Chapter 9 - Vows With an Empty Chair
I spent the morning after in a hospital bed with the TV on mute and my phone too loud.
The nurse had left the remote on the tray and a morning show was running photos of the mansion. White tents out on the lawn. Vans by the side gate. The chyron said Hale Wedding Delayed Amid Incident. I didn't turn it up. I didn't need to. My phone kept buzzing with texts from Rosa in the kitchen, short and scared.
Guests still here. They don't know what to do.
Then: They say small ceremony inside. Only family.
I stared at the ceiling tiles and tried to breathe the way they'd taught me. In through my nose. Out slow. The baby's heartbeat was still on the monitor beside me, that fast little gallop. Every time it dipped, my hand went cold. Every time it came back, I told myself to stay still.
Pastor Daniels came by just after ten. He asked if I wanted prayer. I said yes because my mom would have wanted me to say yes. He held my hand and didn't ask what happened on the stairs. When he left, I opened the wedding livestream link Rosa sent. It was meant for the out-of-town guests. It showed the ballroom.
They'd moved twenty chairs into a half circle near the windows. The staircase landing was visible in the background, taped off with a velvet rope. Someone had put a big arrangement of white flowers where I'd fallen, like that would cover it.
I saw Julian first. Same tuxedo, or a fresh shirt at least. He stood by the officiant with his hands clasped too tight. His best man, Chris, was next to him, whispering something that made Julian shake his head.
Then Vanessa came in. She'd changed into a simpler dress, still white, no veil. Her hair was still pulled back. Even on a phone screen I could see her jaw working.
The stream audio was bad. Glasses clinking. Someone coughing. I turned my volume all the way up and held the phone close to my ear.
I couldn't hear everything at first. The planner, a thin woman with a headset, was moving people into place. The officiant opened a book. And then Vanessa stepped closer to Julian and I heard her clear, because she didn't bother to lower her voice much.
"If you walk out that door to go see her, I'm walking out too," she said. "You choose right now. In front of everyone."
The monitor beside me beeped faster. I pressed my hand to my side.
Julian didn't answer right away. Chris looked at the floor. The officiant pretended to check his pages. Finally Julian nodded once and touched her elbow.
"Small," he said. "Just us. We do it now and we deal with the rest after."
Vanessa lifted her chin. "Good."
That was the compromising part. I felt it even through the phone. He'd bought time and she'd bought a marriage license signature.
The planner clapped her hands softly and waved everyone to sit. The officiant started talking about love and commitment in hard times. I watched Julian repeat after him. His voice cracked on the second line.
"I, Julian, take you, Vanessa—"
He kept glancing past the camera. Past the chairs. To the staircase landing behind them. Every few words his eyes cut left, to that roped-off spot with the flowers, then back to Vanessa. She stared straight at him and didn't blink.
I thought about 2:14 the day before, the cold tile through my uniform, his shoes stopping near my head. Look at what she did. What happened here? And then his voice later, lower. Check the security cameras.
Now he was saying, "in sickness and in health," while looking at the stairs.
Rosa texted during the vows: Planner hearing things.
On the stream, during the ring exchange, the camera wobbled. Someone in the back row got up. The audio picked up the hallway behind the ballroom doors where the bridesmaid, Jenna, was standing with a water glass. Vanessa had stepped aside for a second while the officiant waited for the rings, and the planner went after her with powder.
I heard Vanessa say, fast and flat, "Just say she slipped. That's what we're saying. She slipped."
Jenna said, "Okay. Okay, I got it."
The planner froze with the powder brush in the air. She looked at Jenna, then at the back of Vanessa's head. She didn't say anything. She just stepped back.
I rewound that part twice to make sure I'd heard it right. My hands were shaking so bad I almost dropped the phone on my belly.
Back in the ballroom, Julian slid the ring on. Vanessa slid his on. The officiant said, "I now pronounce you husband and wife." Nobody cheered like they were supposed to. A couple people clapped. Chris put a hand on Julian's shoulder and Julian didn't move.
They were married. On paper. In front of twenty chairs and a livestream and an empty space where I should have been mopping.
The stream cut to a wide shot of the ballroom doors closing. Celebration music started playing to an almost empty floor.
May you like
I put the phone face-down on my chest and looked at the monitor. The gallop was still there. Fast and small and fighting.
I whispered, "Did you hear that?" to no one, to him.
