Then, halfway through dinner, she put down her glass.
“I heard Nathan is planning to walk you down the aisle.”
My stomach tightened.
I looked at Daniel.
He looked at his mother.
“Yes,” he said.
Margaret gave a small laugh.
“I don’t think that’s a good idea.”
Nathan was sitting right there.
He was quietly eating his dinner, completely unaware that everyone was suddenly talking about him as if he weren’t in the room.
I tried to stay calm.
“It’s important to me.”
Margaret looked directly at me.
“Then you’re going to have to choose.”
“Choose what?”
“Your wedding looking normal… or making a statement.”
Daniel’s expression hardened.
“Mom.”
She ignored him.
“I am telling you this because someone has to be honest with you. You don’t want people remembering your wedding because your brother was walking you down the aisle.”
I stared at her.
“He’s my brother.”
“I know.”
“And I love him.”
“I know that too.”
She leaned back in her chair.
“But photographs last forever.”
I couldn’t believe what I was hearing.
Then she said the sentence I would never forget.
“Over my dead body is he walking you down that aisle.”
Silence.
Nathan finally looked up.
