Caroline’s expression hardened.
“Martha, you need to leave.”
I looked at her.
“Martha, you need to leave.”
“No. I’ll say it.”
Then I faced Martha again.
“You are leaving my wedding. You’re not coming to our home, and you’re not calling Nick tomorrow expecting him to smooth this over.”
Martha stared at Nick.
“You’re allowing this?”
“No. I’ll say it.”
He answered quietly.
“Yes. I’m standing beside my wife.”
I stepped closer.
“If we ever speak again, it’ll start with you admitting what you did without blaming me, Lydia, or Nick.”
Martha looked around the room.
Caroline wouldn’t defend her.
“I’m standing beside my wife.”
Lydia wouldn’t soften it.
Nick stayed beside me.
For once, nobody rescued Martha from the consequences of her own behavior.
She picked up her purse.
Then she walked out without another word.
And nobody followed.
Lydia wouldn’t soften it.
***
Nick looked at me.
“Do you want to go home?”
I looked across the restaurant.
Our dinner had gone cold. My hair was uneven. My mascara had surrendered somewhere around the second confrontation.
But our guests were still there.
“Do you want to go home?”
Our music was still playing softly.
And the dessert Nick and I had argued over for three weeks was sitting untouched at our table.
“No.”
He searched my face.
“No?”
“I haven’t had dessert.”
My dad laughed behind us.
That was enough to loosen the room.
People started moving again. Chairs scraped. Conversations returned. Alicia waved the staff over and asked them to restart the music.
I sat down and took a bite of cheesecake.
Nick watched me.
“What?”
Nick watched me.
“I wasn’t sure you’d stay.”
“Neither was I.”
I touched the rough ends at my neck.
“I hate what she did.”
“I know.”
“I wasn’t sure you’d stay.”
“But I’m not giving her the rest of tonight too.”
Nick nodded.
“Then what do you want?”
I looked around the room.
“My wedding back.”
So I took it.
“Then what do you want?”
I finished dessert. I hugged Caroline when she quietly apologized for not realizing how often Martha had used Lydia’s name against me. I thanked Lydia for coming.
Then I walked back onto the dance floor.
Nick followed.
We danced.
Not because everything was fixed.
Nick followed.
Because I was done letting Martha decide what I got to enjoy.
***
Later, when the room had nearly emptied, Nick sat beside me.
“I should’ve stopped asking you to be patient with her.”
“You thought she’d stop.”
He looked down.
“I should’ve stopped asking you to be patient with her.”
“I thought keeping the peace meant nobody lost.”
“I was losing.”
His eyes came back to mine.
“I know.”
“Then don’t ever ask me to make her comfortable at my expense again.”
“I won’t.”
“I was losing.”
***
Two days later, I sat in front of another mirror.
This time, the scissors behind me were there because I’d chosen them.
The stylist studied the damage.
“I can save some length.”
I ran my fingers through what remained.
For two days, I’d been thinking about what Martha took.
The stylist studied the damage.
I was tired of building my next choice around her.
“How short can we go?”
“A bob would work.”
Nick looked at me.
“What do you want?”
I smiled at my reflection.
“How short can we go?”
“Make it sleek.”
When the stylist finished, my hair fell in a clean line near my jaw.
No braid.
No flowers.
No attempt to rebuild the version of me Martha had ruined.
Nick stood behind me.
“Make it sleek.”
“There you are, my love.”
I met his eyes in the mirror.
“What does that mean?”
“You look like yourself.”
I touched the ends.
“No.”
Nick frowned slightly.
“You look like yourself.”
I smiled.
“I look like someone who finally stopped asking permission.”
Then I stood up.
When I caught my reflection on the way out, I didn’t see what Martha had taken.
I saw the woman who decided what happened next.
