Chapter 26 - The Wedding Chair
Five years after the wedding? Chapter 27 likely three years later. Chapter 26 symbolic recovery maybe another wedding 3 years later, Dahlia 10.
Three years after Luca and Amelia’s wedding, another cousin married at Marcelli House.
Dahlia was ten.
She wanted to go.
That surprised me.
“Sure?”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
“Cake.”
Good reason.
Mara approved.
Claire attended too but not as guard; just family friend? Better Claire wasn't needed at age 10 but present in hotel as named caregiver during moments.
The ballroom had been renovated.
Different dessert table.
Same marble.
The head family table was shorter.
No assigned seat for Dahlia.
I had learned.
I asked:
“Where do you want to sit?”
“With cousins.”
Fine.
She wore a green dress.
New.
Her choice.
Halfway through dinner, the banquet captain asked for two volunteers to carry baskets of wrapped favors from side table to guests.
Several kids raised hands.
Dahlia did too.
I felt my body tense.
She noticed.
“Dad.”
“What?”
“I want.”
“Okay.”
She carried one small basket.
Passed favors.
Laughing with cousins.
Then returned to her chair whenever she wanted.
No one timed her.
No one evaluated.
No service dress.
No earning a seat.
Later she wandered near the old kitchen doorway.
Stopped.
Looked at hallway.
I stood ten feet away.
Did not approach until she looked at me.
“Want to go?”
She shook her head.
Then:
“Can I see?”
We walked together.
The hallway had been remodeled.
Cleaner.
Brighter.
Still service hall.
She pointed.
“Blanket there.”
“Yes.”
“Stupid.”
“Yes.”
Then she walked back to ballroom.
At the table, an empty chair beside me happened to open when someone left.
Dahlia sat in it.
No ceremony.
No one gave it.
No one took another person’s.
Just a chair.
May you like
That was the climax.
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