On Her Wedding Night, The Bride Screamed, and Her Mother-in-Law Burst Into the Room. She Found Her Shaking on the Floor While Her Son Whispered, “She Had to Pay.”

“No, he did not touch me, but he cornered me against the wall until I had nowhere left to go,” Katherine replied.

“He talked at length about Beatrice, saying that I had ruined his life, that because of me she lost her job, her  family, and eventually lost him,” she continued.

“I had no idea what he was talking about, and when I tried to explain, he punched the wall right next to my head, and that is when I screamed,” she finished.

Grace felt both enormous relief and complete horror; the worst thing had not happened, but what had happened was already enough to break any marriage beyond repair.

She left Katherine resting in the kitchen and walked toward Caleb’s room.

She found him sitting on the floor, holding an old, battered leather notebook in his hands.

“Now you are going to talk to me,” Grace said, her voice lined with iron.

“And you are not going to lie to me one more time,” she added.

Caleb opened the notebook, his fingers trembling against the yellowed pages.

“Three years ago, I was planning to  marry Beatrice,” he said, his voice barely above a whisper.

Grace knew the story well; Beatrice had been a polite, soft-spoken young woman with eyes that always seemed full of quiet sadness.

Then one day, she had simply disappeared from Caleb’s life without any explanation.

“She left me because someone sent anonymous photos of her with a married man to that man’s wife, and it ruined everything,” Caleb explained.

“She got fired from her position at the firm, her entire family turned their backs on her, and I believed she had cheated on me,” he continued.

“Then I found this diary among her things, and Beatrice wrote that the person who sent those photos was actually Katherine, her supposed best friend,” he concluded, his voice heavy with hatred.

Grace felt a sharp pain stab through her chest.

“And is that the only reason you sought out Katherine and married her?” she asked, her heart breaking.

Caleb lowered his eyes, unable to meet his mother’s gaze.

“I recognized her the moment she came to the house with that mutual friend,” he admitted.

“At first, I only wanted to confront her, but then I decided that if I could make her fall in love with me, I could make her suffer just as I had suffered,” he said.

“But it all got out of hand because she was kind to me, and kind to you, and everyone in town grew to love her,” he added, his voice fading.