Chapter 3

Well, the moment I stopped going along with everything, they actually started showing me a little respect.

My love for Ethan had become the very thing his family used to keep me in check and push me around.

Ethan’s father, Wallace Nash, explained, “Ethan was definitely in the wrong on this one. A wedding should be treated with a bit more seriousness.

“But it’s not that big a deal. It’s not worth calling the whole thing off. Just have the wedding on some other day.”

I had brought the jewelry. But I only had two pieces of the original five-piece engagement set that Ethan gave me.

The full set included earrings, a necklace, a bracelet, a ring, and a bangle. I only had two because Ruth got first pick and took a few of the nicest ones.

She was still wearing them.

Then again, they did suit her.

Ethan allowed her to take them, saying he would make up for it on our wedding day. But he never did.

I had used my own jewelry as substitutes.

I said softly, “That won’t be necessary. I’m here to call off the engagement. Just as you and Holly said from the beginning, we were never a good match.”

Wallace was confused. “Mabel really wants you to get married, doesn’t she? You’ve come this far. What good does it do to kick up a fuss now? How are you going to explain this to her?”

He was right. My mother was still hospitalized.

In the past, she had wanted nothing more than for me to get married and settle down.

She had wanted to see me in a wedding dress.

What mattered more was that she wanted to know I had a partner, someone to walk through this long life with, someone to look out for me. Facing life alone was sometimes too exhausting and too hard.

That was also why I had always wanted things to work out with Ethan. He was the person I had hoped for most in that lifetime. Just looking at him made me smile at life.

It would also make my mother happy, and her condition might even improve.

That was just how people were. When there was no one to help, they turned to superstition and believed in some unknowable force that would come to their aid.

I looked at Wallace, then at Ethan. He agreed with that reasoning too. He thought I should compromise.

Holly was even more blunt. “Being that petty won’t get you anywhere. This is such a small thing. People from single-parent families always come with issues.”

They just wanted me to be compliant and do whatever they asked. Everyone stared at me with sharp, harsh judgment.

Unlike my usual compliance, I spoke up loudly. “That’s enough. Yeah, I’m petty, and I keep score. I’m sick of it. I’ve had it with this act. Go marry whoever you want.”

They seemed to have forgotten that they would not even let my mother attend the wedding because she was sick. My mother had worked so hard to get better just so she could be there.

I brought it up as I argued further, “It’s my wedding. Why can’t my own mother come? How is that reasonable?

“If there are parts of the ceremony you want to skip, fine, skip them. But how could you forbid my mother from attending? Why won’t you let her watch, or even just take a picture with me?”

No matter how many times I pleaded, they still would not agree. They wouldn’t even allow my mother to be anywhere nearby.

What settled everything was a single, “It’s not really appropriate,” from Ruth.

In the end, my mother gave in as she tried to hide the disappointment in her eyes.

“It’s okay. Just let me watch the recording afterward, and that’s more than enough for me.”

Ruth said she was worried that having a sick person at the wedding would jinx the marriage. Yet she then arranged for a friend’s mother to attend in a wheelchair and deliberately appear during the key moments.

After the argument was over, I walked out of the place.

I felt a lot lighter. Giving up had been easier than I had imagined.