Jenna finds scorch marks on her perfect dress just a few days before her wedding. She is heartbroken and confused. As she looks for answers, she finds a shocking deception that changes everything. She is going to get even next time.
I never thought I’d be that woman who cried over a dress. But there I was at Bella’s Bridal, standing in front of the mirror with my hands over my mouth and makeup running. Tears were starting to form in my eyes.
My mom put her hand on my shoulder and said, “Oh, honey.” “You really do look beautiful.”
I ran my hands over the intricately beaded lace bodice and was amazed at how well it fit my curves before falling into a lovely tulle skirt. It was perfect, just the way I thought I’d dress when I married Adam.
I breathed, “This is it,” and spun around to face my mom. “This is the one.”
Another week went by, and I was still on cloud nine. The dress was safely zipped up in its garment bag and hung in the closet in the guest room, but I couldn’t help but look at it whenever I could.
“You’re crazy,” Adam joked one night as I came back from seeing my dress a third time.
I smiled and fell asleep on the couch next to him. “Is it your fault?” I get to wear that dress and marry you in three weeks. “I feel so lucky this morning.”
Adam grabbed me and kissed me on the face. He said in a low voice, “I’m the lucky one.”
That’s when I wished I knew how quickly my whole world was going to fall apart.
It took place on Tuesday morning. I remember because I didn’t have to work that day and was going to finish up some wedding plans. I almost skipped to the guest room because I was excited to see one more wedding dress every day.
My heart stopped when I opened the closet door, though.
I couldn’t understand what I was seeing at first. When I opened the clothing bag, my dress was inside, but it didn’t look right.
As I touched the fabric with shaking hands, I saw the big, ugly burn marks that were scarring the fine lace and beads.
I fell to the floor as my legs gave out. I could barely breathe as I let out a sob. This isn’t supposed to happen. It had to be a terrible dream. I reached for my phone and called my mom even though I was crying.
“Mom,” I choked out when she spoke back. I said, “The dress is ruined.”
“What?” Jenna, take it easy. “What took place?”
I tried to explain while crying, but nothing made sense. What could have caused this? Yesterday, the dress was fine.
Mom told him, “I’m coming over.” “Be still, honey. We’ll work this out.
After I hung up, I called Adam right away. On the second ring, he replied with a happy voice. “Hey, honey! “What’s up?”
I broke my voice and said, “Adam.” “A terrible thing took place.”
Even over the phone, he could tell I was shocked when I told him about the dress.
He said, “That’s not possible.” “How could that happen?” Are you sure that it wasn’t an accident? There must be something wrong with the electricity in the house, right?”
I thought his idea was crazy, but I was too upset to argue. I lied and said, “I don’t know.” “May I go home?”
“I have a big meeting that I can’t change,” he said, sounding truly sorry. “But I’ll get there right away, okay?” Don’t stress out. We’ll get this fixed.
After I hung up the phone, I had a bad feeling in my gut. There was something…off about this whole thing. I was set on finding out what it was.
In less than an hour, my mom arrived, and we looked at the dress together, trying to figure out what was wrong.
With a raised brow, she said, “It looks like it was ironed.” “But why would they do that?”
I felt sick and shook my head. “I’m not sure.” You and Jason are the only ones who have been here lately.
He was Adam’s best friend. He came by a few days ago to drop off some things for the wedding. But he wouldn’t do that, right?
Mom said, “Let’s look at the security cameras.” “Perhaps they got something.”
Adam put up cameras a few months ago, but I had forgotten about them. I opened the app on my phone with shaky hands and began to scroll through the video.
Then I saw it.
Adam, my Adam, walked into the guest room with an iron in his hand. It stopped my heart. As he took off the clothes bag and pressed the hot iron against my dress, he looked cool and almost methodical.
I dropped the phone and whispered, “Oh my God.” Mom picked it up and watched with a pale face.
“Jenna,” she said in a low voice. “I’m really sorry.” “What…why would he do that?”
I didn’t know how to answer that question, though. The rest of the day was a blur. I canceled my plans and didn’t pay attention to the worried texts from family and friends. I didn’t want to describe what had happened because I didn’t fully understand it myself.
I was waiting for Adam in the living room when he finally got home.
The torn dress was on the coffee table in front of us.
He turned white when he saw how I looked. Yes, Jenna, I can explain—
“Explain?” I cut him off, and my angry voice shook. “Explain how you damage my wedding dress on purpose.” “Why did you lie to me?”
He begged, “It’s not what you think.” It was Jason who told me things. About you and your ex. He told me that you were meeting up and that you were having doubts about us.
I looked at him with a mix of shock and anger in my eyes. “And you believed him?” You thought I’d cheat on you after five years of being together?”
Adam slouched his shoulders. “He said…” That would show how much you cared about the wedding, he said, if I ruined the dress. “About me.”
“So you chose to test me?” I spit. “How come you ruined my dream dress?”
Adam’s eyes were now filled with tears. “I am truly sorry, Jenna. I have no idea what I thought. We can fix this, please. We can get you a new dress—”
“A new dress?” I laughed very hard. “Do you think this is about the dress?” Adam, you lied to me. We lost everything because you were jealous and scared.
As I looked at the man I thought I knew, I understood something. The dress wasn’t the only thing that was broken beyond repair.
I said quietly, “The wedding is off.” “Someone who doesn’t trust me can’t be my spouse.”
While I left the room, the house, and the life we had planned together, Adam’s pleas became background noise.
Over the next few days, there were a lot of cancellations and excuses. My friends came together to help me and let me cry on their shoulders. As soon as the shock wore off, though, anger started to take its place.
Not just at Adam, but also at Jason. I saw that he was the cause of everything the more I thought about it. He used Adam against me, told him lies, and hurt our relationship in the end.
Why is that? Feeling envious? Are you bored? I knew I couldn’t let him get away with it, no matter what his reason was.
I looked around for a while before I found what I was looking for. There was proof that Jason had been cheating on Sophie, his serious girlfriend, for months. A common friend who had seen him out with another woman gave her dates, places to go, and even some photos that could be used against him.
I thought about what to do with this information for days. I wanted to talk to Jason about it, just to see the look on his face when he realized he was being caught. But in the end, I chose a different, more terrible way to do things.
I made a fake email account and sent everything to Sophie through it. There is no opinion or charge; only facts and proof to back them up.
It was a beautiful fallout.
Sophie broke up with Jason in public and called him out on social media for cheating on her. People in their group of friends quickly chose a side, and most of them sided with Sophie. Jason’s image, which he had worked hard to build up over years, fell apart in just a few days.
From afar, I felt a grim pleasure as I watched it all happen.
I didn’t fully understand how bad things were until I saw Adam again at a coffee shop a few weeks later.
After a weird welcome, I said, “I heard about Jason.”
Adam looked tired as he nodded. “Okay.” He had been lying to many people, not just me. I… Jane, I’m really sorry. For everything.
I looked at him for a while. The anger I had been hanging on to for weeks seemed to go away, leaving me with a dull pain of what could have been.
“I’m sorry for that.” “I’m sorry too,” I finally said. “Not because of what I did, but because of what we lost.”
I felt lighter as I walked away. It was over with the dress, the wedding, and the lie. The future that lay ahead was mine alone and not something I could have imagined.
I smiled for the first time in weeks.
