I did not have to solve Vanessa at my wedding.

PART 10

The morning after our wedding, we woke in a small inn overlooking the valley.

Someone had left a basket of pastries outside our door and a handwritten note congratulating us.

Marcus made coffee in two chipped ceramic mugs while I stood at the window watching mist lift from the fields.

My phone showed seventeen messages.

Mom had written first: Your father is devastated.

You could have given him one small moment at the reception.