Chapter 24 - THE WEDDING VIDEO
I watched my wedding video three years later.
Not because nostalgia.
The videographer asked permission before deleting archive after retention period.
I requested a copy.
Then hesitated months.
Finally watched.
Plaza ballroom.
Flowers.
My father crying.
Thatcher smiling.
Lenora watching him.
Sterling giving toast.
“Family is the structure that carries us through every storm.”
I stopped video.
Almost laughed.
Then vows.
Thatcher:
“I will protect your independence as fiercely as I protect our life together.”
That sentence hurt.
Not because I wanted him.
Because he had believed himself while saying it.
People can sincerely promise identities they have never tested.
Then shot of Coraline whispering to Sterling.
No audio.
Could be anything.
No need to turn every frame sinister.
Then Lenora dancing with Thatcher.
She held his face.
Said something.
Videographer captured audio:
“Be better than us.”
Thatcher smiled.
“What?”
“Nothing.”
I paused.
Lenora had tried.
In the only language she thought safe.
Too subtle.
He did not understand.
Or chose not to.
Then my father danced with me.
He said:
“If anyone gives you trouble, use your head before your hands.”
I laughed so hard watching that I cried.
Apparently I had remembered only half his lessons.
I saved video.
Not shrine.
History.
May you like
Then deleted wedding photos from my phone? Maybe keep some. I kept my father's dance, Lenora, friends. Deleted romantic portraits slowly. No ritual.
Life does not need purity.
