Amelia’s voice got smaller.
“You don’t ask if I’m mad.”
“I ask you things all the time.”
I stopped several feet away.
Ryan finally said, “Are you mad at me?”
Amelia nodded.
Just once.
Ryan looked at her for a long time.
He took a breath and nodded once. “Okay.”
I had never heard him answer her like that before.
No excuse.
No “someday you’ll understand.”
Just okay.
I had never heard him answer her like that before.
Then Amelia saw me.
“Mom!”
She dropped the candle onto the bench and ran.
I knelt as she crashed into me.
“Mom, I ruined Dad’s wedding.”
“No, baby.”
“I did.”
“You got upset.” I pulled her back enough to see her face. “That is not the same thing.”
“Mom, I ruined Dad’s wedding.”
Ryan stood behind her.
“Annie…”
I looked at him.
“Don’t.”
He stopped.
Amelia wiped her cheeks.
Then, out of nowhere, she said, “Everybody keeps saying there were six of us.”
I looked at Ryan.
He looked confused too.
Amelia started counting on her fingers.
“Mom. Dad. Me. The other three.”
“Everybody keeps saying there were six of us.”
She held up both hands, then looked at Ryan.
“But there was gonna be one more.”
An awkward silence took over.
“Does the baby still count in our family?”
Ryan looked away.
Then back at her.
“Yes.”
Amelia nodded, like she had only needed the answer.
“Does the baby still count in our family?”
Behind us, the garden door opened.
Lina stepped outside in her wedding dress.
For the first time that day, nobody seemed to know where to look.
She approached slowly.
“Amelia…”
Amelia moved closer to me.
Lina stopped.
“I’m not trying to replace your mom.”
“I’m not trying to replace your mom.”
Amelia frowned.
“Then why do you say you’re my new mom?”
Lina went completely stone-faced.
“I said bonus mom.”
“That’s still mom.”
Nobody corrected Amelia.
Then she asked the question she’d asked me that morning.
“Are you still Mom’s sister?”
“Then why do you say you’re my new mom?”
Lina looked at me.
The bride. My sister. The woman who’d spent months treating my pain like an awkward family problem.
She was completely speechless.
And for the first time since this nightmare began, Lina had no new label to hide behind.
Amelia picked up the little white candle from the bench.
For the first time since this nightmare began, Lina had no new label to hide behind.
Ryan watched her.
“What are you doing?”
She sniffed.
“Taking mine home.”
Then she turned toward the ballroom.
“Amelia?” I called.
She looked back at me.
“I have to get my stuff, Mom.”
I followed her to the doorway but stopped there.
“Taking mine home.”
The ballroom went quiet when Amelia walked back inside.
I could see the unity table from where I stood.
One large candle burned on the table, surrounded by empty space.
I could see the unity table from where I stood.
Ryan followed a few steps behind.
“Sweetheart…”
Amelia turned around.
Everyone watched.
My parents.
Lina.
Ryan.
The photographer.
Ryan followed a few steps behind.
Relatives who had spent months telling me I needed to accept the new reality.
Amelia hugged the candle to her chest.
“I came because you’re my dad.”
Ryan said nothing.
Then she added, “I didn’t come to say what you did was okay.”
Everyone just stood there, speechless.
“I came because you’re my dad.”
Then Amelia walked straight back toward me.
Ryan stood in the middle of the ballroom watching our daughter leave with me.
Nobody applauded.
Thank God.
She was nine, not somebody’s revenge speech.
Near the entrance, my mother hurried after us.
“Annie, wait. At least stay for the family photographs.”
She was nine, not somebody’s revenge speech.
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