Peonies In My Posy

Mia watches with one eye open as the makeup artist skillfully paints her eyelid a subtle golden, then using her index finger, taps luster dust above it making her eyes look like pearls bathed in sunlight. He won't be able to take his eyes off me, she thinks as she admires herself in the mirror, eyes twinkling at the thought of seeing him stare at her in awe, his smile reaching the ends of his face as she walks down the aisle in a few minutes.

"Could you please pass me that blue box sitting on the table over there?" she says, adjusting her hair in the mirror. The makeup artist gives her a cordial nod and hurries to the table to get the box for the bride. She stands beside the bride wearing a pleasant face as she carefully opens the the tiny blue box, a thin black bow decorating it's lid.

"It's my something borrowed," she informs the makeup artist. "It's my mother's ring given to her by my grandmother at the time of her wedding," she says with a dream-like smile as if gone back in time when the ring used to adorn her mother's finger. The smile on the make up artist's face disappears immediately, a dark concern taking its place.

"Do you think it's a good idea?" she suggests, trying to sound unbothered, "Wearing that on your special day?"

"What do you mean?" says Mia looking at the red haired girl with a confused smile while stroking the shiny pink pearl that sits at the center of the silver studed ring.

"They say it brings bad luck..... wearing pearls on your wedding day....." she says, looking away from Mia's face and onto the floor. "It brings tears and heartache in marriage."

Mia's heart drops at the sound of those words coming out of the girl's mouth. Could it be true, she thinks as her eyes frantically search the floor as if the answer lies somewhere in the shiny tiles beneath her feet, her heart suddenly banging in her chest. This ring means a lot to her. She's been dreaming about wearing it on her wedding her whole life. She can't bring herself to part with it now. Then, within a second her senses kick back and her heart eases it's pounding.

"Dont be silly, Sally! Those are old wives' tales. There's no such thing." She slightly wets her lips and searches for consonance in the girl's shadowy face. The gloom doesn't fade from Sally's face however, she gives the concerned bride a reluctant smile.

"Let me get your veil for you. It's almost time."

"Thank you," she says smiling sweetly, swallowing back all her worries.

Sally brings Mia the veil and begins to tuck it in her hair when Mia jerks her head to the front. "No!" she shouts, startling Sally. "I am sorry, but my mother should be the one to tuck the veil-- it's tradition."

"Oh. I'll go get her then," says Sally taking two steps towards the door, but Mia stops her midway.

"No, no. I'll go get her, it's no problem. Do you know where she might be?"

"She could be in her dressing room," she says hesitantly. "It's right down the hall."

Mia stands up in her elegant white dress that hugs her from the waist down, crosses her removable lace trail that sits neatly on the off-white sofa beside the vanity table, and walks out the door.

She would've let Sally get her mother if it weren't for the remark she made a while ago about the pearl ring that will now stay in her mind till she dies as Neil's wife. Twisting the ring around her finger, Mia treads the silent hallway, the wooden floorboard creaking with every step she takes towards her mother's dressing room.

Is there any truth in what Sally said about the ring? Is her married life going to be filled with fights, heartbreak and tears? But no marriage is perfect. Surely there are going to be moments when they'd fight and might shed a few tears as a consequence, but that doesn't mean that her marriage is doomed for life!  Also, it isn't as if they had not fought before. They'd gotten into a nasty argument when Neil saw a man flirt with Mia at a party while she enjoyed the attention. He left the party with her right at that moment.

It took loads of convincing and promises of changed behaviour from both their sides and only then did things go back to normal. It was a month or so after, that Neil proposed to Mia.

Mom's marriage wasn't a happy one and she ended up divorced, she recalls as she walks down the lonely hallway that seems to go on forever. Will my marriage...... she stops in her tracks at the thought of leaving Neil. I'm being ridiculous, she tells herself and resumes walking. If anything happens, I will fix it, she tells herself confidently. Unless... Neil finds out about what happened.....then there will be nothing she could do! Neil had given her a last warning; if she continued being reckless, he'd leave her. Stop being paranoid, she scolds herself. He'll never find out because I'll never tell him. It is for our own good. She walks a little further and finally finds the door to her mother's dressing room that's almost open, as if expecting her.

 She peeps inside the room and her eyes fall onto a woman dressed in a pink silk gown passionately kissing a man about the height of her soon to be husband. It takes Mia a split second to realize that the woman is none other than her mother and the man is her fiancè and her heart sinks deep inside her. Mia reaches for the door handle to hold her steady on a ground that suddenly feels shaky under her feet. She lets out a painful gasp loud enough to startle the secret lovers. Her eyes move in disbelief between the face of her shocked and embarrassed mother and Neil's cold, indifferent face.

"Mia! Wait!" her mother calls out desperately as Mia turns to run towards her room, her vision blurred from the ocean of tears behind her eyes. How is this possible! How can it be! My own mother! No. No. No. This isn't real. How can he do this to me. He loves me. No. I must be dreaming. This can't be real. She runs as fast as her legs allow her in her wedding dress, the clacking of her heels filling the dull hallway.

She rushes through the door of her room and falls to the ground, pressing her palms on the icy white tiles. "Mia!" Sally exclaims and runs to help the fallen bride.

"What's wrong, Mia? Talk to me!"

But Mia doesn't say anything. Streams of tears continue flowing down her sparkling eyes as images of her mother and fiancè fill her head and its sharp edges stab every corner of her mind and body. I wish I am swallowed by the ground, she prays as she presses her arms on the freezing surface of the tiles, the pain forcing her body down to the ground. How could they! On my wedding! How could he do this to me. I loved him with every inch of my beating heart and he chose to betray me. All the promises he made, the love he showered me with, the kisses, the gifts-- they meant nothing! The look on his when I caught them, he seemed like he didnt care. He's a liar. A cheater. How dare he do this to me. How dare they go behind my back and betray me, the only two people close to me! I don't deserve this. I don't deserve to be hurting like this. I don't deserve this pain. They should be the ones to be punished. Not me!

Her palms fold into balls of rage and she screams, the miserable pain in her voice bouncing off the walls of her sunshine filled room and the gloomy hallway from which her mother comes running while Neil slowly walks into the room after her.

"Mia, please--"

"Don't touch me!" she barks, swatting away her mother's affectionate hands.

"Don't you dare come close to me! How dare you show me you face after what you've done!"

Her mother stands at a distance with a lowered head, her hands covering her quivering lips.

She pushes herself off the ground, stumbling as she attempts to stand and walks towards her mother. "Why, mom? How could you?" she says, wiping away heavy tears from her face.

"You're my mother!" she says, in a defeated voice and her mother lets out a sob hearing the words spoken by her daughter.

"I'm sorry, Mia. I--"

"'Sorry'?!" I will never forgive you for this!" 

She turns her angry eyes away from her mother to look at Neil who is standing with his arms folded, eyes fixed on his wounded bride. How is he standing there unbothered. There isn't a tiny bit of remorse on his face, she tells herself. Does he even care? She shrugs with slumped shoulders in his direction, her eyes brimming with salty tears. "I thought you loved me. You cheated on me with my own mother," she says, sobbing.

Neil moves closer to her, and adjusts her messy curls away from her face. "It hurts, doesnt it?"

All the eyes in the room turn towards him in astonishment. "This is exactly how I felt when I saw you kiss my step-dad that night."

Mia stops sobbing and her eyes stare blankly at her finacè's dejected face. He was not supposed to know this. It should've been a secret that Mia took to her grave. It was just one kiss. He's a charming gentleman, and that night, when the two of them were alone, Mia couldn't help herself. She's never able to. It's a wicked thing, this need inside of her-- the need to be wanted and desired. But something inside her changed the day Neil proposed to her. She finally felt seen. It was all that she had ever wanted, and now it's all gone. A suffocating pain rises from Mia's chest.

"Yeah, I saw the two of you that day," he says, glossy eyes shaking.

"It was nothing. Please, Neil--"

"No, Mia!" he growls. "I can't do this anymore. You will never change. You promised me that you'd stop. You promised!" A tear rolls down his pale bearded face.

"Neil, please," says Mia, eyes filling up at the sight of heartbroken fiancè.

Neil wipes his face violently and places his hands on his hips. " Was my love never enough for you Mia? Why did you betray me? All I ever wanted from you was loyalty. Was it so hard to give? "

"Neil, I've changed! Please--"

"You always say that!" he barks. "I'm not falling for that. Not anymore," he says, shaking his head.

"I was burning when I saw the two of you that night. The woman I loved was in the arms of my step father. I couldn't take it," he says, eyes red. "I waited. I waited for you to tell me after I proposed. I would've forgiven you if you had told me the truth. When I realized that you'd never tell, I began an affair with your mother. I wanted you to feel the pain I felt."

"You planned all this?" Mia stares at him in disbelief while her mother's face wears an expression of shock. How did it go this far? How did it go this wrong?

"You left me with no choice," he says.

"You could've forgiven me!" Mia screams in agony. "You should've forgiven me. One last time." she says, in a lowered voice.

"How do you expect me to forgive for what you did to me, when you can't forgive your mother for what she did to you?"

Neil's wipes his wet cheeks, removes the engagement ring from his finger, and throws it on the floor, stabbing Mia's heart. He takes a few steps backwards, staring defeatedly at his bride's glistening face and walks out of the room.

A few moments pass pass before the hallway fills with the echoes of hurried tapping of shoes on the wooden floorboard, and Neil's step dad arrives at the bride's door, his muscular chest rising and falling rythemically. He sees the sunken faces of the three women in the room, and for a second, says nothing.

"Neil just left," he says. "What... what happened here?"

"It's over, " says Mia. "Everything is over."