Chapter 5 Advising Victoria (One)

• “I kid you not.” She was saying as Carol came into the room. “He’s so generous. I mean, just look at this pendant. He got it for me, he did…or rather, his father did. That man is sooooo generous. Supposing I was still single, I wouldn’t have wasted any second getting into his bed.” She confided in a whisper to her enraptured audience of about seven women, but Carol heard her.
• “Mom!”
• “Oh dear, there you are. Now, do hurry to your sister’s room if you do have any plans of still being her chief bridesmaid. You must be careful though, I must say she is in such a mood and we do not want to upset her further. Wedding jitters, I suppose, although why she should be having wedding jitters or second thoughts when she’s getting to such a fine man as he to be her husband is beyond me.”
• “Um, mum. Do you even know the name of the man your beloved daughter is getting married to?” Carol asked in shock and watched as her mother’s cheek turned bright pink in embarrassment.
• “What a ridiculous question. Of course, I do. What sort of mother do you think I am?” Belinda asked, glaring at her first daughter. Carol noticed that she did not bother to say the name.
• “Well, I don’t know his name or anything about him and Victoria is marrying him tomorrow. It’s just weird, that’s all.”
• “Leave this place this instant! You should count yourself lucky that your sister wants you in her wedding at all and stop making such a fuss.” Belinda said and turned her back on Carol to continue talking to her friends.
• Carol shook her head and walked around, searching for her father, but could not find him anywhere. He was the only one in her family that she could really relate to, although that was when her mother was not around. Whenever her mother was around, he usually acted like a little boy who had to follow her every wish. It was irritating, to say the least.
• Since she could not find her father anywhere, she climbed the stairs slowly and reluctantly to go to her sister’s room. If her mother said Victoria was in a mood, then the situation was terrible and she was in n0 mood to deal with such, but she had no choice. Once she was at the door, she knocked gently and listened for a response, but did not get any. She knocked louder, but there was still no response from inside the room.
• “Victoria?” Carol called out and then tried to turn the doorknob. To her surprise, the door opened, so she stepped inside the room cautiously. It was somewhat dark as Victoria had pulled down her blinds, but Carol could see the outline of her body on the bed where she was laying. She turned on the light in the room, but still, Victoria did not budge from where she was lying. Carol sighed, knowing how dramatic her sister could be, and went to sit on the bed beside her.
• “So are you going to say you didn’t hear me knocking on the door?” She asked and got only a quiet sniffle for her inquiry.
• “Hey. What’s wrong?”
• Victoria sat up and wiped at her face. It was obvious and somewhat surprising that she had been crying for a long time. When her mother had said tantrums, Carol had expected to see her sister flinging things around the room in a rage as she was wont to do anytime she got angry.
• “So are you ready to tell me what’s wrong?” Carol asked after her sister only sat there and stared at the wall with tears running down her face for a good five minutes after she first asked the question.
• “I…”
• “Yes?”
• “I don’t want to marry him.”
• “Why don’t you want to marry him? I thought you were in love with him.”
• Victoria did not answer so Carol had to try again.
• “I…I don’t really know. Mom just said I had to, that he was very rich and was going to make a wonderful husband, and that she wants me to be happy.”
• “Hmmm. So are you saying that you do not know him? I thought you said you both met two weeks ago and that he is very handsome.”
• “I lied. I don’t have any idea what he even looks like.” Victoria said, glancing away in embarrassment. There was something else on her face that told Carol that she was hiding something, but she did not know what on earth it was.
• “So why on earth did you agree to marry him? Who still does that in this age and time when it is not as though we are still in the Stone Age? I’m not going to ask why I was not informed about this because first of all, I’m hardly involved in anything concerning this family, and mum also knows that I’d never have agreed to this.”