Everyone laughed when they sent an eighty-year-old man and his eighteen-year-old wife off to spend their wedding night together. “Let’s see if Grandpa can make it until morning,” one relative joked through a burst of laughter. He didn’t respond. He simply picked up his old briefcase and closed the door. When six relatives opened it the next morning, they stopped laughing when they discovered what he had been protecting all night.

“I didn’t make those terrible jokes, but I made foolish assumptions in my own head instead of simply asking if you were okay.”

Chloe took a deep, shaky breath before replying.

“I just wanted those men to stop following me everywhere,” Chloe admitted softly.

“I never wanted a grand wedding or a party, as I only wanted to walk into my own home without feeling like a dangerous stranger was waiting behind the door.”

Nancy began to cry silently in the back of the room.

“Do you want to know what the most painful part of last night was?” Chloe continued, looking directly at Nancy.