Chapter 3 - THE FATHER OF THE BRIDE
David stared at Emily.
“What?”
She pointed toward the empty seat at the neighboring table.
The same one he had chosen for me.
“You can sit there.”
Several people heard her.
Nobody laughed.
That made it worse for him.
“Emily, stop this.”
“You thought the chair was good enough for Mom.”
His mouth opened.
No answer came.
Nathan’s father quietly moved his chair back to make room for David at the other table.
It was one of the most polite acts of humiliation I had ever witnessed.
David looked at me.
Maybe he expected me to stop Emily.
Twenty-eight years of habit told me to do exactly that.
Smooth things over.
Protect him.
Protect appearances.
Protect everyone from the consequences of his decisions.
I almost did.
Then I remembered the black line through my name.
Melissa written underneath.
I folded my hands in my lap.
And I said nothing.
David finally walked to the other table.
Emily sat beside me for another minute.
“Are you okay?”
“I will be.”
“That wasn’t what I asked.”
I looked at her.
“No.”
She nodded.
“Neither am I.”
Nathan touched her shoulder.
Guests had begun whispering again.
The reception had to continue.
Emily looked toward the dance floor.
“They’re waiting for us.”
“Then go.”
“I don’t want to leave you.”
“You’re supposed to leave me tonight.”
She blinked.
I smiled.
“You’re getting married.”
“You are allowed to go be happy.”
Her face crumpled for only a second.
Then she kissed my forehead.
“I love you.”
“I love you too.”
She walked away with Nathan.
Music rose through the ballroom.
Slowly, guests began talking again.
I watched my daughter take her place beside her husband beneath warm hanging lights and white roses.
For ten minutes, the wedding became a wedding again.
Then Rebecca sat beside me.
“You knew about Melissa?”
“Yes.”
“For how long?”
“Six months.”
She exhaled.
“Why didn’t you tell me?”
“Because you’re his sister.”
“I’m also your family.”
I looked at her.
She seemed hurt.
That surprised me.
“I didn’t want everyone choosing sides before Emily’s wedding.”
Rebecca glanced toward David.
He was sitting stiffly between a cousin and Nathan’s uncle.
His eyes kept drifting toward the ballroom doors.
Waiting for Melissa.
“She’s been around longer than eleven months,” Rebecca said.
My stomach tightened.
“What?”
Rebecca looked at me.
“I don’t know that for certain.”
“Then what do you know?”
She hesitated.
“Last Christmas, David asked me whether I thought a marriage could be over even if one person refused to admit it.”
I remembered last Christmas.
I had cooked for sixteen people.
David spent half the afternoon outside claiming he had client calls.
“What did you say?”
“I told him to stop talking like a philosopher and tell me what he’d done.”
Rebecca lowered her voice.
“He said nothing.”
I looked down at my hands.
“You thought there was someone else?”
“I suspected.”
“And you didn’t tell me.”
Pain crossed her face.
“I should have.”
I did not answer.
She deserved that silence.
The speeches began twenty minutes later.
Nathan’s best man spoke first.
Then Emily’s maid of honor.
People laughed.
I cried once.
Not because of David.
Because the maid of honor told a story about Emily rescuing a stray dog when she was eleven and refusing to leave the veterinarian’s office until she knew it would survive.
That was my daughter.
She had always loved fiercely.
Then the emcee announced the father-of-the-bride toast.
David stood.
A strange silence followed.
Everyone knew too much now.
David buttoned his jacket.
He picked up a microphone.
For a moment, I wondered whether he would have the humility to keep the speech about Emily.
He began well.
He talked about holding her as a baby.
Teaching her to ride a bicycle.
Walking beside her on the first day of kindergarten.
Emily cried.
So did I.
Then David looked toward me.
“And marriage,” he said, “teaches all of us that life changes.”
My body went cold.
Rebecca whispered.
“Oh no.”
David continued.
“Sometimes people grow together.”
“And sometimes people grow apart.”
Emily stopped smiling.
I knew exactly what he was doing.
He was trying to reclaim the room.
Trying to turn his humiliation into a dignified announcement.
He looked toward the ballroom doors.
Melissa had returned.
May you like
She stood just inside.
And she was smiling.
