Silence swept the room again, deeper than before.

Nathan stared at me.

His mouth moved, but nothing came out.

“There is no legal marriage,” I said, into that silence, slowly, so that every person present would understand it, and so that Nathan, most of all, would understand it.

“Whatever happened here today, it did not make me your wife.

So there is nothing — nothing — for you to take from me as my husband.

Because you are not my husband.