Chương 10
“Twice.”
“Three in my heart.”
“I’m sorry.”
“You should be.”
She stepped back and looked at me.
“You look happy.”
“I’m wearing sweatpants under this coat.”
“That is not a denial.”
I laughed.
She pointed toward the ceremony meadow.
“Go.”
The first boat had carried enough people to make the island feel occupied without making it feel crowded.
Staff moved along the paths with radios.
Guests found seats.
Someone’s hat blew off and traveled thirty yards before a graduate student caught it.
At the terminal, Marcus and the others were apparently gathering around the livestream monitors.
Leah confirmed the connection over her radio.
“Terminal has picture.”
A moment later, she frowned.
“They have sound too.”
“Is that bad?”
“No.”
She pressed the radio closer.
“Your aunt is arguing with them from here.”
Rosa stood near the aisle holding another radio she had somehow acquired.
“I’m checking latency.”
Sterling took it away from her.
“You’re checking whether you can hear yourself.”
“That is also useful.”
At twelve fifty, I went into the reserve house to change.
The building was plain and old, restored without pretending it belonged to another century.
My dress hung from a brass hook in a room that usually hosted visiting biologists.
My shoes sat beneath a desk covered with bird census forms.
Nina had arrived on the first boat and was waiting with pins between her lips.
She looked at the forms.
“This is aggressively you.”
“I know.”
She helped me into the dress.
The zipper caught halfway.
For thirty seconds, neither of us spoke.
Then Nina said, “This would be a terrible time for the universe to become symbolic.”
“Pull harder.”
“I’m afraid.”
“Pull.”
She did.
The zipper moved.
“There.”
“See?”
“You almost died.”
“It was a zipper.”
“People have taken down better brides.”
I stared at her in the mirror.
“Did Sterling tell you the carrot story?”
“No.”
“That’s concerning.”
Someone knocked.
Rosa entered without waiting.
She stopped.
Her face changed.
For a second, she looked so much like my father that I forgot what room I was in.
Her mouth tightened.
“Oh,” she said.
That was all.
I looked down at the front of the dress.
“What?”
“Nothing.”
“Rosa.”
She blinked rapidly.
“Your father would have been unbearable today.”
My chest tightened.
“He would’ve complained about the boat.”
“He would’ve brought his own life jacket.”
“He did own one.”
“He owned four.”
Nina quietly left the room.
Rosa came behind me and touched the fabric at my shoulder.
“He wanted to like Sterling before he admitted he liked Sterling.”
“I remember.”
“He used to complain that the man never talked enough.”
“Sterling still doesn’t.”
“That’s why they would have gotten along.”
I looked at her reflection.
“I wish he were here.”
“I know.”
The room became very still.
Then Rosa sniffed and picked up my shoes.
“Put these on before I ruin something expensive.”
We did not say anything else about my father.
We did not need to.
At one fifteen, Sterling sent a message through Leah.
Boat two backup has arrived at terminal.
My stomach jumped.
“Can they make it?”
Leah checked the updated marine window.
“Maybe.”
“That is becoming my least favorite word.”
“They can depart immediately and arrive around one forty-five.”
“The ceremony is at one thirty.”
“We can hold fifteen minutes.”
I looked toward the meadow.
Guests were already seated.
The officiant stood near the cypress arch going over his notes.
The musicians had started quietly.
Another schedule slipping.
Another choice.
“Hold.”
Leah nodded.
“For fifteen.”
“Only fifteen.”
“You sure?”
“Yes.”
I thought of the people waiting at the terminal.
Friends who had traveled.
Coworkers.
Marcus sitting on a steel bench because he had given his seat away.
They deserved the chance to arrive.
At one thirty-eight, someone near the cliff pointed toward the water.
The second boat appeared through the fog.
A cheer went up from the meadow.
I laughed.
Then I started crying.
Not gracefully.
Nina shoved a tissue into my hand.
“Don’t touch your eyes.”
“I’m not.”
“You absolutely are.”
“I hate everything.”
“You’re having a beautiful day.”
“This is terrible.”
Rosa took my face between both hands.
“You are getting married on an island while forty people cheer at a boat.”
“Yes.”
“Act accordingly.”
At one forty-nine, Marcus climbed the last steps from the dock.
He was breathing harder than he wanted anyone to notice.
When he saw me near the reserve house, he lifted one hand.
“Still invited?”
“Barely.”
“Fair.”
Behind him, the retired professor complained about the speed of the charter.
His wife told him to stop embarrassing himself.
The terminal guests spread into the remaining seats.
Nobody cared where their original assignments had been.
Nobody asked about prestige.
Nobody seemed interested in whether their name belonged in the front row.
At one fifty-six, the wind dropped.
Not completely.
Enough.
Leah looked toward the weather station and then at Sterling.
“That’s your window.”
He nodded.
Nina adjusted the back of my dress.
Rosa handed me my bouquet.
Marisol had made it from the same native plants used on the tables.
It was smaller than the one I had planned for the estate.
It fit my hands better.
The musicians began again.
I walked toward the meadow with Rosa beside me.
We had discussed who would escort me after my father died.
Originally, I had planned to walk alone.
That morning, Rosa had simply held out her arm.
I had taken it.
Halfway down the path, she whispered, “If you trip, I’m letting you fall.”
“Good.”
“I have osteoporosis.”
“You do not.”
“I could.”
Guests stood as we reached the aisle.
Somebody at the back was still taking off a rain jacket.
A child whispered too loudly that there were birds everywhere.
The livestream camera at the side of the meadow tilted slightly crooked.
None of it was polished.
Then I saw Sterling.
His tie had already been blown sideways.
May you like
His hair was hopeless.
He looked at me as if every logistical failure of the last month had been worth surviving to reach exactly this spot.
