Chapter 4 - The Side Room With No Windows
The organ stopped in the middle of a note and that silence was louder than anything. I could hear my own breathing and the baby breathing against my cardigan, fast little puffs that warmed through the knit of her blanket. My arms were shaking from holding her so long. I wouldn't let go. I kept thinking if I shifted her even once somebody would take that as I couldn't do it.
Daddy put his hand real light on my back, not pushing, just there. His tuxedo jacket brushed my shoulder. "Come on," he said low, close to my ear. "Let's step out of the aisle." He didn't look at the rows. I felt everybody looking at us anyway.
The man up front in the long robe held up both hands. He said something about taking a brief pause, and a sound went through the chapel, chairs moving and whispers starting up. Daddy guided me sideways, past the first pew. My shoes made a little squeak on the marble. I tucked the baby tighter so her head stayed on my chest.
A woman with a clipboard moved fast from near the flowers. She had a headset cord down her neck. "Family room," she said to Daddy. "This way. Quick." She pointed past the floral arch to a narrow door I hadn't seen, white with a brass handle, half hidden by a curtain.
Behind us heels hit hard on the marble. "No. We're not doing this," the bride said. Her veil swung when she turned. "We finish the vows first." The clipboard woman glanced back, scared. Daddy didn't stop. His hand stayed on my back and he steered me toward that door.
The side room was small and too bright. A mirror on one wall, two folding chairs, a table with a box of tissues and a plastic pitcher of water. No windows. The air smelled like hairspray and old carpet cleaner. The door clicked shut behind the clipboard woman after we all got in, and then it was just us breathing in there, too close.
The bride went straight to the far wall like she didn't want her dress to touch anything. "Get them out of here before we go back out," she said to Daddy. Her voice shook. "I mean it. Cars, lobby, parking lot. I don't care." She looked at me. "Go straight out with her."
I shook my head. My throat hurt. "No, don't take her," I said. It came out smaller than in the aisle. The baby fussed and rooted against me. I bounced just a little on my knees to settle her.
The clipboard woman reached out both hands, palms up, smiling too big. "Honey, let me hold her for just a minute so you can rest your arms," she said. "I have two of my own. I promise."
I stepped back until my cardigan hit the mirror. Cold glass through the knit. "No," I said. I curled around the baby. She made a soft whimper and I shushed without thinking, rocking side to side. "I've got her."
Daddy lifted his hand. "She keeps the baby," he said. His voice was flat in a way that stopped the woman's hands in midair. "Thank you. Give us a minute."
The woman nodded fast and slipped out. The lock turned. Now it was four of us and the door closed.
The bride stared at him. "Are you serious? You're going to let a ceremony with two hundred people sit and wait?"
Daddy didn't answer right away. He reached into his pants pocket. I watched him slide the thin chain down inside, out of sight. He'd been holding it loose in his palm since the aisle. His fingers closed once, then opened empty, then he patted his pocket like he was making sure it stayed. He glanced at me when he did it, a quick look that said later.
My chest went tight. I wanted him to look at it now. I wanted him to say what it was. But he turned his shoulders a little so he was between me and the bride.
"We need five minutes," he said. "Nobody's taking them anywhere until I figure out who brought them here."
May you like
The bride laughed, short and hard. "Five minutes becomes the whole wedding. You know how this looks."
Through the wall I could hear the muffled murmur of the guests waiting, chairs creaking, somebody coughing. The baby sighed in her sleep and her fingers found the edge of my dress and held on. I held her tighter and looked at the closed door, then at Daddy's pocket where the chain was.
