The Wedding Gift - Chapter 9 - Paulina

We didn’t exactly lose the lottery ticket. Nor was it stolen. When Caroline told me that we won, I panicked and went straight upstairs to the suite. Harrison’s parents put all the wedding gifts there, and I hadn’t exactly had the time to check what we got yet. Thankfully all the envelopes were stored in one cardboard box, so I started rummaging in it hoping to find Caroline and Jack’s envelope in less than a few minutes. 

I went through every single envelope, every thirty-five of them, and didn’t find it. Then Harrison startled me by coming over to say that my mum was looking for me—they wanted to take some pictures.

Harrison, already a little tipsy and sweaty, started kissing me, but I pushed him gently and said that it wasn’t the best time to make out. For a second, I thought he would just pass out on our bed and wouldn’t leave the room. That could be the end of my search.

It took him a while, but when he finally agreed to stop undressing me and went back to our guests, I resumed looking for the envelope among the flower bouquets and wine bottles lying on the floor. My attention was caught by two bottles of wine and a red fabric bag in a wooden basket in the corner. It turned out to be Caroline and Jack’s gift. I took the lottery ticket out and then heard someone knocking and then immediately entering the room that I didn’t even manage to let out a single word of my mouth. 

My heart stopped. 

It wasn’t Harrison, though. It was Hannah.

She saw me holding up the corner of a mattress and a piece of paper falling off my hand. When she saw the lottery ticket on the floor, she became very suspicious. I didn’t want to play dumb, so I told her what I was doing. 

Hannah still failed to get her head around the reason behind my actions, but she promised not to tell anyone, especially Harrison. The fact that Hannah caught me hiding the ticket wasn’t ideal, but at the same time, I was glad it wasn’t Harrison.

She suggested I should find a different spot to hide the ticket because if Harrison found out that the ticket was lost, he would comb through every inch of that room. She was right so I had to think of somewhere else to hide it. I did have a secret pocket in my wedding dress but the ticket could easily fall out during dancing, jumping, or being tossed around by the male guests, as they had already done that at least two times. 

Finally, I suggested that I would hide the ticket in Hannah’s room as there was a small safe in the closet. I came up with the numbers for the code which Hannah saved in her phone in case I forgot them. 

I usually don’t keep secrets from my husband, but this time was different. Because of his gambling problem, I was afraid that he might spend some or even all of that money very irresponsibly. I am the kind of person who likes stability, and having a safety net of one million euros would definitely provide just that. I was afraid that he’d instantly quit his job, spend the money in a casino, or who knows where, believing he would be able to double or triple the sum, and then get seriously depressed or even suicidal, as some people would be, beating himself up for what he did. I really wanted to avoid any of it.

It was only a matter of time before Harrison found out about the ticket. I just hoped it wouldn’t be at our wedding—or in the days that followed. He was over the moon when he found out that we won. The second Jack told him about it, he rushed upstairs and began searching for it. He didn’t find it because I had already hidden it in Hannah’s room. It was heartbreaking to learn that he completely ruined the mood of our wedding reception and kept accusing our guests of stealing from us. I was so embarrassed, but I couldn’t just tell him that I hid the ticket from him after what he did. It would make everything worse. As if things weren’t bad enough already.

I know why he got so angry. I know that most days he’s tired and unhappy, not sure what to do with his life. I even tried to convince Dad to lend Harrison some money to open his own business so he doesn’t have to waste his energy working on something he doesn’t feel like doing. The thing is that Harrison doesn’t know what he wants. I slowly come to realize that he doesn’t want to do anything, really. Besides, so far, every idea my husband had was instantly rejected by my father after a series of difficult questions about things like marketing, distribution, competition research, or demand. My dad is very particular and doesn’t respond well to vague ideas and business plans. I got the impression that Harrison wasn’t even trying to impress him.

I love Harrison and consider myself his biggest cheerleader, but he seems a bit lost lately. The possibility of winning big money, quitting his job, and being free for the rest of his life is one of the few things that keeps his hopes up these days.

I want him to be happy. I really do. But I also think he’s been having a toxic relationship with money for a while now, and I wasn’t ready to tell Harrison the truth just yet. I just wanted to protect him.