Chapter 16 - The Wedding and The Future
Our wedding happened the following spring in the courtyard behind the community house.
Small.
Warm.
Filled with people who had become part of our lives in ways I could never have predicted.
Elena made the cake.
Julia cried during the vows.
Regina sat in the second row.
When our eyes met, she smiled.
I smiled back.
Not because everything had been forgotten.
Because enough had been healed.
And Zach served as best man, ring bearer, unofficial wedding planner, and according to himself, “the original fiancé.”
At the reception, he climbed onto a chair and tapped his spoon against a glass.
Michael looked alarmed.
“No.”
Zach ignored him.
“I have a speech.”
“Who gave him a microphone?” Michael asked.
Elena looked away innocently.
Zach cleared his throat.
“When I was six, I found Aurora hiding in a restaurant.”
The room quieted.
“I asked her to marry me because I thought she needed somebody brave.”
My eyes burned.
Zach looked at me.
“But she was already brave.”
I pressed a hand to my mouth.
“And then my dad liked her.”
Laughter moved through the courtyard.
Michael rubbed his forehead.
Zach continued.
“A lot.”
More laughter.
“So I let him marry her instead.”
Michael called, “Very generous.”
“You’re welcome.”
Zach raised his glass of sparkling cider.
“To Aurora. And Dad. And our family.”
Everyone lifted their glasses.
I looked around the courtyard.
At Michael.
At Zach.
At Elena.
At Regina.
At the building our fathers had dreamed about long before any of us understood why.
My life had not been saved by a powerful man walking through a door.
That was the story strangers might have told.
The truth was quieter.
A little boy had reminded me to laugh when I was afraid.
His father had offered help without demanding ownership of my choices.
A hidden letter had returned my father’s voice to me.
A difficult truth had given Regina the chance to change.
And I had finally learned that safety was not a place where nobody could find me.
Safety was knowing I could leave.
Knowing I could stay.
Knowing the choice belonged to me.
Michael reached for my hand beneath the table.
Zach leaned against my other side, already asking whether wedding cake counted as dinner.
Above the courtyard doors, the lights came on.
Warm and steady.
Home, I thought.
May you like
Not because someone had given it to me.
Because, together, we had built it.
