Winter Haven's Promise

When Siana Price was 23 the bottom fell out of her world. She thought she had it all, a loving fiancée, a home of her own, a job that she enjoyed (even if she wasn't passionate about it), and a wedding less than a week away. She was hunched over the table, caught between last minute wedding decoration making and studying to go back to school to finish her degree when her fiancée's iPad started dinging like mad on the couch. He'd left it open and was probably talking to his friends about the wedding or something. Either way it was hard for her to concentrate with the rapid-fire texts, so she got up from the table and went to turn it off. It wasn't what she thought. Baby, come on, we have to talk about this. No we don't, you know I don't like this It's just for the money Brit, we've gone over this I don't care about the money, you can't marry the vanilla bitch It's a quick wedding, it'll be a quicker divorce and then we'll only have half the debt. Come over She's expecting me home, she'll get suspicious if I'm out too late I don't care, if you're serious about this get her off your ass and come over. Alright, I'll be there in fifteen minutes. What the actual f**k was going on? Who was Brit, and was she the vanilla b***h? Was she the other woman in this relationship? It was clear that they both knew what they were doing, that he didn't love her. He didn't love her. Before she could completely go to pieces, her phone rang. She looked at the display and sure enough it was him. Maybe there was an explanation for all of this, maybe there was an answer that left her world intact and maybe he could soothe the horrible nausea that was building in the place where her love had been. “Hello," if she had anything left, she would have worried about how her voice sounded. “Bad day, baby?" His voice sounded exactly the same, that easy, deep flow that had attracted her to him at first. “Hey, so I've gotta put in a couple more hours so I'll be a little late coming home. I just didn't want you to worry." “Lie to me some more." She didn't sob the words into the phone, and she was proud of that. “This whole thing has been nothing but a lie, from day one." “Baby, stop, what are you talking about?" He sounded nervous, he never sounded nervous. “You left your iPad unlocked." She told him, looking staring at the messages. “I know everything." He swore, viciously and she hung up before throwing her phone onto the couch. That hadn't been a denial, that had been anger about being caught. So, it was all true, everything in their entire relationship had been a lie, just to get money out of her. He was probably after her settlement money, and he'd have gotten half of that in the divorce. Her phone rang again, it was him again, so she turned it off. She wasn't going to listen to the lies anymore. Siana tore the ring off her finger and set it on the table, looking at the tan line that was left behind. They'd spent so much time together this summer, and none of it had been real. Carefully, she screenshotted the texts and emailed them to herself before posting them to the wedding website with an apology to the guests that had been going to fly in for the wedding. She also posted his phone number for questions but asked for privacy for her. A fierce wave of nausea hit as soon as she hit post and she stumbled to the bathroom to be sick over and over as the reality crashed through her that she'd never been loved, not by him, not by anyone and the fragile skin of peace in her life had been a lie the whole time. She had to leave, if he came back and told her that it was all a mistake, that he only loved her, she might be a fool and trust that he meant it. Just like she had all the other times she'd almost caught him out. She had to be gone by the time he got home. So she grabbed her purse and her keys and threw herself in her car. She didn't know where she was going but anywhere had to be better than here.