The emcee and the guests were cheering.
"The couple's toast! The couple's toast!"
"Come on, ma'am, it's an important part of the ceremony. Shouldn't there be a little payoff before she says yes to the toast?" Serena's childhood sweetheart chimed in, needling on purpose.
"Right, Clyde Finch, hand over ten grand! Otherwise our Serena won't nod!" Her mother's eyes lit up at the mention of money.
That was the tenth "payoff to bless the marriage" of the day.
Serena's childhood sweetheart kept up his sneering from the side.
"This is a test the Montgomery family set for you, you know. If you can't even come up with this much, how are you going to take care of our Serena down the line?"
I turned a cold look on my wife, Serena.
"Is that what you think too?"
She rolled her eyes, still fussing with the hem of her dress.
"Clyde, all our relatives are here today. Can you not embarrass me?"
"If you won't do it, then there's no wedding today!"
Jackson Dickerson stepped up and reached into my pocket for the cash envelope. I shoved his hand away.
Then, all at once.
A pregnancy test slip fell out from inside his suit.
Patient: Serena Montgomery.
Everything in me went cold.
In all our time together, Serena had never once let me touch her.
I threw my drink straight into her childhood sweetheart's face.
"No wedding, then fine."
...
"Clyde, have you lost your mind?!"
"Clyde, you don't know a good thing when you see it!"
"Marrying into the Montgomerys was already reaching above your station. And you have the nerve to push your luck?"
The insults from Serena's relatives poured out like a rising tide.
Her mother's shrieking dug straight into my eardrums.
She jabbed a trembling finger at my nose. "You, you get down on your knees right now and apologize to Jackson!"
Serena stood at the side of the stage, her face going from red to white, then from white to green, her chest heaving.
She slapped me across the face, then looked down at me the way she always did.
"Looks, ability, personality, in what single way do you measure up to Jackson? What gives you the right to throw a drink on him?"
"Clyde, I'm ordering you to apologize to everyone here."
My cheek burned from the slap, and blood ran down to my lip.
"Serena, is your family's doorstep made of gold? You want me to apologize? In your dreams!"
I wiped at the blood, my mouth smeared red, and looked at Jackson.
"So, Jackson? How's the drink? That's ten-grand liquor right there. You'd better savor it."
Jackson glanced down at the wooden tag hanging on his chest and shook his head, contempt on his face.
"Clyde, this is you testing whether I'm good enough for Serena, isn't it?"
Seeing that I still said nothing, he went on. "Fine. I accept the test."
With that, he wiped the drink off his face.
He pulled out his phone, and a recording began to play.
"Ah, yes, yes, this is Clyde. Don't worry, Mr. Dickerson, I got the money, two hundred grand. From today on, I'm your dog, Mr. Dickerson. Point me anywhere and I'll bite. On the wedding day I'll play along, I promise."
"Once the wedding's done I'll leave. I won't stick around and be an eyesore to any of you."
"Jackson, you faked that! Give me that phone!"
I lunged at him, desperate to grab the recording.
"Took the money and still shows up to make a scene at the wedding? What a piece of work."
"And here I thought he was a decent guy. Never figured he had so much scheming in him."
The jeers around me swallowed my shouting.
In the middle of the chaos I looked at Serena, and there was nothing on her face but disgust.
"Clyde? In the eyes of a piece of trash like you, I'm only worth two hundred grand?"
"I guess it's true. To a dog, everything looks like filth."
She looked at me with contempt.
The talking, the cursing, they never stopped, layering louder and messier.
I looked at the cold Serena, the smug Jackson, the mother screaming like a fishwife.
And all of it suddenly felt so pointless.
It was time to leave.
I turned around, didn't spare them a single glance, and walked toward the door as the insults faded behind me.
Behind me, her mother was still shouting. "You stop right there! You're not walking out until this is settled today!"
