Chapter 5 - My Family Asked Me to Protect Bethany
The scandal reached Jennifer’s mother before breakfast.
Elaine Burgess called at 6:43 a.m.
“What did you do?”
Jennifer closed her eyes.
Not:
Are you okay?
Not:
Is it true?
What did you do?
“I canceled my wedding.”
“Bethany called me hysterical.”
“Understandable.”
“She says you bought her building just to throw her out.”
“She doesn’t own the building.”
“You know what I mean.”
“No, actually. Precision is useful today.”
Elaine sighed.
“Jennifer, please don’t become cruel.”
That sentence landed badly.
“Cruel?”
“Bethany made a terrible mistake.”
“She slept with my fiancé for nine months.”
Silence.
“I know.”
Jennifer sat up.
“What?”
Elaine stopped breathing.
“You knew?”
“Not nine months.”
“How long?”
“Three weeks.”
The betrayal shifted again.
“How did you know?”
“I saw them together.”
“Where?”
“At a restaurant.”
“And you said nothing?”
“Bethany begged me not to.”
Jennifer could hear her own heartbeat.
“She was going to end it.”
“She helped me address invitations four days ago.”
“I thought she had.”
“Did you ask?”
Elaine began crying.
“I didn’t know what to do.”
“You could have told the bride.”
“I didn’t want to destroy the wedding if it was already over.”
Jennifer laughed.
The sound scared even her.
“Mom, the wedding was already destroyed.”
“I was trying to protect everyone.”
“No.”
Jennifer’s voice hardened.
“You were protecting yourself from having to choose.”
Elaine went silent.
Then:
“Bethany says Charles promised to marry her later.”
“Wonderful.”
“She really loves him.”
“So did I.”
That finally silenced her.
Later that morning, Jennifer drove to her mother’s house.
Bethany was there.
So was their older brother, Daniel.
Charles was not.
Jennifer preferred it.
Elaine immediately stood.
“Please, everyone calm down.”
Jennifer looked at Bethany.
“Give me one reason you helped plan my wedding.”
Bethany cried.
“I didn’t know how to stop.”
“You knew how to sleep with him.”
Daniel closed his eyes.
Elaine whispered:
“Jennifer.”
“No. Let her answer.”
Bethany wiped her face.
“Charles said he needed time.”
“For what?”
“To separate everything.”
“Meaning?”
“Money. The house. His business.”
“He does not own my house.”
“I know that now.”
Jennifer laughed bitterly.
“What did he tell you?”
Bethany hesitated.
“That after the wedding he could restructure things.”
The room went still.
“After the wedding?”
Bethany nodded.
“He said there were agreements you needed to sign after marriage. Then he would wait a few months, file for divorce, and we could be together publicly.”
Daniel swore under his breath.
Jennifer remained perfectly still.
“So you were helping me marry him so he could obtain signatures.”
Bethany began crying harder.
“I didn’t understand the business part.”
“You understood he planned to marry me while loving you.”
“Yes.”
“And you were okay with that.”
“I thought it was temporary.”
Jennifer stared at her sister.
There are moments when betrayal becomes too large for anger.
It becomes information.
Elaine moved toward Jennifer.
“Please don’t let this destroy the family.”
Jennifer stepped back.
“Why is the person who discovers the betrayal always accused of destroying what the betrayal already broke?”
Elaine stopped.
Daniel looked toward Bethany.
“Did you know he used wedding money?”
“No.”
“The apartment?”
“He said he paid.”
“Bracelet?”
“He said it was from his bonus.”
Daniel shook his head.
“You never asked why a man planning a wedding with your sister was buying you an apartment?”
Bethany snapped:
“I know how it sounds!”
“It sounds exactly like what happened.”
Jennifer almost thanked him.
Instead, she turned toward her mother.
“I need distance.”
Elaine looked frightened.
“For how long?”
“I don’t know.”
“Christmas?”
“I don’t know.”
“Jennifer—”
“No.”
The word felt clean.
“I’m not punishing you. I’m stopping access until I know what relationship, if any, I still want.”
Then she looked at Bethany.
“You will receive every notice concerning Wren Street through normal channels.”
“Are you evicting me?”
“I’m reviewing the lease.”
“Jennifer.”
“The corporate tenant is Charles’s company. You are not listed. Rent was paid partly from funds taken from my wedding account.”
Bethany’s face collapsed.
“You’re going to make me homeless.”
“No.”
Jennifer looked at Elaine.
“You have a bedroom here.”
That ended the argument.
Three days later, Bethany moved out voluntarily.
Not because Jennifer forced her.
Because Charles stopped paying Larkspur’s expenses when Blackwell Ridge suspended him.
He had promised Bethany a building.
May you like
He could no longer cover a furnished apartment.
The romance began looking different once the luxury disappeared.
