Chapter 12: I Do

The wedding hall had double doors with brass handles and a white ribbon tied across them.

I stood behind those doors at ten minutes to two with a cane in my right hand and Dale's arm under my left.

The green dress hung loose on me, and the zipper pressed against my scar.

Through the crack I could see the back row of white chairs.

Mom was already there, in her good coat, next to a folding table crowded with cables and a black sound board.

A thin man in a headset sat behind it.

That was the man Dale had called.

Mom looked at me through the gap and nodded once.

She took her phone out of her purse and laid it on her knee.

"Ready?" Dale whispered.

"No."

"Good. Nobody ever is."

Inside, an organ started.

I heard a hundred people rise.

I heard the rustle of Courtney's dress as a cousin of Judith's walked her down the aisle.

I did not look.

I listened to the minister's words through the wood.

He talked about family, and trust, and the gift of new life.

Judith's voice said "Amen" in the front row, clear and pleased.

My knuckles ached around the cane.

Then I heard the question I had been waiting for.

"If any person here knows a reason why these two should not be joined," the minister said, "speak now, or forever hold your peace."

The room went quiet.

I put my weight on the cane, and Dale pulled the ribbon off the doors.

I pushed them open myself.

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