Lady Jilted for the Third Time at Altar, Learns Her Dad Visited Each Groom a Day Before Wedding – Story of the Day

A woman who had been dumped at the alter by two previous men hoped her third fiancé would be the one. He wasn't, but he was the only one who told her that her father had visited him a day before the wedding with the most outrageous proposal.

"Do you take this woman as your lawfully wedded wife, to have and to hold 'til death do you part?" the priest asked, and Barbara waited with nervous anticipation and sweat running down her back. Usually, brides were anxious at their ceremonies, but no one had dealt with rejection and disappointment like Barbara.

She had been in that position two times before. Her first fiancé, Julius, was her first love too, and she thought they would spend forever together. But he said no at the altar and ran away quickly. He blocked her and never talked to her again.

Her second fiancé, Oliver, did the same thing. That time, she had been a little more prepared, but her heart held all the hope in the world.

At that moment, she was standing in front of her third groom, Marlon, hoping he would be the one. Her person. Her forever. You know what they say, right? Third time's the charm! she thought as she waited.

Barbara's eyes were wide and shocked, but Marlon's words finally snapped all the puzzle pieces into place.

But suddenly, her world came crashing when Marlon let go of her hands at the altar and spoke. "I'm sorry. I do not. I can't. I'm so sorry, Barbara. I'm sorry."

With tears in her eyes, she watched Marlon and his groomsmen run away while the entire church stood up and started yelling. Barbara's aunties were screaming at the groom's family as they tried to scramble away too.

"Are you alright?" her bridesmaid, Pearl, asked, putting her hand on Barbara's shoulder.

"I should be used to this by now, right?" she breathed and swallowed thickly. Then, she picked up her train and walked out of that church, pretending she still had some dignity.

***

A few days later, Barbara went to her former home with Marlon. He owned that house and, she had moved in with him at his request. But she had to pick up a few remaining things.

"Yeah, come in. Take as long as you need," Marlon said, his head down.

"OK, thank you," she answered quietly and went about her way.

She went back and forth between the house and the car, taking boxes and a few other things. But finally, she was done and stood by the door, removing her key from her keychain.

"I guess this is goodbye," Barbara muttered, maintaining her calm. She stared around the house where she thought she would finally start her family. But it was not meant to be. Maybe, it would never be. She was 37, and this was the third time a man had humiliated her that way.

However, as she placed her key on a table near the door, she noticed something odd. A lighter. It was a Zippo, and she knew that Marlon didn't smoke. But someone did and only bought his kind of lighter.

Marlon approached her, not noticing her staring intently at the table. "Barbara, if you need anything else, you can–"

"Is that… my father's lighter?" Barbara interrupted and turned her head quickly to her former fiancé. He didn't school his features quickly enough, and Barbara knew the truth. "Did my father talk to you? When was he here?"

"Ugh… no, that's mine. I've admired his Zippos," he stammered.

"STOP LYING!" she yelled, losing her temper for the first time since he had dumped her at the altar.

"YES! OK! Mr. Orwell came here, and he offered me life-changing money! I couldn't say no! It's a lot! Anyone would say yes!" Marlon shouted back, but he covered his mouth quickly as if he hadn't intended to spill the beans.

Barbara's eyes were wide and shocked, but Marlon's words finally snapped all the puzzle pieces into place. "Anyone would say yes," her mind repeated over and over again as she walked out the door, ignoring her former fiancé.

***

"DID YOU VISIT MARLON?" Barbara burst through her parents' house door and shouted. Her parents had been eating dinner and jumped at the noise. She saw that her dad had spilled some spaghetti sauce on his shirt.

"Barbara, why are you yelling? Calm down," her mother said, trying to clean whatever was spilled. But Barbara had tunnel vision and could only look at her father as she approached the dinner table.

The older man looked up at her from his chair and nodded. "I did," he answered calmly.

"You offered him money?" she said, deadly quiet now.

"Yes."

"How much?"

He rattled off an amount, and Barbara closed her eyes.

"Did you do the same with the others… Julius and Oliver?" she asked, her voice changing to pained, tiny, and helpless.

"Yes," Mr. Orwell confirmed again. "I went to see them all a day before your weddings."

"Then, why did all of them humiliate me at the altar? If they had accepted the money, they could've just called and canceled before the actual ceremony! This doesn't make sense!" Barbara cried.

"That I don't know, sweetheart," Mr. Orwell started, shaking his head. "But I gave them all a check, and I said I would cancel it once they said, 'I do," because that would prove that they love you more than the money. I guess they were all too cowardly or prideful to walk away before the ceremony or accept it right as I offered."

"Why would you do this to me? Why don't you let me be happy?" Barbara demanded and finally collapsed on the floor.

Her mother rushed to her side and held her as she cried. But Mr. Orwell remained at the table. "I couldn't let you just marry anyone. Men who accept money to walk away from their fiancée don't deserve you. This whole town knows you come from money, and there's something about these last three men you've picked that I didn't trust. So, I had to test them, and they all failed."

Barbara cried harder, and Mrs. Orwell reprimanded her husband as she lifted their daughter off the floor and took her to her childhood bedroom.

He was unapologetic. "She'll see that this was the right thing when she meets a new man," he told his wife once Barbara fell asleep.

Mrs. Orwell shook her head and made him sleep on the sofa that night.

***

As time healed her wounds, Barbara started thinking about a few things. Julius had moved away from their town as soon as he dumped her, but some of their friends had heard he started a business, went bankrupt, and was now trying to scam people with an MLM.

Meanwhile, Oliver had gotten two girls pregnant simultaneously and was not dealing with baby mamma drama.

"So, Barbara, it seems that you dodged a bullet by not marrying these men," Pearl told her during a conversation at a coffee shop months after she broke up with Marlon.

"But Marlon… was different," Barbara said, shaking her head.

"He wasn't," Pearl countered, pursing her lips. "He hasn't had time to show how terrible he would've been as a husband. I mean, he took the money, sweetie."

Barbara looked at her friend intensely, swallowing and tapping her cup. "Maybe, you're right," she commented.

"So your father, although misguided, did you a favor," Pearl continued, nodding.

"I guess… still, at this rate, I'm never going to get married," Barbara told her friend.

But little did Barbara know that she would bump into a man a few minutes later and spill coffee all over his business shirt, which was the beginning of their romantic journey. Years later, that man would reject Mr. Orwell's check right off the bat without any hint of hesitation.

What can we learn from this story?

• Some parents protect their kids in the most misguided way. Although Mr. Orwell shouldn't have done what he did, neither of Barbara's fiancés passed the test. Therefore, they didn't deserve her. Her father had good intentions.
• Your one true love will not exchange you for some money. It's hard to find love, but someone who would take the money and walk away from your wedding is not the one you want to marry.

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If you enjoyed this story, you might like this one about a woman who was dumped at the altar and saw her fiancé signing something in her father's office.

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