WRECKING the wedding

Molly was determined to stop her mum from remarrying Molly, 22, Bathurst, NSW*

Dad left when I was two so it had always been just Mum and me. We were close, and she made lots of sacrifices to be the best parent she could be.

The biggest thing she sacrificed, though, was men, and I wasn’t sorry. I wanted it to be just the two of us forever.

Then, when I was 15, a man came over.

‘Hi, I’m David,’ he said. ‘I just moved in next door.’

‘I’m Caitlin, and this is my daughter Molly,’ Mum smiled.

Sparks between them flew instantly.

Over coffee, he told

Mum he was divorced with two grown-up kids.

‘We’ve been here for years,’ Mum said, ‘so if there’s anything you want to know, just ask.’

After that, David was around constantly. He’d come to ask when garbage day was, and where the best restaurants were.

I could see where it was going. Sure enough, David asked Mum to go with him to the restaurants he’d asked about. Enough’s enough,I

thought.

Having not had a father for 13 years, I didn’t need one now!

I started off small. On the nights of their dates, I’d suddenly get sick, so Mum had to cancel.

That ruse worked for a while, but then Mum cottoned on. Even worse, David was so understanding.

‘It’s hard to see your mother dating again,’ I overheard him saying to Mum one day.

Then I found out they were seeing each other at lunch, instead, when I was at school. I was furious, but by then it was too late. ‘David asked me to marry him – and I said yes,’ Mum told me one night a year later. ‘What do you think?’

‘I’m, um, pleased for you,’ I lied. ‘Thanks darling,’ she beamed.

She looked so happy I couldn’t tell her how distraught I was. So I had to up the ante if there was any hope of sabotaging them.

I decided to disrupt their wedding day – but make it look like David’s fault.

A perfect opportunity came up after Mum bought a beautiful second-hand wedding gown. It needed a clean, so David offered to drop it off on his way to work.

After he picked it up later, Mum gave the gown no more than a quick glance before hanging it up.

When she and David went away for a weekend, I pounced. I poured beetroot juice on the dress, then threw it in the wash so it didn’t look like a new stain. When it dried, I put it back in Mum’s wardrobe and waited.

Just before their big day, Mum got the gown out.

‘Oh no – there’s a red stain all over my dress!’ she wailed. As I’d hoped, she was furious with

David. ‘Why didn’t you check it when you picked it up?’ she cried.

‘I didn’t think to,’ he replied. ‘Why didn’t you see the stain?’

As she and David fought, I was so happy. But in a testament to their love, they apologised to each other and got married anyway, with Mum wearing a plain white pant suit.

I spent the day overwhelmed by the guilt that I’d ruined her big day.

Six years on, Mum and David are as happy as ever.

I don’t know why I ever hated David – he’s a lovely man and treats me like his own daughter.

Now that I’m older and wiser, whenever I look at her and David’s wedding photos, I go the same colour as that beetroot!

As she and David fought, I was so happy