Chapter 3 Missing

I woke up to a piercing headache, my head feeling like tiny ants were drilling into my brain. I shook my head to clear my blurry sight but it just made everything worse. I had to close my eyes just to orient myself.

"Soup?"

I opened my eyes to see Miranda standing over me with a white bowl in her dainty hand. She looked a bit drowsy, but better than me.

"Oh you are a lifesaver Mira, my head feels like it was put in mom's blender and set to grate". I said as I tried to sit up and grab the hot bowl of soup like it was the elixir of life. Miranda just sat beside me and watched as I slurped the soup despite the heat. After a while my eyes cleared a bit and I could see that I was in a white room with a few luggages packed in the corner. This was Miranda's room and I looked around In confusion at how I got here. Wasn't a wife meant to wake up on her matrimonial bed?.

"You and Richard went a bit overboard with the drinking yesterday, yours was due to depression and self wallowing, while he was challenged by Arthur to a drinking contest. All in all, the both of you dropped dead drunk at almost the same time."

I was silent for a moment trying to let the whole thing sink in, then Miranda couldn't hold it in anymore and started to laugh. I glanced at her and the look of her snorting and rolling over made me spit out my soup in laughter. We laughed and it took a while, but we got a hold of ourselves soon enough, then burst out laughing once more.

The bride and the groom fainted from alcohol at the same time, in front of all our friends and family. If that wasn't called going out with a bang, I don't know what was. Finally we stopped laughing and just stared at each other for a while, both of us in our own separate thoughts.

Mira started twirling her hair around her finger as she asked; "Has the caretaker messaged you about Andrea"

"No, not really" I replied calmly, while resisting the urge to check my phone again.

Then we heard a knock.

"Knock knock"

I looked at Miranda, my eyes asking her whether she was expecting someone, but she looked back in confusion, then stood to go to the door while asking;

"Who's there?"

The door opened to reveal a lady in a black gown. She had a very good figure and her gown was barely holding her boobs from falling out of the fabric. She had a slit at the middle of her gown, but unlike Mira, it was quite high, reaching almost above her thighs. She was the gorgeous belle of west county, an acquaintance at best - Sheila Montgomery. And she smelled like trouble.

"Hiii bitches, oh Vera you were so hot last night, you totally rocked that gown, even with your condition. Miraa, my baby, I'll be needing you for my wedding and you can't say no".

Sheila continued to rant as she pulled Mira close and hugged her, the latter struggling to pull out from her grasp. I never really liked Sheila, not for her over enthusiasm, nor her dressing sense, or something as vain as envy for her figure. No, I just didn't like how tricky she was... even hinting at me having a child out of wedlock as a condition. She was like a very beautiful and sexy viper, and I knew enough to keep away from snakes of any kind.

"What do you want Sheila," I asked, my voice deadpan and indifferent. She wouldn't have come here just to greet and wish me, that I knew.

"Oh come on Vera, cold much?. Well Aunt Mariam is asking to see you and Richard right this instant, so chop chop to the deck". Sheila said in a sing-song voice.

I didn't know why but my heart constricted when I heard that Aunt Mariam was looking for me. Mariam was the mother of Richard but I didn't fear her one bit. So why was I feeling so uncomfortable, like something horrible was about to happen.

I looked at Sheila's face to try and pick something out from her expression, but all I could see was a cheery look and a gleam in her eye that could have meant anything. Standing up, I fixed my hair and dress until I looked a bit presentable, then I walked out of the room, leaving Mira and Sheila in the room.

Walking through the hallway to the upper deck, my mind was flooded with all sorts of thoughts. She already spoke to us last night, so why did she wish to see us so early in the morning? My heart was strangely worried and I trusted my intuition as it had saved my hide one too many times.

As I walked into the deck once more, the wind raised the frill of my gown and the smell of the sea eased my heart. There was something about seeing the boundless ocean that just made my worries disappear, like a drop of water in such a vast body. Looking around, I saw Richard standing next to a middle aged woman. She wore a white lace gown that fluttered in the wind and held a cup in her hands. She just stood staring at the sea, while saying somethings, I couldn't hear, to the nodding Richard.

I walked up to them gently, then took a deep breath to greet her, but before I could, she looked back and gave me a glance.

"Good morning Mother in-law"

"Hm, you and Richard's conduct last night left much to be desired. Ending up dead drunk on your wedding, your generation never ceases to amaze me" She said as she stared at me coldly, not a hint of joy or warmth on her face.

"I am sorry Mother, I was lost in the excitement of it all."

Lost?, yes. Excitement?, more like terror. I couldn't help but roll my eyes in my mind. It was the morning after my wedding, yet she called me out just to berate me, and Richard just stood there like a six year old child. I knew he was a disappointment, but I didn't know it was this bad. I didn't think I could look down on him any lower.

Then Aunt Mariam gave me another glance, as if to look at what creature she had picked for her beloved son. I could feel her stare all over my body, so I noticed when her eyes firstly stopped at my stomach before moving to my left hand, before her face scrunched up in disgust. But she wasn't the one to talk, it was Richard who also noticed and spoke;

"Where is my mother's ring?"

The first thing I did after hearing that was to check my left hand. It was as fair as always, but missing the diamond ring that adorned it yesterday. My wedding ring was gone, and I didn't know how it disappeared, did it fall off?, or did I drop it somewhere while I was drunk. Those were the first thoughts that came to my mind, but they were quickly replaced by the rage that started to flare up inside me. Mother's ring?

My wedding ring was an heirloom from the Cram Family passed from generations to generations. So it was once Aunt Mariam's ring, before she passed it to me, but now, it was by all right, Mine. And the fact Richard still called it his mother's ring just pissed me off. I shook my head slightly to calm my raging emotions and focused on the fact that my ring was missing.

Why the F*ck was my wedding ring missing a day after my marriage.