Page 78 of Ten Christmases Without You
Emmy nodded. “Did you ever find out who her fiancé was?”
“Yes.”
She looked up at her dad. “Who?”
He winced as he shifted in bed. His pillow fell behind his back, and he struggled to rearrange it. Emmy lifted it behind his head once more.
“Was it anyone we know?” she asked.
“Her fiancé was Mitchell Augustine,” he replied.
Emmy’s blood ran cold.
“I almost told you that day you called. I admitted to you that she’d been crying, but then I clammed up because I worried that if your mom had wanted you to know, she would’ve told you.”
“That explains a lot about Mitch’s demeanor when I first met him. He took quite a while to get back to me and only agreed to meet when he found out Mom had died. When we did meet, he seemed nervous and was quick to leave.”
“It was a whirlwind engagement. She told me all about it after we started dating seriously. Mitchell was a decent guy. He didn’t bother her after she left, but she was actively trying to leave Paris.”
“When did she realize she didn’t love him?”
“She was so young and inexperienced at life. As you know, Mitchell grew up incredibly wealthy. He proposed to her in the most romantic city in the world. She was swept up in all of it, but then, when she started planning her wedding, his family were incredibly difficult. They required a lot of her. They wantedher to build her own empire so she didn’t live off their son’s inheritance. They looked down on her because she didn’t know the etiquette of their elite society. Their behavior, however, actually saved her, because their judging eyes made her assess how much she loved him. Enough to endure that? Her answer was no.”
The pieces slowly came together. “She designed that wedding dress forherself. That’s why she wrote his name and then ‘Mrs. Augustine’ on the back. She was probably seeing how it felt to write her new name. And that was why Mitch had the dress, because she probably left it in Paris when she followed you to Tennessee.”
“Yes. His family was upset that she was designing her own dress. They wanted a name brand, given that their son was a designer himself. A few times, she admitted to me that she could tell his family was embarrassed by her, fabricating things to make her sound better than she was.”
How could anyone think her mother was less than amazing? “That makes total sense after what I read in here.” Emmy opened to the journal entries. “I thought Grandma and Grandpa were putting pressure on her, but I’ll bet this was about Mitch’s parents.”
“We faced a lot,” her dad said, his gaunt face serious. “We fell for each other quite quickly as well, and I worried whether she truly lovedme. Was this a matter of two people who were perfect for each other, or was it that she always fell hard and fast? I feared that she’d run off with me as a way to escape her old life. I always felt inferior to the high-end lifestyle she’d been living, and I was afraid she’d want that someday. She assured me she wouldn’t, and she couldn’t continue on her career path because his family had invested an incredible amount in her, and she knew she’d be disgraced in their circles if she left their son.”
Her father’s lips parted once more, but he remained silent.
“Is there something else?” she asked, breathless.
“I don’t know.”
“What do you mean?”
“I don’t want to say because I think it’s just my mind playing tricks on me.”
“You can tell me anything, Dad.”
Tears suddenly swelled in his eyes, his lip wobbling.
Emmy squeezed his hand.
He swallowed, his Adam’s apple bobbing against his pale neck. His gaze rolled up to the ceiling and then back to her. “When I was out of it, I saw your mom in my dreams, and she was insistent on telling you something that I’ve suspected all along. I don’t want to believe that the message was actually from her. It was probably just my imagination running wild.”
“Tell me anyway. What did Mom say?”
He hesitated. “Seeing her feltsoreal, and she was so adamant.”
“If anyone could figure out how to give you a message, it’s Mom. Tell me.”
His gaze shifted over the bed as he clearly wrestled with what he was going to say. “If, God forbid, I don’t make it, and I don’t say anything when she wanted me to…”
“Dad, you’re going to make it. You’re doing great,” Emmy said.
