Chapter 13 - The Wedding Hall Was Quiet When We Walked Back In
A week later, I walked back into the reception hall.
Not for another celebration.
For the final inventory and legal review.
The flowers were gone.
The bar was stripped.
The marble floor had been cleaned so thoroughly that no guest would have known orange juice, broken dishes, and a shattered future had all met there.
Elena came with me.
So did Sadie and Daphne.
We stopped near the drinks counter where Corinne had backed into the wall after I kicked her.
Sadie looked around quietly.
Then pointed toward the food table area.
“That’s where Daphne got hurt.”
Daphne smiled softly. “I’m okay now.”
Sadie then looked at Elena.
“And that’s where Daddy found out.”
Elena followed her gaze.
“Yes,” she said. “That’s where the lie ended.”
There was something important about standing there together, not as victims of one woman’s cruelty, but as the people left after she failed.
I reached into my pocket and took out the wedding ring I had never had the chance to place on Corinne’s finger at the reception dinner.
I set it down on the empty drinks counter.
Not dramatic.
Not theatrical.
Just final.
Elena watched me.
“Any regrets?” she asked.
I looked at Sadie in her wheelchair beside Daphne.
Then at the high windows pouring warm light across the floor.
May you like
“Yes,” I said. “But not about ending that.”
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