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It was my wedding day and my fiancé had dropped a bombshell. But what did my bridesmaid know? By Anna Robinson, 34
I stepped outside on to my driveway and my eyebrows shot up.
I turned to my date Calum and asked: ‘What did you say your job was?’
‘I’m a property developer,’ he replied.
Judging by the flashy sports car sitting outside my house, he was pretty successful.
But it wasn’t Calum’s cash that drew me to him.
I loved that he was a perfect gentleman and, by the end of our date, I was smitten.
Ten months on, Calum bought a house in Solihull, West Midlands, and I moved in with him.
In time, we had a little boy, Ellis, and when he was one, Calum presented me with a huge diamond ring.
‘Marry me,’ he said.
I didn’t hesitate.
Calum wanted a wedding abroad, so we chose a venue in Mexico and booked a date 18 months away.
We were both so excited, but after six months, Calum seemed to change.
He was working harder than ever, and the stress was getting to him.
Often, he’d get home late at night and end up sleeping in the spare room.
‘Is anything wrong?’ I asked.
‘It’s just work,’ he replied.
Calum never talked about his job, so I didn’t push it.
Instead, I hoped that as the wedding grew closer, his mood would lift.
Then one night, we were settled on the sofa when the topic of bridesmaids came up.
Calum asked: ‘What about Lisa?’
Lisa was a friend, but I had other pals I was closer to.
‘I’m not sure,’ I said to Calum.
He looked disappointed.
‘I think she’ll be upset if you don’t ask her,’ he said.
I didn’t want to make a big deal of it, so I agreed to talk to her. But Calum beat me to it.
‘I called Lisa,’ he told me a few days later, ‘and she’s thrilled.’
I thought it was a bit odd, but I didn’t say anything.
A couple of weeks later, Lisa came over for drinks. We had a lovely time, just the three of us, and she stayed the night.
But next morning, when I got up to go to the bathroom, I made a strange discovery.
There was a pair of knickers on the floor.
They weren’t mine, so I guessed they were Lisa’s.
When I mentioned it, her face flushed red.
‘Sorry,’ she said. ‘I don’t know how they got there.’
I thought nothing more of it until a couple of weeks later, when Calum was in the shower and a message flashed up on his phone.
It read: Have you had a good morning?
It was from Lisa.
For a moment, I felt confused. I couldn’t fathom why she was texting Calum.
But then I thought about the way he’d been so distant and his strange insistence that I ask Lisa to be a bridesmaid.
Then I thought about finding her knickers. And suddenly, my brain went click.
I said to Calum: ‘Is there something going on? Something you’re not telling me?’
He shook his head.
‘It’s just work,’ he said.
Then he went on: ‘Everything will be fine as soon as we get to the wedding.’
I had no choice but to believe him.
A week before the big day, Calum and I flew to Mexico with Ellis.
Our families were due to follow a couple of days later with the bridesmaids.
When it was just the three of us, Calum was relaxed and happy. But as soon as everyone else arrived, his mood changed again.
‘I don’t know what’s wrong with him,’ I said.
‘It’s just pre-wedding nerves,’ Lisa replied.
But next morning, Calum dropped a bombshell.
‘I don’t know if I can go through with the wedding,’ he said. ‘My head’s all over the place.’
I was stunned.
‘Why didn’t you say this before?’ I demanded.
He told me he needed some time to think.
‘You’d better make up your mind fast,’ I snapped.
Thankfully, he did.
‘I do want to marry you,’ he told me later that day.
But that night, he went out drinking and didn’t come back until the early hours. And the next evening, he did it again.
With the wedding to think about, I pushed his behaviour to the back of my mind. And when the big day finally arrived, I let myself feel excited again.
My maid of honour handed me a glass of fizz and said: ‘Get that down you.’
And soon we were giggling away.
But just then, there was a knock on the door. I opened it to see Calum’s dad standing there.
He wasn’t smiling.
‘What’s wrong?’ I said.
‘I’m sorry,’ he replied. ‘Calum isn’t coming.’
My mouth dropped open.
‘He can’t do this’ I said. ‘Not on our wedding day.’
I started to sob.
I knew Calum had been acting strangely, but I never expected him to dump me, not on this of all days.
An hour later, he finally showed his face.
‘It’s not that I don’t want to marry you,’ he said. ‘I just can’t do it today.’
I couldn’t believe it.
‘I’ll never marry you now!’ I yelled. ‘Get out!’
I let him deal with the guests. I couldn’t face it.
When my family found out, they rallied round me. Lisa was there too and hugged me.
‘I know someone who works in travel,’ she said. ‘I’ll try to get you a flight home.’
I was grateful, but when she’d gone, my brother turned to me.
‘I’ve been watching her and Calum,’ he said. ‘There’s something going on.’
‘Don’t be stupid,’ I replied.
But then my sister said: ‘She has been getting back to our room late.’
I didn’t want to hear it, but after the knicker incident and the text on Calum’s phone, their words set off alarm bells.
So I went to see Calum’s dad.
‘There are rumours that Calum’s having an affair with Lisa,’ I told him.
‘Nonsense,’ he said.
Lisa said the same thing.
But I couldn’t help wondering.
Everything had been fine until she’d turned up in Mexico.
And after Calum had been out drinking, I’d found an empty mojito glass in our room.
The only person drinking mojitos was Lisa. But I hadn’t wanted to face it.
For the rest of our stay, I avoided her and Calum.
On what should have been our honeymoon, he was in another room.
But I couldn’t keep away from him on the plane home.
He spent the whole flight trying to talk to me.
I told him: ‘I’m not interested. When we get back, you can pack your stuff and leave.’
He did. And after that, the only conversation we ever had was about Ellis.
I never heard a word from Lisa though.
It made me suspect that the rumours were true. And when people spotted them out together, I knew that they were.
I felt foolish not to have seen it before.
I just didn’t want to believe my fiancé and my friend would do that to me.
I tried to move on, but a month after we’d returned from Mexico, I was woken at 5am by a banging on the door.
‘Police!’ a voice shouted.
I ran downstairs and found six officers standing on my doorstep.
‘What’s going on?’ I asked, bewildered.
They said they had a warrant and asked where Calum was.
‘He doesn’t live here any more,’ I said. ‘He left me on our wedding day.’
I asked them what they were looking for and, when they told me, my jaw hit the floor.
‘Drugs?’ I said. ‘Calum isn’t into that.’
I handed over my bank cards and statements, and officers went through the house with a fine-tooth comb.
Once they’d gone, I tried to call Calum, but he didn’t answer.
The next thing I heard, he’d been arrested.
Then, a few months later, I was out shopping when I walked past a newspaper stand and a photograph on a front page caught by eye.
It was Calum.
I stopped to read the article and felt dizzy with shock.
Calum and his uncle had been convicted of running a £35million cannabis empire and had been jailed for nine and 10 years respectively.
I couldn’t take it in.
The man I was going to marry was a criminal.
I hadn’t known him at all.
Calum has since been released from prison, and I’ve discovered Lisa has moved in with him.
She’s welcome to him and he’s welcome to her. They’ve done me a favour.
I reckon I’ve had a very lucky escape!
● Calum and Lisa’s names have been changed.