Second Chance Love

Two

Two

With her family gathered around her and wearing a beautiful white satin dress, April had been smiling and laughing with everyone as they waited for her future husband to arrive at the chapel. Her then long brown hair – it had been almost to her waist at the time - was piled on top of her head, her face made up perfectly, eyes shining. All five feet, six inches of her was excited and happy. Married! She was to be married that day to Greg Martinburg, the second wealthiest man in town. She wasn't really that concerned with his money, she had fallen in love with him at first sight, even before finding out his name. He had a perfect physique that looked good in suits and anything else he chose to wear. At five feet eleven inches, his blond hair and blue eyes were every girl's dream. And that smile! What a smile he had. Straight white teeth and a twinkle in his eyes just added up to … wow. That was her way of describing him. Finding out who he really was after that first meeting was ... well ... not icing on the cake exactly, but - coming from a middle-class family - the money was something she would not turn down. No more scrimping and scraping to make ends meet. It would be heaven. Not that she minded budgeting mind you, but it would be nice to just say yes, I’ll take it to anything she wanted.

When the time for the ceremony had arrived and Greg hadn't shown up yet, people started to wonder what was going on. April's maid of honor and best friend, Jessica, came to tell her that Greg's best friend, Eddie – the best man, said he had seen Greg not more than twenty minutes before near the back of the chapel and had no clue why he wasn't inside. April, wondering what was going on, walked outside to the dismay of her family, and headed to the back of the chapel. That was when she found out why he wasn't inside. She had heard his voice first, then turned a corner to find him pulling his pants up and her own cousin Amelia on the ground looking up at him, a sly smile on her face. Her dress was wrinkled from being pushed up and it was easy to see what they had just finished doing. April totally ignored Amelia and turned on Greg.

"Greg! How could you! On our wedding day!? And here of all places!? How could you!" April screamed at him. He turned and looked at April, a shocked look on his face as he did.

"April, what... how did you know we were here? Wait! I do love you, April, I do, but you refused to do anything until after today. How do you think that made me feel? I do have needs!" He was trying to make it sound as if this was her fault!? The audacity of the man! April shook her head and pulled the veil off.

"The wedding is off Greg. Since you seem to enjoy my cousin's favors, you can damn well marry her!" April yanked her engagement ring off and threw at it Greg. When he didn’t even bother to try and catch it, the ring bounced off his chest and fell to the ground at his feet. The look on his face went from shocked to … well, April wasn't sure, but … murderous came to mind. She shivered for a minute before her anger took over again. As she turned to go back to her family, who had followed her out and were watching all this in shocked silence, she saw Amelia scramble for the ring and grin up at Greg. He was still staring after April, a calculating expression on his face. April saw no more as she pushed through her friends and went back inside to tell the rest of the guests that the wedding was off. Without another word, she had left the church and driven herself home. It was a short time later that her best friend Jessica, found her sitting in her bedroom, still in her wedding dress and crying softly. Jessica sat down beside April quietly and put an arm around her shoulders.

"April, I'm so sorry that happened to you. I had always thought Greg wasn’t quite right, but I had hoped that you would be good together and this would work out well. Then again, you know how Amelia is. She was always jealous of you and was always trying to get your boyfriends. The fact that you two are almost the same age doesn't help much either. You both went to high school together and I would swear she followed you to college to keep an eye on you. But what do I know." Jessica gave April another brief hug as she sat there.

April sighed and glanced at Jessica. "I don't know either Jessie. I thought Greg loved me, but if he had why couldn't he have waited for me on our own wedding day? Unless that was going on long before and I just never saw it.” She sighed. “What do I do now?"

Jessica rubbed April's back, then glanced over at the small desk in the room where the tickets for April and Greg's honeymoon lay. A wedding gift from – of all people – Amelia's mother and father, April's aunt and uncle.

Jessica smiled. "I know what you are going to do. You are going to go on that honeymoon and get away from all of this for a time. It’s for two weeks, right? And you already have the time off from work. Maybe you can turn in one ticket and get that cash back for you and just go. Might do you some good to get away for a time." Jessica watched April's face as her friend considered the idea, then straightened up a bit.

"Not a bad idea. Want to go with me instead, Jessie?" April looked from the tickets to her friend, then back again. "Or can you get off work for that long of a time."

Jessica shook her head. "Not for two full weeks, but I might be able to drive up and meet you during the second week. I would have to talk to my boss about that one. And you know how hard it is to get a day off from him." Jessica had a gleam in her eyes. "Maybe we could put out a rumor that you have another man going along instead. That would fix Mr. Fancy Pants Greg."

April stared at her friend for a few minutes, then shook her head slowly. "Jessie, sometimes you are a very devious person. I'm not sure I know you at times like this." Jessica laughed. Then, slowly, April smiled. "You’re right. I am going on that trip, but we are not going to tell people I went there with another man. I can just imagine something like that getting back to my parents. Bad enough what happened as it is. I don't want to make it any worse. I would appreciate your company later though. If you can manage it. Maybe we can even do some sight seeing."

Jessica assured April that she would try to do that. They hugged after that and Jessica helped April get out of the wedding dress. She then left so her friend could get dressed in something comfortable for the long drive out to the bed and breakfast where she would be staying. April had chosen dark blue jeans and a simple light blue top to wear.

Before heading out on the ‘vacation' – April refused to think of it as her honeymoon - she did manage a quick trip to her favorite hair dresser and had her waist length hair cut to her shoulders. She had only let it grow because Greg had preferred long hair on ‘his woman'. His woman indeed. From now on, she was doing what she wanted, not what a man wanted her to do. That determination is what sent her on the trip.