“Only After the Wedding!” – She Told Her Fiancé.

Only after the wedding! she whispered to her fiancé.

Id just left the gym and saw I had seven missed calls from Mum, Amelia told the dreamteller. Then I read a text: Ring me back! Even though it was almost eleven, I decided to call her. Mum can be restless, staying up all night over nonsense. She begged me to come over, tears in her eyes, saying something had happened and the wedding might have to be called off.

Amelias sister, Lydia, was only twentythree. She was a driven fashion designer, already making a name for herself. About a year earlier shed finished her degree and snapped up a job straight out of her apprenticeship, which had turned into a permanent position at a London studio. Until that day, Lydias personal life had seemed a model to follow.

For a little over a year Lydia had been dating James. He was three years older, lived alone, worked hard and was saving for his own house. He seemed wellbroughtup and polite.

The couple had booked a slot at the local registry office; only a few weeks remained until the ceremony.

Someone messaged Lydia on social media! Amelia recounted. We dont know each other, but I know you and think you should hear this before you marry The stranger claimed to be in her forties, so Lydia assumed there was nothing urgent.

Instead, the unknown woman kept pestering her from different accounts, finally arranging to meet at a café near Lydias studio. Lydia sat at a small table, waiting, when a pregnant woman slipped in. At first she thought she was just another customer, but the womans gaze locked onto her.

Are you Lydia? the woman asked. Im Emma. Ive been seeing James for over a year, and in four months our baby will be born.

Lydia laughed it off. It sounded absurdhow could it be otherwise? She and James had been together for more than a year and were about to tie the knot! Emma didnt argue; she simply stood, handed Lydia her phone number, and said she could be called if any questions arose, even offering to speak with James.

When Amelia asked what James had said, the story twisted further. Emma claimed James had told her that everything would wait until after the weddingdating, kissing, cuddlingbut nothing more. James, a young man with some experience, had warned Emma from the start that nothing serious could happen between them; he wanted a casual arrangement to satisfy his own needs. Emma, recently divorced, had a child, received decent child support, and worked a steady job. The age gap seemed acceptable to her.

James said that when the baby arrived he would take a paternity test, and if the child turned out to be his, he would help. He blamed Emma, saying her oldfashioned expectations had caused the mess, while insisting he loved Lydia and wanted her not to leave him. He claimed Emma was only a physical outlet, and if Lydia had been wiser, Emma would never have entered his life.

James added that if the child were his, he would support it financially, but he had no intention of staying involved. Emma decided to keep the baby, and he offered to fund the procedure, which she refusednow it was her problem.

Do you think James is to blame, or is it his masculinity taking over, as a young man deprived of intimacy? Or should Lydia run from such a fiancé, since a lack of intimacy does not excuse betrayal?