Chapter 1 - The Two Empty Chairs
The first thing I saw when the doors to the chapel opened was the front row.
Two ivory chairs stood empty beneath an arrangement of white roses.
The place cards were still there.
MOM.
DAD.
Behind those chairs, two hundred guests turned toward me.
Some looked sympathetic.
Others looked curious.
A few looked positively delighted that the Mercer family had managed to turn my wedding into a scandal.
For one dangerous second, I considered turning around.
Then I saw Daniel waiting beside the officiant.
He wasn't watching the chairs.
He was watching me.
I walked down the aisle alone, and with each step I felt something loosen inside my chest.
By the time Daniel took my hand, I wasn't thinking about who hadn't come.
I was thinking about who had.
His mother cried during our vows.
His father stood first when we kissed.
My grandmother's old friend, Eleanor Price, pressed a hand to her heart.
At the reception, the empty seats became the conversation nobody could quite stop having.
My aunt Marjorie cornered me beside the cake.
"You could still apologize," she whispered.
"For what?" I asked.
She glanced toward a photographer.
"For embarrassing your parents."
I looked at the dance floor, where Daniel was helping my elderly great-uncle into a chair.
"They made their decision," I said.
"I made mine."
At nine fifteen, Daniel tapped his glass.
His best man handed him the microphone.
He thanked our friends, our families, and everyone who had crossed the country to celebrate.
Then his voice changed.
"There's something I need to address, because someone tried to make today about punishment."
My stomach tightened.
He reached into his jacket.
The envelope was cream-colored, with my father's bold handwriting across the front.
PRIVATE—FOR DANIEL ONLY.
A ripple traveled through the room.
"Claire's father sent me this three days ago," Daniel said.
"He expected me to keep it secret from my wife."
I heard a chair scrape.
Aunt Marjorie stood.
"This is inappropriate," she announced.
Daniel didn't raise his voice.
"What's inappropriate is trying to make a daughter earn the privilege of being loved."
He unfolded the letter.
"Let's hear his own words."
May you like
For the first time all evening, the room became completely silent.
