

  If you were drunk and this was all a big mistake, please come back and we’ll cancel it for you.

  She highly doubted it was going to be that easy though, and as she searched on her phone to see if there was a simple solution, she discovered there was no way this was going to be sorted on time for her wedding in less than eight hours. It was like something from a film. The thought of getting married drunk in Vegas was so ridiculous; none of it felt real.

  She’d have to beg for forgiveness from Charlie. What if he turned his back on her, seeing it as unforgiveable, even if she hadn’t known what she was doing at the time? Would she have forgiven him if it had been the other way round? She would have been fuming; she would have cancelled the wedding as soon as the words had left his mouth. She pondered this for a moment and a thought occurred to her. Maybe, rather than this being the worst thing in the world, it was actually going to save her? This was going to be the excuse as to why she couldn’t go through with it. So, she had married Frankie. The truth was, something actually felt right about that. Emma turned her head to look at him. As she gazed at his gentle features, relaxed in sleep, and his long lashes, she realized at that moment she would actually be happy if she were with him. If she were marrying him that morning, she didn’t think she’d have any doubts about it. Frankie treated her like a queen; he was sweet and genuine. He always considered her feelings and looked out for her when Charlie didn’t. Why had she not known she felt this way before? Or had she always subconsciously felt something, never daring to confess it and just suppressing her feelings ever since she’d met him?

  It was wrong to care about her fiancé’s cousin as more than a friend. She had her suspicions that he felt the same about her too; the way Frankie looked
at her, cared for her and treated her was different to how he was with any other girl, even his previous girlfriends. But Emma had been with Charlie, and she was a loyal person, or so she had always thought. Of course, she didn’t want to hurt Charlie, but a part of her felt braver with Frankie now by her side. She was done caring about Charlie and what he thought. She was through with dancing to his tune. He didn’t deserve another chance, and in her heart of hearts she was fully aware that he was never going to change. Not as long as he was with her. He was so used to being the one in control. Always in the driver’s seat, able to treat her however he felt each day, because he knew she would just take it. She would always beg for his forgiveness. Well, not this time. Being with Frankie, being his wife, made her feel all the more powerful and strong, even if it had all happened on a drunken whim. It was obvious they had feelings for each other; didn’t the truth always come out when you were intoxicated? This time it certainly had.

  Frankie was so kind, he’d even slept in the bed adjacent, rather than in hers, probably so she didn’t feel uncomfortable this morning. She wondered if they’d kissed. If only she could recall the first time his lips had touched hers, but the memory was lost. Gone, with all the other things that had happened the previous evening.

  There was so much to do. So much to cancel. So many people to let down and Emma just wished she could close her eyes, go back to sleep and wake up on a gorgeous desert island on her honeymoon, just her and Frankie. Thinking about it, she had never felt so content in her life. This was who she should have been with all along; if only she had met Frankie first. She felt like laughing out loud about what they’d done. It wasn’t funny in the slightest, but it was so carefree and for once, Emma had done exactly what she obviously wanted. It was so Vegas.