Chapter 4 - WHAT ELLEN FINALLY TOLD ME
That evening, Ellen sat beside me on the back porch.
For nearly an hour, neither of us discussed Michael.
Then she said, “Cassandra had been insulting me all day.”
I turned.
“Why?”
“My dress.”
I remembered the dress.
Simple blue silk.
Ellen looked beautiful in it.
She had deliberately chosen something understated because Cassandra wanted the bridal party to stand out.
“What was wrong with it?”
“Nothing.”
Ellen gave a sad smile.
“That was the problem.”
I frowned.
“Cassandra wanted me to buy the designer gown she picked.”
“How much?”
“Almost eight thousand dollars.”
I stared at her.
“You never told me.”
“I thought it was ridiculous.”
“It was.”
“So I bought the blue dress.”
Cassandra apparently complained from the moment Ellen arrived.
She told the photographer to put Ellen near the edge of the family photographs.
Then she asked the photographer whether Ellen could be digitally “cleaned up.”
My hands tightened.
“What does that even mean?”
“She thought the dress looked too plain.”
Ellen stared toward the yard.
“She said the wedding was luxury, and I looked like I was attending a church luncheon.”
I felt my anger rising again.
“What did Michael say?”
“Nothing.”
“Nothing?”
“He told me Cassandra was stressed.”
Of course.
During the reception, Ellen went looking for Michael because she wanted to give him a small box.
Inside was his grandfather’s watch.
A family heirloom.
She had planned to surprise him.
Instead, she found Michael and Cassandra arguing in the bridal corridor.
Cassandra saw Ellen.
Then turned her anger toward her.
“She said I had embarrassed her in every photograph.”
Ellen’s voice trembled.
“I told her I was sorry she felt that way.”
I closed my eyes.
Even then, Ellen apologized.
“She said I should leave before the formal family portraits.”
“What did you say?”
“I told her I was Michael’s mother.”
Then Cassandra said the sentence the venue manager later recovered from audio.
“You make our wedding look cheap and tacky.”
Ellen had finally stopped apologizing.
She told Cassandra she would not be spoken to that way.
Cassandra slapped her.
“What happened next?”
Ellen swallowed.
“I looked at Michael.”
I knew what came next.
But I needed her to say it.
“He grabbed my arm.”
“Why?”
“He said I was ruining everything.”
Her voice cracked.
“He told me to go home.”
I felt tears burning behind my eyes.
“And when you refused?”
“He pushed me.”
I reached for her hand.
Ellen began crying.
“I kept waiting for him to come after me.”
“He didn’t.”
“No.”
“He went back to the reception.”
“Yes.”
That was the detail she had never been able to say aloud.
The shove hurt.
The slap humiliated her.
But Michael walking away had done the deepest damage.
Ellen wiped her face.
“There’s something else.”
“What?”
She looked at me.
“I gave him the watch before I left.”
I stared at her.
“After he did that?”
She nodded.
“Why?”
“Because it belonged to his grandfather.”
I stood.
“No.”
Ellen looked confused.
“No what?”
“That watch does not stay with him.”
I picked up my phone.
May you like
Michael had mistaken inheritance for ownership again.
This time, the inheritance was emotional.
