Valentina Harrison slammed the crumpled paper on the kitchen counter. “I don’t need a daughter like you!” she shouted, face flushed. “You’re a disgrace! How could I possibly hold my head up?”
“Mum, please calm down,” pleaded Katherine, tears welling in her eyes as she stood in the doorway. “Let’s talk this through properly.”
“Talk? What is there to say?” Valentina’s voice rose higher. “Dropped out of university, couldn’t find a proper job, and now this! Tying yourself with God-knows-who, a scandal on the street!”
Mrs. Clarke from the neighbouring flat peeked cautiously into the corridor, drawn by the commotion. Spoting the curious neighbour, Valentina’s fury flared. “See? The whole street knows! Twenty-five years I’ve poured my life into you, given you the best, and this is your repayment!”
Katy picked up the fallen paper, smoothing it with trembling hands. It was her application for her marriage licence. Her own form.
“Mum, but I’m happy,” she tried to explain. “Alex is a decent man, he loves me…”
“Decent?” Valentina let out a harsh, bitter laugh. “Divorced with a child, no steady job, ten years older! He sounds like a gold-digging layabout!”
“That’s not true! Alex works, he owns his own garage fixing cars…”
“Garage!” her mother snorted dismissively. “A lock-up, you mean! So, you’ll spend your life sniffing petrol and oil?”
Katy sank onto a chair, legs weak. She’d rehearsed this talk for days, hoping for understanding. Everything was unravelling.
“Mum, I’m an adult. I’m twenty-five.”
“Precisely!” Valentina exclaimed. “At your age, I was married to your father, working at the factory, getting council housing. And you? Flitting about, getting tangled with any Tom, Dick, or Harry!”
“Dad left you too,” Katy murmured softly, instantly regretting it.
Her mother’s face turned deathly pale with rage. “How dare you! Your father died in an accident! He never abandoned us!”
“Sorry, Mum, that came out wrong…”
“Oh, you meant it!” Valentina paced the small kitchen like a caged lioness. “Fancy repeating my mistake? Left alone with a child? This Alex of yours already shattered one family!”
“They divorced mutually. It just didn’t work out.”
“Didn’t work out! I suppose it’ll work with you?” Valentina sat opposite Katy, fixing her with a piercing stare. “Do you know what you’re getting into? He’s got a child needing support! Child maintenance due! What scraps will you’ve got left?”
Katy rubbed her temples, silent. Her head throbbed from the shouting, a dull ache in her chest. She’d dreamt of sharing her joy, planning the wedding dress together…
“Honestly,” Valentina continued, “where did you even meet him? Down some back alley?”
“At Olivia Peterson’s birthday. Remember I told you?”
“Olivia Peterson!” Her mother waved her arms. “That’s the one on her third engagement? Fine company you keep!”
“Mum, what’s Olivia got to do with it? Alex was a friend of a guest…”
“A ‘guest’? Men like that aren’t ever just ‘guests’. They hunt out trusting girls like you.”
Katy jumped up. “Enough! You don’t even know him, yet you judge!”
“Why should I know him?” Valentina stood too. “I see it plainly. You look lost, you’ve lost weight, eyes shadowed. This is your happiness?”
“I lost weight worrying. I knew you’d object.”
“Of course I object! I didn’t raise you just to throw your life away on some chancer!”
The doorbell chimed sharply. Mother and daughter fell silent, listening intently.
“Is it him?” Valentina hissed.
“Yes, we planned to meet.”
“Not an inch! He won’t cross this threshold!”
“Mum, please! Just meet him. Maybe you’ll reconsider.”
“Never!”
Another, more insistent ring.
“Katy? It’s me,” came a man’s voice.
Katy looked at her mother imploringly. “Mum, just five minutes.”
Valentina hesitated, but curiosity won. “Let him in. Five minutes only. And don’t let him darken my door again.”
Katy opened the door. A tall man, mid-thirties with dark hair and tired eyes stood there. He held a bouquet of white roses.
“Hello,” he said, stepping into the hall. “You must be Valentina? I’m Alex Bennett.”
Katy’s mother scrutinised him head to toe: jeans, leather jacket, working hands. Exactly as she’d pictured.
“Hello,” she replied flatly, not offering her hand.
“These are for you.” Alex held out the flowers. “Katy speaks so highly of you.”
“Save your charm,” Valentina retorted, but took the roses. “Kitchen.”
They sat at the small table. Katy saw the tension in Alex’s shoulders even though he appeared calm.
“So. You intend to marry my daughter,” Valentina began without preamble.
“I do. I love her.”
“Love her. Can you provide?”
“I can. I have steady work, regular earnings.”
“In a lock-up.”
“An MOT garage,” Alex corrected. “I have three full-time mechanics.”
“And your child maintenance? Paying that?”
Katy flushed with shame.
“Mum!”
“Yes, I pay,” Alex replied evenly. “And will continue. He’s my son.”
“Exactly. What will my daughter live on?”
“Valentina, I understand your concern. But I intend to care for Katy, not use her.”
“Fine words. Your first wife? Did you ‘care’ for her?”
Alex paused, gathering himself. “We married too young, unthinkingly. Turned out we wanted different lives. She craved a fortune; I was just starting out. Constant rows… In the end, splitting was best.”
“I see. So with Katy, it’s suddenly different?”
“It is. Because we fit.” Alex met her gaze steadily.
Valentina stood and walked to the window. “Katy, leave us a minute. Your fiancé and I need a private word.”
Her daughter reluctantly left. Valentina sat facing Alex.
“Listen carefully. Katy’s my only child. I’ve poured my life into her, hoped she’d marry well, live comfortably. What can you offer her?”
“Love, loyalty, a true home.”
“Words! What about bricks? Live here?”
“No. I rent a two-bed flat. I’ll put Katy on the tenancy agreement.”
“Rented. Splendid. When is your own place?”
“Saving for a deposit on a mortgage. Should be ready within a year.”
Valentina shook her head. “A year. Maybe. If it doesn’t fall through? Katy flitting between rented rooms forever?”
“It will happen,” Alex stated firmly.
“Such certainty?”
“I have loyal customers, the business grows. I don’t drink, gamble; every penny’s for my family.”
“Your first wife likely thought the same.”
Alex sighed. “Valentina, your worry for Katy is natural. But give me a chance to prove I won’t fail her.”
“And if you do? What then? She comes back broken with a child?”
“I won’t fail her.”
“Promises are easily made.”
Katy returned. “Well? Spoken?”
Her mother looked from Katy to Alex. “We have. And I’ll tell you this: I oppose this marriage.”
“Mum!” Katy cried.
“No! You’re too good for him
Charlotte swallowed her own worries about the future, trusting Emily’s heart even as she quietly prayed her daughter’s choice wouldn’t lead to heartache like her own past, leaving only time to judge the wisdom of her decision.
