Sarah kept going.
“He said she probably wouldn’t come.
And if she did, we could keep everything civil for one night.”
Michael stared at her.
“So the invitation wasn’t because you wanted your sister here.”
Sarah wiped beneath one eye carefully, trying not to ruin her makeup.
“I did want her here.”
“Did you?” I asked.
She looked at me.
“I didn’t know how to fix it.”
“That’s different.”
She nodded.
For once, she did not argue.
My father began talking about misunderstandings, pressure, the danger of letting emotional scenes distort serious decisions.
Nobody was listening anymore.
That may have been the hardest consequence for him.
Michael asked Sarah to come with him to a private room away from the reception.
She followed.
Before leaving, she stopped beside me.
“I’m sorry,” she whispered.
I looked at her wedding dress, at the face I had spent half my childhood being compared against, and realized I didn’t hate her.
That would have been simpler.
“I believe you’re sorry right now,” I said.
“I don’t know yet what you’re sorry for.”
She flinched.
Then she nodded and walked away.
My mother approached next.
She looked older than I remembered.
Not fragile.
Just older.
“I should have called you,” she said.
“Yes.”
“I should have stopped you from leaving.”
“Yes.”
Her eyes filled.
“I thought giving everyone time would calm things down.”
“Ten years is a lot of time.”
She lowered her gaze.
There was nothing else to say.
My father did not apologize.
He came toward me only after Frank had moved away to speak with his son.
“You’re enjoying this,” he said quietly.
I studied him.
That was the story he needed now.
Not that he had been cruel.
Not that he had misjudged me.
Not that the daughter he discarded had built a reputation strong enough to enter rooms he valued without needing his surname as a credential.
He needed me to be vindictive, because vindictiveness would make us equal.
“No,” I said.
“I enjoyed building my company.
I enjoyed learning my work.
I enjoyed discovering I was good at something you never bothered to see.”
I glanced toward Frank’s folder.
“This is just the first time you’ve had to see it too.”
He said nothing.
I picked up my clutch and walked away from him.
