My Mothre’s Guilt journal Became MY Cancellation Notice Chapter 03

The call to break off the engagement came three days later.

It was not from Garrett.

It was from Garrett’s mother.

That day, my father had just come home from the office and had not even changed out of his suit. Once the call connected, Mrs. Graham’s voice came through on speakerphone, polished and polite enough to be unassailable.

“Mr. Sullivan, given the friendship between our families over the years, we don’t want to make this any uglier than it has to be.”

My mother sat on the sofa, and the beaded bracelet in her hand stopped moving.

I stood just behind the staircase and heard Mrs. Graham lower her voice.

“It’s just that the Graham family has only now learned about Ivy’s character issues. We can’t gamble with Garrett’s marriage.”

My father’s face darkened at once.

“Mrs. Graham, what kind of gossip have you heard?”

The other end of the line went quiet for a moment.

Then Mrs. Graham said, “It isn’t gossip. It’s in Mrs. Sullivan’s own handwriting.”

My mother’s head snapped up.

Less than half an hour later, the Graham family’s driver delivered a document envelope.

After my father opened it, his expression changed completely.

Inside were several printed photos.

The photos were of my mother’s accountability journal.

One page read:

[My older daughter, Ivy Sullivan, is rigid and unforgiving. Time and again, she has hurt her sister over minor things.]

Another page read:

[My older daughter, Ivy Sullivan, refuses to respect her mother’s guidance, is quick to resentment whenever things do not go her way, and may struggle to get along with her elders.]

As I looked at those words, my hands and feet went cold little by little.

These were not things outsiders had made up.

My mother had written them.

I recognized every stroke.

My mother reached out to take the photos, her fingertips trembling slightly.
“How did these end up with the Graham family?”

My father slammed his palm down on the coffee table.

The cups jumped.

“Who took the pictures and sent them out?”

No one answered.

My eyes fell on my mother’s face.

She looked awful, but she did not look at me.

The Graham family sent another message soon after.

The engagement party was canceled.

As for the invitations that had already gone out, the Graham family would handle the explanation on their end and say both families still needed to discuss things further.

They would not let it sound too ugly in public.

But I knew those were only polite words.

The Graham family had rejected me.

The Graham family had decided there was something wrong with me.

My father immediately told his assistant to contact the hotel and put the engagement party on hold.

Then he turned to me, his brows drawn tight.

“Go back to your room.”

I stood where I was.

“Dad, those photos were taken from Mom’s accountability journal.”

“I told you to go back to your room.”

His voice was tight with suppressed anger.

My mother finally spoke. “Ivy, we haven’t figured out what happened yet. Don’t make a scene.”

Don’t make a scene.

My fingers dug into my sleeve.

My engagement party had been canceled.

My name had been written into pages of charges and sent to the family I was supposed to marry into.

And the first thing they feared was that I would make a scene.

I turned and walked upstairs.

Just as I reached the corner, I heard two housekeepers whispering in the service pantry.

“It sounds like the Graham family hasn’t completely shut the door. I heard Mrs. Graham asked about Miss Celeste.”

“Are you serious?”

“When the Graham family’s driver left just now, he talked to Tara from Miss Celeste’s room for quite a while.”

I gripped the stair rail.

The cold wood pressed against my palm, and that was the only thing keeping me from falling apart on the spot.

The Graham family had rejected me.

Then they had asked about Celeste.

That evening, I went to her room.

A gown that had only been half put away was hanging inside.

It was still mine.

Celeste sat on the edge of the bed, holding a sample invitation. When she saw me come in, she panicked and hurriedly tried to hide the paper under her pillow.

She was too slow.

I had already seen the Graham name on it.

She bit her lip, and tears quickly welled in her eyes.

“Ivy, I never meant to steal your engagement. The Graham family thought you weren’t a good fit, so they asked about me.”

I looked at her.

“Were you the one who sent those photos?”

Her fingers tightened around the invitation, and her voice trembled.

“How could you think that of me?”

I did not answer.

Celeste lowered her head and began to cry.

“Mom wrote so many pages. Of course the Graham family would be worried. Ivy, if you really did nothing wrong, why would Mom have written all that?”

That sentence felt colder than the call ending the engagement.

Because for a moment, I truly could not answer.

Yes.

Why had my mother written all that?

Every page claimed she had failed as a mother.

But every page said I was the one at fault.

Celeste looked up at me with red eyes.

“The Graham family needs a daughter-in-law who can hold her own in that world, not someone who makes the elders worry about her every day.”

All at once, the fragrance in her room smelled too strong.

It was so cloying that it made me nauseous.

I turned and went to the study.