Chapter 10 - THE TOAST MY FATHER FEARED
The wedding planner knocked softly.
Dinner had been served, and guests were waiting for the family speeches.
Melanie wiped her face and stood.
“I cannot go back in there and pretend nothing happened.”
“You do not have to tell them anything,” I said.
“This is still your wedding.”
“It stopped feeling like my wedding when Dad tried to throw you out.”
Ethan took her hand.
“Then we take it back.”
My father moved toward her.
“Melanie, listen to me.”
She stepped away.
It was the first time I had ever seen her deny him physical access to her comfort.
“No,” she said.
“You listen.”
Her voice shook, but it did not fail.
“Claire gave me Grandma’s bracelet after I helped you hide thirty-six letters from her.”
“You were a child.”
“I am not a child now.”
She turned to me.
“Come sit at the head table.”
“Melanie, there is no need.”
“There is every need.”
Dad followed us into the corridor.
“If you humiliate me in that room, I will leave.”
I stopped.
“You erased my place card.”
“Claire—”
“You told my sister I rejected her invitation.”
“I was trying to prevent exactly this circus.”
“You hid my biological father from me for thirty-six years.”
He lowered his voice.
“I am the man who raised you.”
“Then you should have trusted that truth could not erase what was real.”
He had no answer.
Inside the ballroom, Ethan took the microphone.
He thanked the guests, the staff, and both families.
Then he looked at Melanie.
“My wife has asked to change the order of the toasts.”
Melanie stood beside him.
“My sister was told there was no seat for her tonight.”
A murmur moved through the room.
“That was a lie.”
She looked toward me.
“Claire, I cannot return the years when I believed you stayed away because you did not love us.”
Her voice cracked.
“But I can give you your seat.”
Michael Cole rose and pulled out the chair beside him.
May you like
I walked to the head table while the room stood again.
This time, no command had been given.
