“Does the baby still count as part of our family?”
Ryan looked away for a moment.
Then he looked back at her.
“Yes.”
Amelia nodded.
That seemed to be all she needed.
The garden door opened.
Lina stepped outside in her wedding dress.
For the first time since I had arrived, every adult looked uncomfortable.
She approached slowly.
“Amelia…”
Amelia moved closer to me.
Lina stopped.
“I want you to know I’m not trying to replace your mother.”
Amelia frowned.
“Then why do you keep saying you’re going to be my new mom?”
Lina’s expression stiffened.
“I said bonus mom.”
“That still has ‘mom’ in it.”
Nobody corrected her.
Then Amelia asked the same question she had asked me that morning.
“Are you still Mom’s sister?”
Lina looked at me.
She was standing there in her white wedding dress.
My younger sister.
The woman who had spent months behaving as though my pain was simply an inconvenient obstacle to everyone else’s happiness.
For once, she had nothing to say.
No explanation.
No new label.
Nothing.
Amelia walked back toward the bench and picked up her candle.
Ryan watched her.
“What are you doing?”
She sniffed.
“I’m taking mine home.”
Then she headed toward the ballroom doors.
“Amelia?”
She turned toward me.
“I need to get my stuff, Mom.”
I followed her, stopping near the doorway.
The entire ballroom fell silent when Amelia walked inside.
The unity table was still sitting near the front.
One large candle burned in the center.
There was empty space beside it where Amelia’s smaller candle had been meant to stand.
Ryan followed her inside.
“Sweetheart…”
Amelia turned around.
Everyone watched.
My parents.
Lina.
Ryan.
The photographer.
Every relative who had spent months telling me I needed to accept the situation.
Amelia held the white candle tightly against her chest.
“I came today because you’re my dad.”
Ryan didn’t respond.
Then she added,
“But I didn’t come here to say that what you did was okay.”
Nobody moved.
Nobody spoke.
