by H. M. Bailey
Hold Your Peace
A Short Story
By
H.M. Bailey
Copyright © 2012 H.M. Bailey
All rights reserved by the author. No part of this publication can be reproduced or transmitted by any means without the consent of the author.
Standing at the altar, time seemed to freeze. I wanted to remember this moment forever. So many times I had played this scene over in my mind. I was about to become Dana Murphy. Mrs. Ryan Murphy. Mrs. Murphy. Would I ever get tired of saying my new name? I looked into Ryan’s piercing green eyes that stared back into mine. They were full of love and held a twinkle of excitement. Our future was starting today.
All of the planning, the meetings with photographers and caterers and decorators had been worth it. I had dreamed of the perfect wedding since I was a little girl. And now, the church was a vision of wedding perfection that any bride would drool over. Every detail was exquisite from the strapless chiffon bridesmaid dresses and the fragrant bouquets on the pews to the twenty page wedding programs and the Swarovski crystal butterflies in my flower girl’s hair. I was wearing the perfect designer wedding gown that looked like it had been made just for me. The planning had been stressful at times, but nothing worthwhile comes easy and every moment of stress was erased by the immense joy in my heart.
Everyone that we loved was there, supporting us, watching us about to become husband and wife. Even my father, who never cries, had eyes wet with tears as he escorted me down the aisle to my waiting groom. I was taking mental snapshots of every moment and saving them to an album in my mind.
I looked back at Ryan. Not only was he drop-dead gorgeous with his movie star smile and chiseled features, he treated me like I was a princess. He was a gentleman who was compassionate, caring and loved kids. He had a successful veterinary practice and a heart for animals. I had definitely found Mr. Right. I met him two years ago and it was love at first sight. We dated for about a year before he proposed on a beach in Mexico and had the spent the last year planning our dream wedding.
As the wedding ceremony was coming to a close, I was giddy with excitement. The vows had been said, unity candle lit and rings exchanged. My stomach felt like I was on a roller coaster. Staring at Ryan, I could hear Father Patrick asking, “Should anyone here present know of any just reason that this couple should not be joined in holy matrimony, speak now or forever hold your peace.”
Why is that line even included in wedding ceremonies anymore? It’s true that I had wanted a traditional service, so we kept it in, but really. Anyone who has met us knows that we are perfect for each other. There is absolutely no reason for us not to be joined in holy matrimony. But suddenly, there was a voice. A woman’s voice, coming from the back of the church.
“I know of a reason,” the voice said.
Wait. What?
Was this a joke?
Everyone in the church turned to see who was attempting to stop our nuptials. Even the string quartet behind the altar had strained their necks to get a view of this disruption. I pulled my veil up over my face so that I could get a good look, too. What we saw was a stunning blond woman standing in the aisle in the back of the church. She was about 5’10 with long, shiny golden hair and the body of a model, her short black dress hugging every curve. I had no idea who she was, but even in all the glory of my wedding beauty, I felt inadequate next to this woman. I was about 5’3 with brown eyes and mousy brown hair that was pulled into a chignon today. She looked like a blond, bronzed goddess.
As she started walking slowly up the aisle, I wondered what in the world was going on. Was I on some sort of hidden camera show? Were my bridesmaids in on this crazy idea? But a quick look at their faces told me that they had no clue what was happening, either. Then I spied Ryan’s face. His expression wasn’t one of confusion, like the one I wore, but rather one of horror. His mouth was wide open. “Mandy?” he choked.
“Oh my God! Amanda!” I heard his mother gasp.
“I’m Ryan’s fiancé and I can’t let this wedding happen. How’s that for a good reason?”
There was a collective gasp from the captive audience. Then complete silence.
Amanda…bells were going off in my head. No wonder Ryan looked as if he had just seen a ghost. He had. Though I had never met her before, Ryan was engaged to Amanda but the engagement had ended with her death. She died in a car accident three years ago. Though I didn’t know many of the details, I knew it had been incredibly hard on him. He grieved her loss for a long time and didn’t start dating again until a year later. That’s when he met me.
“I, I…I don’t understand. You died. I was at your funeral. How can you be here?” Ryan stammered.
The silence in the room had been shattered and now the room was full of half-whispered chatter. People in my family wondering who she was and Ryan’s friends and family, like him, were wondering how she could be here if she was supposed to be dead.
Of all the things I dreaded might go wrong on this day, this was absolutely not one of them. This was like a bride’s worst nightmare. Never in my wildest imagination could I have envisioned this. Please let this just be a dream, I said in my mind.
“No, Ryan, I didn’t die, I’m alive. I am so sorry for the pain you and your family went through for thinking that I was dead. But I need to explain to you what happened before you go through with this.”
He didn’t even look at me, but I felt my hand slip from his grasp. He fumbled down the altar steps and ran down the aisle to her. I watched helplessly as he grabbed her in his arms and I heard him start to sob as he buried his face in her hair.
This was really awkward.
“I can’t believe it’s really you,” I could hear him say.
The room was spinning and I felt like I was going to be sick. Luckily my bridesmaids quickly rallied around me. Chelsea, my maid of honor, grabbed my arm and then put her arm around my back to help hold me up. She probably thought I was about to faint, I’m sure I must have looked like I was about to. The others flocked around me, too. Only Erin, Ryan’s sister, still stood frozen in her spot, in apparent shock, like she was seeing a ghost in the flesh.
Another bridesmaid, Nikki, who had been my college roommate, glared down the aisle at Amanda. “Hey!” she yelled, “I don’t care who you are, what is wrong with you to crash a wedding like this?” She stood with her hand on her hip and looked like she was ready to throw down her bouquet and start a fight.
For a moment, time froze again. Only this time, I didn’t want to take any snapshots with my mind. I didn’t want to remember any of the nightmare that was unfolding before me. I saw Ryan and Amanda embracing, our guests looking back and forth from them up to me. My heart was a heavy weight in my chest, crushing my lungs. I needed to sit down.
Ryan looked back up at me, as if he remembered. “Dana,” he said, “are you ok?”
He ran back to me and helped me up.
“What is going on, Ryan? Is this some kind of joke?” Please let it just be a joke. I might be able to get over that.
“No, it’s not. I thought Mandy was dead; I had no idea she’d come here today.”
Father Patrick wasn’t sure what was going on. Really, none of us were. He looked at Ryan and me and said, “Umm, so…should we continue? I have to say that in the 30 years of presiding at weddings, this is the first time anyone has done this. I’m not sure exactly what to do.”
“Well, she should have held her peace, Father,” Nikki said, still defending me. “This is a private event and you are NOT on the guest list, sweetie.”
“I can’t…not yet,” Ryan said. I heard the words as if in a filter, like I was in a dream. My eyes were filling with tears.
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��All I know is that 3 years ago, Mandy was killed in a car accident, I had her buried. And now she’s here. I just need to talk to her, to find out the whole story of what’s going on. I need to put closure on this before I can go on.”
Closure? Wait, did he mean closure with me or closure with her? Of all the times for her to resurface, she chooses the middle of our wedding. What a total drama queen. I felt like I was in a scene from a bad soap opera.
“Ok, let’s figure this out,” I said meekly. I looked at Father Patrick with pleading eyes and he said, “Why don’t the two of you, or, umm, three of you, I guess, go into the prayer room where you can talk privately.” He motioned to a door behind the altar.
Then, thankfully, he spoke to our guests so we didn’t have to. As we walked to the prayer room, I heard him apologize to everyone for the delay but asked the quartet for some music while they waited.
I caught a fleeting glimpse of the my flower girl, Cassidy, flopping down on the ground looking bored and then saw my parents, whose faces were both full of pity for me. That was too much to see, and I felt a lump growing in my throat, matching the one that was already in the pit of my stomach.
We were about to go into the room when I looked at Ryan, who still appeared to be in shock. I grabbed his hand and stopped him.
“Ryan, do you want to talk to her alone, because I understand if you do.” I really hoped he would want me there, too, but thought I would at least offer. As miserable as I was feeling right now, I couldn’t imagine the emotions he must have been experiencing.
“Of course not, you need to be here, too.” I smiled at his words, grateful that he didn’t forget about me and wanted me with him.
Once behind closed doors with Amanda, I got a closer look at her. She didn’t look happy to see me included in their reunion. And I wasn’t happy to see that she was even more stunning up close. Her tan skin was perfectly clear and glowing. She smelled like strawberries and vanilla. I wondered that in all the time I’d known Ryan why I had never even seen a picture of her. Once we started dating, he had taken down any pictures he had of her and I never asked to see them because I hadn’t wanted to cause him any pain. I knew that it had been hard on him, but it wasn’t an issue in our relationship. He had told me that finding me was the best thing that had ever happened to him and that he loved me and that the thought of spending the rest of his life with me made him the happiest man in the world. I hope that he still felt that way now.
There was a small round table in the room and we all sat down at it, Ryan helping me with my gown as I carefully took my chair. Then he looked at her, his eyes filled with disbelief.
“Mandy, I never thought I’d see you again, how can you be alive?”
“Ryan, I’m so sorry, honey, but I didn’t have a choice.”
I cringed at hearing her call him ‘honey’.
She continued with her story as she clasped her hands in front of her and I noticed that she was wearing an engagement ring.
“It’s true that I was in a car accident, but it wasn’t just an accident. Someone ran me off the road on purpose, they tried to kill me. It was a miracle I survived.”
“What?” Ryan asked, stunned.
“Remember the Peterson case, the one where I was supposed to be a witness?”
Peterson case…that sounded familiar. I remembered seeing something about it on the news a few years back.
“Was that the man who murdered someone in Hillcrest Park?” I interrupted.
She looked at me like she had just noticed me for the first time. The loving kindness she had in her eyes when she looked at Ryan completely disappeared when her gaze shifted to me. It was obvious she would have rather had this moment with Ryan alone. Too bad, lady, I thought, deal with it.
“Yes, Grant Peterson shot a man there on one of the trails. He was murdering his wife’s lover and thought it would look like a random robbery gone bad, but I happened to be running on the trail and saw what happened. He hadn’t seen me because I hid in some bushes but I went to the police and it was my testimony that was going to convict him.”
“Let me get this straight-he tried to kill you, so you couldn’t testify?” Ryan asked. “But, when I got to the hospital, they told me you were dead. I didn’t even get to say good-bye.” His eyes were glistening.
“I know you didn’t. I wanted to say good-bye, I begged them to let me but the police figured out what was going on and thought that the only way to save me was to hide me. I was in a witness protection program. When I was in the hospital, they explained to me what would happen. I was sent to another hospital under a fake name and when I recovered, got another fake name and was sent to live in Nebraska. They wouldn’t let me talk to anyone, Ryan, not even you. It was horrible.” She grabbed onto his hand.
“If only you could have told me. I grieved for you, for a long time. My family, our friends, we all mourned. It was a hard time for us.” It was obvious that even the memory of it was painful for him still.
“They told me that after the trial, I could come back and I didn’t think it would take long. But that’s not the way it went. Whatever could go wrong did, and the trial dragged on. But it’s finally over now. Peterson’s behind bars and he can’t hurt me. When I came back to town, I wanted to tell you, but I found out about your wedding and had to stop it.”
She looked up at him from her long lashes and asked, “You still love me, don’t you, Ryan?”
Hmm…I’d really like to hear the answer to that one, too.
He waited to answer. It was probably only a minute but it felt like several hours. Time stood still and I held my breath waiting for his response.
“Mandy, of course I do. I didn’t stop loving you when you died, but I had to get over you. I had to, or I wouldn’t have survived. If I had known what had happened, of course things would be different, but I didn’t know. And then I met Dana, I fell in love with her and we are planning a life together. Three years is a long time, Mandy.”
I noticed he kept saying her name when he spoke. I’m sure he thought he’d never get the chance to speak to her again.
“What are you saying? I still love you, Ryan. I admit, I dated other people too, I had to, for appearances. But the other guys meant nothing to me. I was waiting til I could be with you again. See, I’m still wearing the ring you gave me.” She held up her well-manicured hand to flash him the ring.
“I am sorry for everything that you went through-that we went through- and I’m so glad that you are alive, but I can’t lose another bride.” He looked at me and I got up and walked over to be at his side.
“And, I just have to ask you, why didn’t you come to me earlier? You chose to interrupt our wedding to let me know that you were still alive. How could you do that to me? And to Dana? Do you realize how you’ve humiliated her in front of all of our guests.” He put his arm around me and I felt a warmth come over me. Things were looking brighter by the minute.
She looked at me with venom filled eyes. “Her? Are you kidding me? Look at her? You’d give up me for this?” And she pointed at me and wrinkled her nose like I was a piece of garbage.
“Yes, her. I would give up everything I have for her. And I know that she would never have done what you did, because she truly loves me. And I love her. We are getting married today.”
Amanda started shaking. I would have expected her to be sad, but she was just angry. “Fine! If that’s how it’s going to be, here’s your damn ring back!” She took it off and threw it at him.
“You’ll be sorry, I know you will. And when you come crawling back, it will be too late. I hope you can live with your choice.” And with that, she stormed out the back exit of the prayer room.
I looked at Ryan. This time, it was my eyes that were glistening. This was all too surreal, but I had never been more in love with him. He pulled me close to him. He took my head in his hands and kissed my forehead and then my lips. “I am so sorry that you had to go through all of this. She wanted to make a scene and it
worked. Even when we were dating, she always did have a selfish streak. I didn’t realize how self-centered she had actually been until I started dating you.”
“Are you sure you want to go through with it, today? If you need more time to process everything, I’d understand, you know. “
He smiled and his green eyes twinkled. “See what I mean? This is your wedding day and you’re worried about me. You always put me first, Dana, and I hope to always do the same for you. This wedding is definitely going to happen.” I winked at him and pulled my veil back down over my face.
When we walked out of the prayer room and back onto the altar, all eyes were on us. The string quartet abruptly stopped playing. Because Amanda had left through the back exit, no one knew what had happened. The anticipation was palpable. We moved to the front of altar, where everyone could see us. Ryan looked at Father Patrick, smiled and nodded. Then he addressed the guests.
“Well, you’ve probably never seen that at a wedding before, have you?” You could feel the tension in the room release as everyone laughed.
“Despite finding out that my former fiancé is indeed still alive, nothing changes the fact that I love Dana with all of my heart and that I want to spend the rest of my life with her. So for those of you worried that you’ll have to return that toaster you just bought, I am happy to say you won’t need to do that. There is still going to be a wedding today.”
The whole church erupted in cheers. Everyone jumped up and clapped and my bridesmaids smothered me with hugs. I was laughing and crying at the same time. Father Patrick stepped forward, a wide grin on his face and said, “Well, then, shall we continue with the ceremony. And now, by the power vested in me, in front of God and these witnesses, I hereby pronounce you husband and wife. What God hath joined together let no man, and, er..or woman put asunder. Ryan, you may now kiss your bride.”
More cheers erupted as Ryan pulled me close, lifted my veil and kissed me tenderly. I could hear Father Patrick say, “It is now my privilege to introduce to you for the first time, Mr. and Mrs. Ryan Murphy.”