A bride holding a bouquet and walking alone during her wedding day | Source: Pexels
My name is Sarah, and like some women, I’ve been dreaming of my wedding day forever! One person I knew I definitely wanted to be there on my special day was my father, James. My dad’s always been my rock and there for me, unlike my mom who’s been kind of distant, to be honest.
Besides my father, I was also quite close to Karen, my stepmother, who married him when I was still a child.
Compared to my mother, I felt like my father and stepmother gave me stability as a child, something I never experienced with my mom.
A happy family comprising of a father, a young girl, and a mother building a puzzle together | Source:
My mother, Matilda, was actually quite a happy, loving, and present person when I was younger, but she changed drastically when she and my dad divorced. The changes began during the last years of her marriage to my father.
I could see how she wasn’t her usual cheerful self and, despite being divorced, she refused to get into another relationship. When their divorce happened, I opted to stay with my father, and even though my mom didn’t say anything, it was obvious that she resented my choice.
A happy family of three with a man, a young woman, and an older woman posing together | Source: Pexels
Whenever holidays and special occasions came, I wanted my whole family together, including my mother, but she always refused to join us. She basically avoided my father like he was the worst human on Earth, and I never understood her behavior.
I was set to get married, and that was going to be the first event where both parents would be together at the same time.
I was lucky because my father was even footing the bill for this lavish wedding because he wanted everything to be perfect for me.
A man handing over a debit card to pay for something | Source: Pexels
Excited about my wedding day, I was running through some last-minute things while staying over at my fiancé’s place instead of back home with my father.
So, there I am, the night before the wedding, just double-checking with my dad to confirm that he’d arrive early to pick me up so we could rehearse our father-daughter dance the next morning before my wedding. He’s all, “Sure, honey.”
But then, just as I’m about to hang up, I realize he HASN’T ACTUALLY HUNG UP the phone. And what I hear next… I mean, my world just stopped…
A woman reacting in shock while on the phone | Source: Pexels
He says to my stepmom, “I WISH I HAD NEVER HAD HER IN MY LIFE BECAUSE I would have met you sooner.” I was shocked when I realized he was talking about MY MOTHER!
What was obvious was that they were a bit tipsy as they reminisced about how they met.
The story that I knew from them was that they met by accident at a grocery store, a year after my parents divorced, but part of that was a huge lie!
A man holding a shopping back at a grocery store | Source: Pexels
“I recall being unable to take my eyes off of you when I saw you in the juice aisle,” he said. I felt like puking and dropping the phone but wanted to hear where this was going.
James expressed to Karen how he desired her immensely from that moment on. To my shock, he added, “From then onward, I didn’t care about Matilda all pregnant at home.”
“She was a big girl and could handle it!” he laughed.
“She’s still a BIG girl!” Karen retorted, snorting as they both broke into laughter at my mother’s expense.
A pregnant woman holding her belly while seated | Source: Pexels
I felt tears running down my face as I listened to how the people I thought I loved betrayed someone else I held dear to my heart.
“You remember when we kissed for the first time a few days after my little Sarah was born?” James asked his wife lovingly.
“I remember, my love, and the first time we consummated our union was on your fourth wedding anniversary with Matilda.” My father disgustingly mentioned how they did it while I, months old at the time, lay asleep in my crib with my mom out running an errand.
A baby sleeping in a crib with a blanket | Source: Pexels
“Remember how hard it was for us to keep seeing each other after Matilda caught us when Sarah was six?” Karen added as they continued laughing. This piece of information floored me because my parents divorced when I was 11!
It meant they continued having an affair behind my mother’s back while my parents were still married!
It finally made sense why my mother started changing around that time!
A shocked woman lying in bed holding her phone | Source: Pexels
All these years, I thought my poor mother was just being strange and a recluse, when all along she was in pain. I dropped the phone and cried my lungs out as I realized the torment and pain my mother suffered when I appeared to choose my cheating father and his mistress over her!
I knew what being cheated on felt like as it had happened to me several times before I met and fell in love with my fiancé. I recalled how broken I was each time infidelity came into my relationship and couldn’t imagine what it felt like for my mother who was in a marriage AND PREGNANT when it happened to her!
A woman crying with her eyes closed | Source: Pexels
The wedding ceremony was bittersweet. As my mom walked me down the aisle, I felt a mix of sorrow for the family I lost and joy for the new beginning ahead. The absence of my dad and his side of the family cast a shadow, but the love and support from those present filled the room with light.
A mother walking her daughter down the aisle on her wedding day | Source: Pexels
But the intrigue didn’t end there. Midway through the reception, an unexpected guest arrived—my half-brother. He approached me hesitantly, his eyes searching mine for forgiveness. He said, his voice cracking with emotion:
“I know I wasn’t supposed to come, but I had to tell you… I’m sorry for everything dad and my mom did. You deserve better.”
A bride hugging a man on her wedding day | Source: Pexels
