If Zac thought that Hope would come running back, he was terribly mistaken. Hope and Raphael booked into a hotel for the next week while they went house hunting, and moved in as soon as they had found a good one.
And then, to top things right off, the invitations went out. To Zac’s horror, they were getting married.
“Do you think he’s coming?” Hope asked Kelsey, as she got ready the morning of the big day.
“I… I don’t know.”
Hope looked rather unhappy.
“I wish he would come. I mean, I know he doesn’t like Raphael, but he could at least come to my wedding!”
“I know,” Kelsey sighed. “I have tried my best to talk him into it, but he simply won’t budge. Believe it or not, I think he’s more upset about you and Raphael being together than you are about his not coming. He loves you a lot, you know.”
“I love him too. I just wish he would give Raphael a chance.”
“As do I.”
Hope looked dejectedly in the mirror.
“Cheer up,” said Kelsey. “It’s your wedding day, and you’re getting married. You’re supposed to be happy.”
“Yeah, I suppose.”
“I suppose,” she mimicked, but with a small smile.
“Oh, quiet you.”
Kelsey just smirked.
**********
“ ‘Hope Hanson got married last Saturday’,” Kelsey read aloud from the social section of a newspaper, as she walked into the lounge room. “ ‘The groom’s name is unknown but conspicuous was the absence of Hope’s father, Zac Hanson’.”
Zac glowered into thin air.
“Don’t wanna talk scandal huh?”
“You don’t understand.”
“Don’t tell me I don’t understand -”
“But you don’t!” Zac yelled. “You don’t get it at all!”
“You’re alienating your daughter.”
“She’s throwing her life away. That… that… that boy is going to destroy her.”
“You don’t -”
“Shut up, Kelsey! I don’t want to hear any more,” and Zac stood up and stormed out of the room.
“That’s because you know I’m right!” she yelled after him.