Chapter 5: What Chloe Had Been Hiding
Ethan didn't raise his voice.
That somehow made the confrontation worse.
He stood in front of Chloe with his phone in one hand, reading the email as if he hoped the words would change if he looked at them long enough.
“Explain this,” he said.
Chloe reached for his arm.
“Ethan, please. Let me talk to you privately.””
“You've had plenty of private conversations with me.””
“Not about this.””
“Exactly.””
He turned the screen toward her.
The email contained the wedding payment summary. The payments totaling $85,000 were recorded under Mrs. Bennett's name. The outstanding balance was $32,000.
Below that was the correspondence showing that Chloe had described the payments differently to her fiancé.
Ethan's face tightened.
“You told me your father was paying.””
“I thought he might help.””
“You said he already had.””
“I was going to explain.””
“When?””
Chloe glanced at me, silently pleading for intervention.
I didn't move.
Ethan continued.
“You told me your stepmother had offered to help with a few decorations. You made it sound like she'd paid for the flowers and nothing else.””
Mrs. Bennett looked down at the invoices.
Chloe's shoulders rose as she inhaled sharply.
“I didn't want you to feel like we owed her.””
Ethan stared at her.
“We do owe her.””
“Not like that!””
“Then what do you mean?””
Chloe looked around. Several guests had begun to drift toward the doors, sensing that the wedding was no longer proceeding as planned.
She lowered her voice.
“I didn't want you to think my family couldn't afford our wedding.””
Ethan gave a short, disbelieving laugh.
“Your family?””
“I meant us!””
“You told me you had saved money. You told me you were covering the extra expenses because you wanted the wedding to reflect your taste.””
“I was trying to make everything work.””
“By telling me your father was paying?””
She looked away.
Ethan shook his head.
“Do you understand what bothers me? It's not that somebody helped us. I would have thanked your stepmother.
I would have been grateful. We could have discussed the costs and figured out what we could afford.””
He paused.
“You made sure I couldn't make an informed decision because you didn't want me to know the truth.””
Chloe began to cry again.
“I was embarrassed.””
“Then you should have told me.””
“I thought you'd be disappointed.””
“I am disappointed.””
The words landed heavily.
Chloe pressed a hand against her chest.
“Please don't do this today.””
Ethan looked at her for a long moment.
“I didn't slap anyone today. I didn't lie about who was paying. And I didn't tell the woman helping us that she contributed absolutely nothing to the family.””
Chloe winced.
Mrs. Bennett finally looked up.
“Ethan, I don't want you to make a decision about your marriage because of me.””
He turned toward her.
“I'm not making a decision because of you. I'm trying to understand the person I'm about to marry.””
My wife nodded slowly.
“That's fair.””
Chloe shook her head.
“Can everyone stop acting like I'm some monster? I made a mistake. I wanted a beautiful wedding. Is that such a terrible thing?””
“No,” Ethan replied.
“But what did you do to get it?””
The question silenced her.
He lowered his phone.
“I need the truth about the remaining thirty-two thousand dollars.””
Chloe's expression changed immediately.
I noticed it.
So did my wife.
“What about it?”” Chloe asked.
“Where were you planning to get the money?””
“I told you. I was working on it.””
“That isn't an answer.””
She glanced at the coordinator.
The woman stood a short distance away, giving the family space while remaining close enough to answer questions about the account.
Chloe looked back at Ethan.
“I expected my dad to help.””
“I already told you I never agreed to pay the balance,” I said.
“You could have changed your mind!””
“Based on what? You telling me the bill was already handled?””
She covered her face with both hands.
For a few seconds, nobody spoke.
Then Mrs. Bennett asked the question I had been avoiding.
“Chloe, did you spend money that was supposed to go toward the final payment?””
My daughter lowered her hands.
“No.””
My wife waited.
Chloe looked at Ethan.
Then she looked at me.
Finally, she whispered, “Some of it.””
Ethan stepped back.
“How much?””
“I don't know exactly.””
“Chloe.””
“I said I don't know exactly!””
Her voice cracked, and she began twisting the ribbon around her bouquet.
I felt my hands go cold.
“What do you mean, you spent some of it?”” I asked.
She swallowed.
“I had money set aside. I was going to use it to cover the final balance.””
“Where did it go?””
She didn't answer.
Ethan's expression hardened.
“Did you use it for something else?””
Chloe nodded.
“What?””
She looked at her fiancé, tears running down her face.
“I paid off some other expenses.””
“What expenses?””
“My credit cards. A few things I needed to take care of.””
Ethan stared at her.
“You told me your cards were paid off.””
“They were supposed to be!””
“And the wedding money?””
“I was going to replace it.””
“With what?””
Chloe's silence returned.
I felt a wave of anger, but beneath it was something more painful: the realization that my daughter had been making financial decisions while allowing the people around her to believe something entirely different.
My wife sat down on a nearby chair.
For the first time that morning, she looked exhausted.
Ethan noticed.
“Mrs. Bennett, are you all right?””
“I'm fine,” she replied automatically.
Then, after a moment, she added, “I'm not sure I know what fine means anymore.””
Chloe approached her.
“Please don't do this. I know I hurt you.””
My wife looked at the hand Chloe extended toward her.
She didn't take it.
“You hurt me when you slapped me,” she said.
“But you hurt me long before that when you decided I was useful only as long as I paid for things.””
Chloe's hand fell.
“That isn't true.””
“Then why did you want me out of the photographs?””
“Because I wanted my mother there.””
The words escaped before Chloe could stop them.
Everyone went quiet.
Mrs. Bennett's face softened, though her eyes remained wet.
“I know you miss your mother.””
Chloe shook her head.
“You don't understand.””
“Perhaps I don't understand everything. But I've never asked you to stop loving her.””
“You always wanted to take her place!””
My wife stared at her in disbelief.
“No, Chloe. I wanted to be someone you could love without feeling that you were betraying her.””
Chloe began sobbing.
Ethan looked away, rubbing a hand over his face.
I remembered the first years after my late wife died. Chloe had been young, angry, and terrified that anyone new in our lives would erase her mother's place.
Mrs. Bennett had never tried to replace that place.
She had simply shown up.
She had helped with school projects, brought soup when Chloe was sick, and sat quietly beside her when anniversaries became difficult.
And now Chloe was using her mother's memory to justify a cruelty that had nothing to do with grief.
My wife stood.
“I think we should stop this conversation until everyone can speak honestly.””
Chloe wiped her face.
“Are you leaving?””
“No. I'm giving you room to decide what you want to do next.””
Then Mrs. Bennett turned toward Ethan.
“Please don't feel pressured to proceed with anything today because money has already been spent. Those payments have been made. They cannot be undone by an argument, and they shouldn't determine the future of your relationship.””
Ethan nodded.
“I understand.””
He looked at Chloe.
“I need to know whether this is the only thing you've hidden from me.””
She didn't answer quickly enough.
His face changed.
“Chloe?””
She looked down at her bouquet.
“There is one more thing.””
I stepped closer.
“What?””
Chloe's breathing became shallow.
She glanced at the coordinator, then at the tablet in the woman's hands.
“It's about the account I used to hold the money.””
Ethan went still.
“What account?””
Chloe closed her eyes.
May you like
And when she opened them, she looked directly at her father.
“Dad, I need you to understand something before you hear the rest.””