“Because your mother never accepted that you were getting married!”
Daniel’s father spoke firmly.
“That’s simply not true.”
Claire whirled toward him.
“You have no idea what she said to me!”
“Then tell us,” he replied.
Claire stared at him.
Her composure was slipping.
“She complained about where people would sit. She questioned the flowers. She wanted things changed during the ceremony.”
Daniel’s mother looked genuinely confused.
“I asked whether Claire’s grandmother could have a chair near the aisle.”
Several guests glanced toward the elderly woman at the family table.
The grandmother lowered her gaze to her hands.
“I also asked if I could bring some flowers from our garden,” Daniel’s mother continued. “Claire said they wouldn’t match the arrangements, so I didn’t bring them.”
Daniel’s father took his wife’s hand.
Claire gave a tense, humorless laugh.
“So now everyone thinks I’m a horrible person because I wanted one day that was mine?”
Daniel stared at her.
“It was our wedding day, Claire.”
She looked back at him.
“That’s what I meant.”
But the correction didn’t erase what she’d said.
Daniel stepped farther away.
“Why did you tell me my mother needed to rest?”
Claire brushed tears from her cheeks.
“Because I thought it would make everything easier.”
“For whom?”
She had no answer.
At that moment, his mother shifted her weight.
Her damaged shoe slipped slightly against the marble.
Daniel immediately reached for her.
“Mom, please sit down.”
“I’m okay.”
“You’re trembling.”
His father pulled a chair away from a nearby table.
Daniel helped his mother lower herself into it.
A faint muddy streak marked the floor beneath her dress.
Claire glanced at the stain.
And for one brief instant, irritation replaced the distress on her face.
Daniel noticed.
Then he saw something else.
His mother’s left ankle was noticeably swollen.
“Mom, what happened to your shoes?”
She lowered her eyes.
“That’s not important.”
“It is to me.”
She hesitated.
“I came through the garden.”
Daniel looked toward the ballroom entrance.
Beyond the doors lay a long hallway leading to the courtyard and the carefully maintained grounds surrounding the venue.
“The garden?”
His father crouched beside her.
“Your mother tried to get here for the ceremony this afternoon.”
Claire’s head turned sharply toward him.
Daniel felt his stomach tighten.
“What do you mean, tried?”
His mother shut her eyes.
For several moments, she struggled to speak.
Finally, she looked toward the same venue employee who had approached her at the entrance.
“They told me I wasn’t allowed to come inside.”
The employee went pale.
Daniel turned toward him.
“What did she just say?”
The young man looked anxiously at Claire.
She shook her head at him.
“Don’t.”
Daniel stood straighter.
“Someone is going to explain what happened. Right now.”
The employee swallowed.
“Sir, I was following the instructions we’d been given.”
“Instructions from whom?”
His eyes moved toward Claire.
She stepped backward.
Daniel’s father rose from beside his wife.
“That’s why I told you not to touch her.”
The employee lowered his gaze.
“I’m very sorry, sir.”
Daniel struggled to keep his voice even.
“Tell me exactly what happened when my mother arrived.”
The young man inhaled.
“She came before the ceremony began. She identified herself as the groom’s mother and said she needed to speak with you.”
Daniel felt sick.
“She was here before we got married?”
“Yes, sir.”
“Before the ceremony started?”
“Yes.”
Daniel stared at him.
“And no one thought to tell me?”
The employee glanced toward Claire.
“We were informed that you already knew.”
Daniel faced his bride.
“Claire?”
She immediately raised her hands.
“It was just a misunderstanding.”
But the employee shook his head.
“No, ma’am.”
Every guest seemed to turn toward him.
He looked frightened by his own decision to speak.
Then he glanced at Daniel’s mother.
She sat with her muddy shoes tucked beneath the chair, trying to occupy as little space as possible.
The young employee straightened his shoulders.
“We received specific instructions that she was not to be admitted to either the ceremony or the reception.”
Daniel’s father closed his eyes.
The young man continued.
“Mrs. Claire told us the groom had personally requested it.”
Daniel stood completely motionless.
The words didn’t seem to make sense.
Not at first.
He turned slowly toward his bride.
“You instructed the staff to keep my mother out of my own wedding?”
Claire’s tears stopped.
Her expression became hard.
“She wasn’t supposed to be here.”
Someone at a nearby table gasped.
Daniel’s mother lowered her head.
Claire seemed to hear her own words only after she’d spoken them.
“What I mean is, she’d already agreed to stay home.”
Daniel stepped closer.
“Did I ever tell you to keep my mother outside?”
“Daniel—”
“Did I?”
“No!”
The answer was sharp.
Defensive.
Almost furious.
