I gathered the front of my wedding dress and walked down the aisle.
“Let him go.”
Dad looked at me with disbelief.
“You’re allowing him to behave this way during your wedding?”
“You arrived holding my missing maid of honor’s hand. Stefan is not the problem.”
Dad released him.
Stefan removed the white flower and carried it to Mom.
His hands shook as he tried to pin it to her dress.
“You paid for his ticket,” Stefan whispered. “But you’re the one who stayed.”
Mom covered her mouth as tears filled her eyes.
Watching my brother place that flower on her made something inside me settle.
Dad had not lost his place in our family that morning.
He had surrendered it years earlier.
Joseph came to my side.
“What do you need?”
“The truth.”
I faced Chloe.
“How long have you been seeing my father?”
She looked toward him before answering.
“Three months.”
“You helped me choose my wedding dress while secretly dating him?”
“I planned to tell you.”
“When? After standing beside me, smiling for photographs, and giving a speech about our friendship?”
Chloe began crying.
“I was afraid.”
“So you let me believe you might be in danger rather than tell me the truth.”
Dad stepped between us.
“That’s enough. Chloe does not owe anyone an apology for falling in love.”
“She owes me an apology for lying.”
I lifted the bouquet that had been waiting for her.
“You still have a choice, Chloe. Admit what you did. Apologize to my mother. Tell the truth without hiding behind him.”
Dad extended his hand toward her.
“Come on. We do not have to stay here and be judged.”
Chloe took his hand.
“I’m sorry, Samara, but I love him.”
I lowered the bouquet.
“That was not the question.”
Dad’s face hardened.
“You’re creating a scene.”
“You entered my wedding with my missing maid of honor. You created it.”
“I came because you wanted me here.”
“My mother brought you here. She spent the money meant for her roof.”
“She offered.”
“You told me you would give anything to attend. She was the only one who actually gave something.”
Dad moved closer.
“You’re humiliating your father.”
“No. You humiliated yourself. We are simply refusing to hide it.”
I looked at both of them.
“You will not remain for the ceremony. You will not attend the reception, and neither of you will appear in my wedding photographs.”
Chloe stared at me.
“You’re throwing us out?”
“Yes.”
Dad waited for me to soften.
I always had before.
This time, I pointed toward the doors.
“Leave.”
After they were gone, I turned toward Mom.
She wiped her cheeks.
“You do not need to decide anything while you’re upset,” she said.
“I’m not confused.”
I held out my hand.
“Will you walk me down the aisle?”
Stefan looked between us.
“Only Mom?”
I reached for him too.
“Both of you.”
The doors closed, the music restarted, and my mother walked on one side of me while Stefan walked on the other.
When we reached the altar, Joseph took my hand.
“Are you sure?” he whispered. “We can postpone.”
I looked back at the two people who had truly remained beside me.
“I have never been more certain.”
PART 3: THE FAMILY WHO REMAINED
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