“Cancel Your Wedding!” My Grandma Told Me In A Dream The Night Before My Big Day. “Wake Up Early And Go To Your Mother-In-Law’s House. You’ll See Everything.” I Drove There At Dawn, Pulse Racing. When I Stepped Inside… I Stopped Cold. What I Saw Shifted Everything.

Theresa returned from the hallway with a tray of dry cookies and a smile as fake as the embroidered tablecloth on the table. “Do you like chamomile tea, Mary? It is calming,” she said, placing the cup in front of her with hands that trembled slightly.

“It is fine, thank you,” Mary replied, without taking her eyes off the folder she had just seen. She had subtly closed it as soon as she heard the footsteps returning. Still, her mind kept reviewing what she managed to read—women’s names, addresses, columns with titles like marital status and property in own name, all in legible handwriting with marginal notes.

Theresa sat down on the other side of the table. Mary looked at her. Her gestures seemed the same, but there was a strange glint in her eyes, an uncomfortable stiffness, as if she knew she was acting and feared being discovered.

“Everything okay, Mary?” Theresa asked in a soft voice. “You look a little pale.”

“Yes, of course. Just… I woke up early.”

Lying to her was easy.

Too easy. As if Theresa’s presence activated a defense mechanism that Mary did not know she had. While she took a sip of tea, her thoughts were a dense cloud.

Who was that woman who left through the back? Why did the folder contain such sensitive information? Why was Theresa acting as if everything was fine, when it was clear that it was not?

“Tell me, Mary,” Theresa said while fiddling with a napkin, “are you happy with Robert?”

The question dropped like a stone in the water. Mary looked at her, surprised. “Of course,” she replied.

“Why do you ask?”

“For no reason. Weddings always bring stress, doubts, things one thinks were already settled. “And later, when you are already married, you realize there were signs—little ones—that you preferred not to see.”

“Are you referring to your marriage?”

Theresa laughed without humor.

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