The Third Time's the Charm

As Dale passed by us, something interesting happened. His eyes found mine, and he looked pleased. I swear my pussy started to drip when he looked at me. But then he saw Andy sitting next to me; his expression changed. It was fleeting, almost so fast that it was imperceptible. And truly only someone who knew Dale really well would have caught it. But I did. When he saw Andy, he was pissed. He played it off really well. But I still caught it, and I knew what it meant. He was upset that I was with Andy.

That made me extremely happy because it meant that against all odds, there was a chance for us. Against all common sense and reason, Dale was still carrying a torch for me. All I had to do was fan the flames of that torch into an inferno, and I could be the happiest woman in the world.

I watched him striding purposefully to the back of the church, as the attendees waited for their first glimpse of Lauren. At that moment, something bothered me. I wondered why Shannon wasn't getting married.

I love both of my daughters, but of the two of them, Shannon is the more beautiful. Logic would dictate that she would get married first. Our family had no traditions about the older children marrying first. It seemed unlikely that Lauren would have found a man before Shannon did unless...

As I watched for the first glimpse of Lauren and pondered Shannon's curious unattached state, Andy leaned over to speak to me.

"Yeah, that'll work," he mumbled. "You imagine I'm him. I'll imagine you're that tea bag chick. We'll do it all night."

Apparently, Andy had failed to realize that just leaning over and talking into my ear without lowering his volume didn't count as whispering. Everyone around us heard him. A few more people moved away from us.

And then the organist started the wedding march and took all the attention away from us. Lauren looked beautiful in her dress. I recognized my granddaughters as they walked before Lauren spreading Rose petals and holding flowers in her path. Surprisingly, they didn't even look up as they passed me. They had really grown since I saw them last.

"God damn it! I wonder how much money old Dale spent on that dress!" exclaimed Andy. The ushers looked as if they were ready to throw him out. Lauren looked over at him angrily as she started her walk.

"These people are all saps," said Andy. "Most of them really believe she's his daughter. He can actually have the other one. She's gonna turn on him one day. She's gonna turn on him just like she did on me. That Shasta is a ticking time bomb. Mark my words."

"Sir, if you can't contain yourself, we're going to have to ask you to leave," said the usher.

Andy grumbled, but he was quiet after that. He got angry during the part where the preacher asked who gave Lauren away. Dale did a great job. He said he was her Dad. He didn't lie. He never said "father." But somehow Andy was still pissed.

"Yeah, he's her Dad," he grumbled. "But I'm her FATHER. I should be the one up there."

The usher started over to us but Shannon, beat him. I think it was because the usher was nervous about having actually to escort someone out of the ceremony. Shannon, on the other hand, was itching to tangle with Andy again. I could see it on her face. But even faster than Shannon was the wedding planner. It was her job to make everything run smoothly. I guess she'd get paid less if they had to throw anyone out.

"Get the fuck out of here, now," hissed Shannon just loud enough that only Andy and I could hear her.

"Shan, this is a really emotional time for all of us," said the wedding planner. "We all want Lauren's day to be perfect, right?"

Shannon nodded, and the grimace left her face. I was floored that the woman had a nickname for my daughter and even more so that Shannon allowed her to get away with it.

"Give him one more chance, okay?" she said.

"Next time I hear his voice, I'll roll his ass down the stairs, wheelchair and all ... myself, Mom," said Shannon. She turned and walked back to her spot as the preacher continued with his speech about the joys of love and marriage.

"Brenda, you guys have to hold it in," said the woman. But I didn't even hear her talking. I was still in shock from Shannon calling the woman "Mom." What the hell was going on here?

"I'll try to move your seat to one of the outer tables," she continued. "That way it will be easier to get his wheelchair into and out of the seating area for the reception. This really is partly my fault. I didn't know that you'd be bringing anyone. And I never expected him to be in a wheelchair. Shannon did speculate that you might bring Andy, but she was only joking. She is kind of a "glass is always empty type of girl."

I just nodded, still in shock. The woman was talking to me about my own daughter as if we were friends. Or as if we had a connection of some sort.

I don't know where she got it from, but she pulled her phone out and rapidly opened some sort of list. "You two are coming to the reception, correct?" she asked.

I nodded again. She rattled off a choice of meal types, and Andy quickly told her he wanted the steak. I was still standing there stunned until I realized that she was waiting for my answer. I didn't even remember the choices.

"I'll put you down for the Salmon," she said. "That's what I'm having. I sampled all the meal choices, and it really is the best of them. Wait until you taste that sauce..."

As she left, she turned back to us. "Uh ... I'm putting the two of you down as non-alcoholic, as well," she said.

I had to get to the bottom of this. Why the fuck was my daughter calling the wedding planner, Mom? Then suddenly it hit me. The whole one big happy family theme of the wedding.

The woman was very likely the groom's mother, and since she would be Lauren's mother in law, she'd probably told Lauren to call her Mom. It was the same way that Mindy called me Mom. And since Shannon was Lauren's sister. She probably let Shannon call her mom too.

"Did ya see that?" smiled Andy, next to me. "The English chick has the hots for me. Did ya see the way she ran over to save me when your frosty ass daughter wanted to throw us out? Oh yeah, she wants me."

His level of self-delusion had reached new heights. But I had a funny feeling in the back of my mind. There was something I was missing. In a way, it might've been better if they had thrown Andy out. I could have taken him home and then came back for the reception, alone.

The rest of the ceremony passed without incident. I was confused though. The usher confused me even more when he pointed out the groom's parents. They were an older couple. But I did see the English woman spending a lot of time with them. So she had to be connected with them somehow.

Finally, the bride and groom had their traditional kiss, and they left the church. As they walked down the stairs, we sprinkled rice over them. Andy chucked his rice straight at them, laughing his ass off as he almost fell out of the chair. Luckily, for us, he missed badly. I was sure that if he had hit them, we'd have been in trouble. Just as they got to the limo that had been arranged to take them to a nearby hotel to change clothes, Lauren threw the bouquet.

She had thrown it over her head and backwards so she had no idea who would catch it. With at least ten bride's maids and a few other single women fighting for it, fate had to have taken a hand. The bouquet flew over all the women clawing for position and landed in the arms of the one woman who didn't want it. The bouquet landed in Shannon's hands.

A half-hour later, I was at the reception hall. I was looking in every direction trying to find Dale. I knew that he was there somewhere, but I couldn't find him. Andy and I were sitting at a table that was off to one side, with two other couples.

"Find Sharmaine," spat Andy. "She's always so close behind him that it seems like she's halfway up his butt. If you find her, you'll find him."

That pissed me off for two reasons. One, because Andy knew who I was looking for. I thought I was being slick, but he had known anyway. And secondly because he was right. I just looked through the hall finding every one of the pale yellow bride's maid dresses until I found the one I was looking for.

I was an idiot. Shannon was sitting at the main table. Where else would she be? And the reason I couldn't find Dale was typical of them. Dale was talking to the father of the groom. They were having a very animated and friendly seeming conversation, and Shannon was perched on Dale's leg as if she was still a little girl. She was taking in every word he said.

Sometimes I wondered if the two of them knew how odd the things they did looked to other people. But then I realized that neither of them gave a damn about other people. My daughter and her dad lived in their own little world, and they rarely allowed anyone else into it.

I had been allowed in for a while, and I vowed to claw my away back in there. There was a spot in that world that was just big enough for me, and I wanted it back. My spot was to fulfill the one thing her daddy needed that Shannon couldn't provide. He'd be happier with me back in their lives, and eventually she'd accept it. She was on the verge of doing so the last time.

The party was in full swing, but to me, none of it mattered. There were people dancing and eating and drinking and having a good old time, but my focus was on that first table.

Andy had gotten pissed that we couldn't drink. Dale had spared no expense, and the bar was stocked with any type of liquor that we had heard of and some that we hadn't. But we were on some sort of non-drinking list.

"Oh that haughty bitch!" chuckled Andy. "She knows that most men aren't as randy when they're drunk, and she wants ta make sure I deliver the goods. Have you noticed the way she keeps looking at me?"

I looked across the room to where she was organizing and directing yet another of the thousands of details that needed to be attended to. And damn it if she wasn't staring at us. I got the idea thought that she was staring at me rather than Andy.

Then everyone started to clap as Lauren, and her new husband walked in. The DJ announced them for the first time as Mr. and Mrs. whatever the hell his last name was, and they had their first dance as a married couple. And then it hit me like a fucking explosion. It was like getting hit in the face with a two by four.

The DJ announced a dance for the parents of the happy couple. I saw the groom's mother, and father go out onto the dance floor and then Dale went out to dance too. I saw him looking around and realized that, shit, I was supposed to be out there dancing with him. I got up nervously and started for the dance floor. Before I got out here and embarrassed myself, she appeared out of nowhere. Dale held his arms open, and she was in them. Dale's hands settled gently onto her waist, and they danced. As they danced, it was clear that they were a couple.

I saw nothing but fucking red. The rage that filled me was so hot that I started to sweat. As I watched impotently, they changed partners and Dale was dancing with the groom's mother, while the groom's dad danced with the English woman. Then they changed back and everyone else went out onto the dance floor. I was angry and hurt and shocked all at the same time.

I turned and asked one of the other women at the table who the English woman was. "Oh, that's Maggie," chirped the woman. "Let's see. She's the mother of the bride. I think she's really her stepmother. She's married to Dale. She lives with Dale and Shannon. She planned the entire wedding, along with Shannon and Mindy and the groom's mother. I think poor Lauren has been too busy with school to be much help." Then she looked at me curiously.

"Who do you know here?" she asked.

"Apparently no one," I said. I felt really bad then. But not nearly as badly as I felt a few moments later. Andy was yammering away about something. I wasn't paying him any attention. I saw Jeff and Mindy looking around the room for something. I decided to talk to them to find out what the hell was going on.

Before I could move, my granddaughters crept past me, obviously hiding from their parents. "Mommy and Daddy are gonna be mad," said Misti.

"So what," said Ashley. "I want some of that cake. All we have to do is get to Grandma before they find us." As the two threaded their way between the tables staying low enough that their parents didn't see them, they missed the sound of an old woman's heart shattering.

They spotted and then made a beeline for Dale and Maggie. They reached them just in time; Jeff and Mindy had seen them and headed for the main table calling them. Apparently, all the children at the wedding were supposed to stay in another room where they had games and a kid's movie playing.

The two ran to and were scooped up by Maggie just as Jeff got to them, trying to take them back to the kid's room. As I watched Maggie interceded for the girls, and a smiling Mindy hauled Jeff off to the dance floor.

Maggie, with the girls in tow walked over to the table where the cake waited. Maggie picked up the microphone and announced that she would not be waiting for Lauren and Greg to cut the cake. She handed the cake knife over to Ashley, who cut a very small piece for her sister Misti, and then cut a huge piece for herself. She also didn't bother with plates or forks. She just sank her mouth into the huge piece of cake. She looked up at Maggie with frosting all over her mouth and gave her the thumbs up sign.

Maggie erupted in laughter and sank to her knees to hug the little girl, completely disregarding the expensive dress she wore. The photographers swarmed them. The only thought that I had was, that it should have been me. It should have been me in that beautiful dress, ruining it to hug MY granddaughter. It should have been me spoiling my granddaughter. It should have been me planning Lauren's wedding. It should have been me sitting on Dale's God damned lap. It all should have been me.

I couldn't take any more of it at that point. I had been ignored, forgotten, and passed over by my own family. My own daughter had schemed to replace me in her dad's heart. The man I loved had thrown me aside over a few mistakes that were beyond my control. Meanwhile, I had been abused, pimped, and taken advantage of by a pure asshole that was still leeching off of me.

I had no business and no desire to bust my ass waitressing to take care of and minister to Andy's needs. He was sucking the life out of me, and I was getting nothing out of it. I just ... I couldn't take it anymore. I grabbed my purse and ran out of the church.

I had no idea where I was going. I also had no idea what I would do when I got there or whether or not I would ever come back. I just needed to get away. I jumped into my minivan and tore out of the parking lot.

Tears were freely streaming from my face as I thought of the humiliation I had just undergone. No one at the fucking wedding had even known who I was. This should have been a day where I was second in importance only to the bride. This should have been a wonderful day for me.

Instead, I was ignored, forgotten, and humiliated. I both loved Dale more than ever before and hated him more than I ever had, at the same time. Dale had invited me to that fucking fiasco just to rub it in my face. This was his revenge for what he perceived as me cheating on him. That was ridiculous because every time I had gotten caught, it had been me more than anyone else who suffered.

This was why Dale hadn't taken any revenge against me before now. This was all a part of his big plan to ... I made a hard left turn and careened into the parking lot of a bar I had just passed.

Except for three or four men, the place was empty. I sat down at the bar, and every eye turned to me.

"Whiskey!" I gurgled. "Now!"

"What kind?" asked the bartender.

"The wet kind," I spat. "The kind that'll get me so drunk I won't remember my fucking name."

Three doubles later, and I started to calm down. More importantly my ability to reason seemed to be supercharged.

Suddenly, everything seemed to be clear. Dale wasn't the revenge type. When he had caught us the first time, he had thrown me out of the house but nothing else. The second time he had beaten the shit out of Andy, but that had only been because Andy was hitting me and Lauren. Dale loved me too much to take any kind of revenge. This whole thing smelled like that fucking Shannon. For some reason, that little bitch hated me. And at that moment, the feeling was mutual. I felt a profound sense of regret that I had given birth to that monster.

Every time that I started to get close to Dale it had been Shannon, who pulled me away from him. It was always Shannon, who convinced him that we needed to be apart. In some twisted way, my daughter hated me. After a few more drinks, I was sure that Shannon wanted me dead and the only way I could survive would be to take her out first. Shit, I'd still have a daughter left. Lauren wasn't quite as pretty, but she was a lot more amiable.

Besides, I could always promote Mindy to full-fledged daughter instead of a daughter in law. They had all promoted that English woman from Step mother to mother; I could do the same for Mindy, if she acted the right way.

A few more drinks and I had the beginning of my plan and a few new friends. Two of the men in the bar had decided to give me a massage to help me think. One of them made the best suggestion I had heard in days. He offered to give me a full-body massage, if only we could find a place.

"Hey, I'm not married," I said. "We can go to my place."

"Do you even remember where you live?" he laughed.

"Of course," I said. "I live at ... uhm ... that place on all of my ID cards."

* * * * * *

Dale

The wedding was going really well. I was dancing with Maggie and Shannon at the same time. I was holding both of them tightly when suddenly, Shannon stiffened. At first, I thought that what was going on was too weird for her. Then she grabbed my hand with one of hers and pointed with the other.

We watched as a clearly hysterical Brenda started screaming and ran out of the hall.

"She's probably pissed because she didn't get the first piece of cake," spat Shannon.

"Shan, she's obviously in some kind of pain," said Maggie.

"As much pain as she's caused; it's good to see her get some for a change," said Shannon.

"Nope," said Maggie. "We are having a wonderful day. It's Lauren's day. We are not going to earn our happiness at the cost of someone else's misery."

"Crap," said Shannon. "You want us to do something stupid don't you?" Maggie just nodded.

"I want you to help me keep order here," she said. "I want your Dad to go and find out what's wrong with Brenda."

"Me?" I asked. "Why the hell do I have to go?"

"Because you were married to her for a long time," said Maggie. "You know how she ticks."

"Mom, get Mindy to stop rubbing up against my brother and help out," said Shannon. "I'm going with him. We're going to take Jeff's SUV."

"You have a better chance of catching her in your cars, don't you think?" asked Maggie. "As upset as she was we don't know if she's okay to drive."

"Yeah but she left that thing behind," said Shannon pointing at Andy, who was turning circles in his wheelchair trying to spot Brenda.

We drove to Brenda's apartment, but she wasn't there. We'd left Andy in the truck and went back when we found out that Brenda hadn't gone home.

"Andy do you have a key so we can let you in?" I asked.

"Brenda keeps the keys," he grumbled. We drove to the restaurant that Brenda worked in, but she wasn't there. We drove around aimlessly then and finally decided to go back to Brenda's apartment to wait for her.