“They’re late enough to have dealt with two mascara disasters,” Brad snaps, responding to his new best man Dan’s attempts at explaining away Sal’s late arrival with the likelihood of a make-up mishap. Oh, if only it were something that minor, Brad. You see, Sally is busy confessing all to Pippa about her longstanding doubts. “I haven’t been able to say how I really feel because I never wanted to hurt him,” she explains, leaving Pippa to gently remind her that, whatever her decision, she can’t really leave Brad standing at the altar. It soon becomes clear that there’s little chance of Sal going through with the ceremony, prompting Pippa to charge herself with the thankless task of breaking the devastating news to Brad – in front of the entire gathering of guests. If that wasn’t enough embarrassment, he then proceeds to convince himself that he can get things back on track, deciding to use Don as his go-between. “You love Brad. If that’s the truth, why don’t you want to marry him?” Don later asks a shaken Sally, who, after many failed attempts at explaining, finally gets her decision across with the use of a visual aid: a picture of Flynn. It’s just as Brad, terrified of saying the wrong thing, is going over his vows that Don shows up to confirm everyone’s worst fears: the wedding is off.Drunken truthsMartha’s opted to pass the time by dosing up on champagne, and it’s leading her to speak her mind (not that she usually has much of a problem doing that, of course). “Maybe it’s a sign about rushing into your second marriage too quickly,” she says cuttingly, reflecting on the day’s events to an uneasy Jack – who doesn't exactly help matters by choosing this occasion to pester her about getting their divorce finalised. In fact, the idea of the pair of them having to see a solicitor the next day is enough to see Martha continue on her drinking binge; the cynical witticisms keep on coming, and before long she’s struggling to stay on her feet. So, Irene having managed to keep her from raiding the diner’s alcohol supply, Jack opts to play hero and carries his drunken ex up to the apartment, telling her to get some rest. Martha, of course, has other ideas. “I guess you don’t have to be married to someone to still be in love with them, right?” she reflects, clearly hoping for some kind of a reaction from Jack. To be fair, he doesn’t fail to oblige – but just not with the answer she so desperately wants.End of the road

The troubles continue elsewhere, with Sally finally having made her way to the beach to explain her decision to Brad. “I married Flynn, and I married Flynn for life. I don’t want to marry anyone else,” she says, telling him how she’s not ready to erase a whole part of her life. But even if Brad understands her struggling to overcome the pain of her past, he’s not about to forgive the fact of his being humiliated in front of his friends.

Why couldn’t she have told him sooner? It turns out that this isn’t the only confrontation lined up for a distraught Sally, either. Rachel isn’t in the most forgiving of moods, and she’s determined to tell the woman responsible for breaking her brother’s heart just how she feels. “Flynn is dead, Sally. You had a man who loves you and you threw it all away for a ghost,” she snipes, having barged into the house and shouted her way through a tirade of abuse. She soon finds herself silenced when Brad walks in on the scene, but she makes it known that she won’t take back a word she’s said. As for Brad himself, any hope of a reconciliation with Sally appears to be out of the question.

“It’s not my home; it’s not my life – not anymore,” he says, before he starts packing up his things, ready to move out. Later that day, as Sally opts for some alone time and reads over the vows that Brad had prepared for their wedding, the day’s events begin to catch up with her and she breaks down in Pippa’s arms. Could this have been the most traumatic Home and Away wedding yet?

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