Sadie kept asking if everyone had eaten, which meant she hadn’t eaten.
Then the doors opened, and I knew Diane had arrived before I even saw her — the whole room changed. Voices dropped. She walked in wearing a glittering dress that belonged at a gala more than a daughter’s wedding, diamonds at her throat, Grant beside her, polished and expensive, his family trailing close behind.
Diane spotted Nora and threw her arms open. “My beautiful girl!”
Her voice carried across the entire room. “I dreamed of this day,” she said, loud enough for Grant’s whole family to hear. “You have no idea how long I’ve dreamed of seeing you like this.”
Nora smiled — a smile I recognized instantly. Polite. Not warm. “I’m glad you made it,” she said.
Diane touched her cheek, then turned to me. “Robert.” Her eyes moved over my suit. “You look tired.”
“Fifteen years of parenting will do that.”
Grant shifted uncomfortably behind her. Diane’s smile tightened. “Don’t start today.”
“I wasn’t planning to.”
“This is Nora’s wedding.”
“I know. That’s exactly why I’m here.”
Her eyes sharpened. “You always were good at making yourself look noble.”
My jaw tightened. Nora caught my eye over her mother’s shoulder. Not yet.
So I swallowed the answer I wanted to give.
The ceremony began soon after. Nora slipped her arm through mine, and for one second I saw the girl on the stairs again.
“You’re squeezing my hand, Dad,” she whispered.
The doors opened and everyone stood. When we reached Marcus, he looked at Nora like he understood exactly what she’d survived without needing her to explain a word of it.
The officiant asked who was presenting her.
I opened my mouth. Nora squeezed my arm first. “The man who raised me does,” she said.
For one hour, I let the wedding stay beautiful. Marcus cried before Nora did. Ruby cried right along with both of them. Vivian handed her a tissue without ever taking her eyes off Diane.
Then I heard Diane’s voice near Grant’s family. “I wanted to be there,” she was saying. “Of course I did. But Robert made things difficult.”
Grant nodded along. “Diane tried for years. He kept the girls isolated from her.”
A woman beside him glanced over at me.
Diane sighed. “You don’t know what it does to a mother, being kept from her babies.”
I set my water glass down carefully. Harper appeared beside me. “Dad.”
Vivian’s eyes were wet. “Please tell me you heard that.”
“I heard it.”
Ruby’s voice went low. “Say the word.”
Sadie whispered, “Not here. Please, not here.”
Willow just stared at Diane, silent.
I took one step forward. Nora touched my arm.
“Not yet, Dad.” Mrwan
“She’s lying about all of us, Nora.”
