Chapter 18 - The Wedding PlanSarah wanted a small wedding.
Eleanor heard “small” and apparently translated it into four hundred guests.
“No.”
Sarah stared at the list.
Eleanor frowned.
“That’s family only.”
“You have four hundred relatives?”
“Close friends.”
“I have eleven close friends.”
Eleanor looked concerned.
“That explains many things.”
Alexander laughed.
Sarah pointed at him.
“You’re not helping.”
Henry wanted the wedding at the lake.
Lucy wanted flowers everywhere.
Mrs. Doyle wanted everyone to stop arguing in her kitchen.
Eventually, they chose the estate garden.
Forty guests.
Eleanor negotiated to sixty.
Sarah accepted defeat.
One week before the wedding, Lucy had another evaluation.
Everyone was tense.
Nobody said it.
Dr. Patel entered smiling.
That helped.
“The numbers look good.”
Alexander exhaled.
Sarah squeezed his hand.
Henry asked.
“How good?”
“Good enough that I don’t want to see you nearly as often.”
Henry smiled.
“That’s rude.”
Dr. Patel laughed.
Lucy looked at Sarah.
“So I can dance at the wedding?”
“Yes.”
Alexander said.
“Carefully.”
Sarah looked at him.
He sighed.
“Normally.”
Lucy smiled.
The night before the wedding, Sarah could not sleep.
She went to Emily’s studio.
Alexander was already there.
Sarah stopped.
“You too?”
He smiled.
“Apparently.”
They stood before one of Emily’s paintings.
A bright lake.
Messy brushstrokes.
Sarah looked at him.
“Tomorrow feels strange.”
“Good strange?”
“Yes.”
“And a little sad.”
Alexander nodded.
“Me too.”
Sarah looked at the painting.
“I wish I’d known her.”
Alexander smiled.
“She would have driven you crazy.”
“I think I would’ve liked her.”
“She would have liked you.”
Sarah looked at him.
“You don’t know that.”
“I do.”
“How?”
“Because she liked people who argued with me.”
Sarah laughed.
Alexander took her hand.
“I loved her.”
“I know.”
“I love you.”
“I know.”
He smiled.
“You’re supposed to say it back.”
“I love you too.”
They stood there quietly.
Not erasing the past.
May you like
Not competing with it.
Simply making space beside it.
