Sean didn’t come to the wedding. I didn’t care. The only thing that mattered was my kids.
The ceremony was small and quick.
I didn’t feel like a bride. I felt like someone signing something permanent without fully understanding it.
Jonathan held my hand through most of it. Lila kept asking when we were going home.
***
When we got back to the house, the kids ran ahead.
The door closed behind us, leaving just Peter and me alone for the first time as husband and wife.
He turned to me.
I didn’t feel like a bride.
“Now that there’s no going back, I can finally tell you why I married you.”
I exhaled slowly, anticipating the worst.
“You asked me for something years ago,” Peter said. “And I never forgot.”
I frowned. “What’re you talking about?”
“It was after Sean disappeared for a couple of days. The kids were still little.”
And just like that, I remembered.
***
Jonathan had been about three. Lila was still in a crib.
Sean had been gone for two days. No calls. Nothing.
“What’re you talking about?”
By the second night, I couldn’t pretend it was normal.
So I called Peter.
“I haven’t heard from him,” I said.
“I’ll come by.”
Peter showed up not long after.
Later that night, after I got the kids to sleep, I went outside and sat on the back steps. Peter came out with a blanket and sat beside me.
“I don’t have anywhere to go,” I told him. “If this falls apart… I’ve got no one. I just don’t want my kids growing up thinking I disappeared. If something happens… promise me you won’t let that happen?”
“I won’t,” he vowed.
I couldn’t pretend it was normal.
Back in the present, I crossed my arms.
“You remember that?”
“I remember everything about that night,” Peter said.
“And that’s why you married me?”
“That’s where it started. Not where it ended.”
Something in his tone made me uneasy.
“What do you mean?”
“Sean wasn’t just waiting for things to fall apart,” Peter said. “He was counting on it.”
I felt my stomach tighten.
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