I expected chaos.Pregnancy & Maternity
Instead, the place had the strange quiet of a room after somebody says something nobody can take back.
Relatives stood whispering near the ballroom doors.
Nora met me.
“Where is Amelia?”
“Outside.”
I headed toward the garden.
Nora caught my arm.
“Annie.”
“What?”
“She’s not throwing a tantrum.”
“I know my daughter.”
“I’m telling you because people are already calling it that.”
That made me stop.
“She asked questions.”
Nora looked toward the ballroom.
“And nobody liked the answers.”
I found Amelia sitting on a bench in the garden.
Her little white candle rested across her knees.
Ryan sat beside her.
He still wore his wedding suit.
A boutonniere was pinned to his jacket.
Neither noticed me immediately.
“You said you were okay with the candle,” Ryan was saying.
Amelia stared down at it.
“No.”
He frowned.
“You did.”
“You asked if I understood.”
Ryan went quiet.
Amelia looked at him.
“That’s not the same as asking if I’m okay.”
I stopped several feet away.
Ryan rubbed his hands together.Family Law
“Why didn’t you tell me you were upset?”
“You didn’t ask.”
“I ask you things all the time.”
