Danica’s crying too. I don’t know if she’s feeling conflicted or overwhelmed like I am. I reach over and squeeze her hand. She squeezes back, and then it’s all too much for me. Too many emotions swirling together inside me. Too many emotions that are half one thing and half another. Too much beauty and too much sadness.
I squeeze Danica’s hand again but then let go of it and bolt from the table. By the time I get to the bathroom, I’m crying just as hard as Danica and Shirley were. I hide in one of the stalls and let my tears fall.
I don’t know how much time goes by, but eventually I’m not crying so much anymore. In the mirror I fix my tear stains and mascara smudges as best as I can. I text Danica to tell her I’m in the bathroom and that she should come get me when she’s ready to go. I don’t trust myself not to cry again in front of everyone.
Less than twenty seconds later, the door swings open. I turn around fast, hoping it’s Danica and we can get out of here and go home.
But it’s not Danica.
It’s Shirley.
She takes a searching look around the room until she finds what she’s looking for.
And what she’s looking for is me.
“There you are,” she says, sounding relieved. She walks over to where I am at the sink. I see the moment she realizes I’ve been crying. “I was hoping we could talk,” she says, relief gone from her voice.
“I don’t know if that’s such a good idea.”
She nods like she understands. “Don’t worry. I’m not going to ask you to forgive me. I know that’s too much to ask.”
I relax a little, knowing that.
She takes a deep breath. “I want to thank you for deciding to come to the wedding.”
I don’t know what I was expecting, but it wasn’t this. “I’m not doing it for you,” I say.
“I know, but thank you anyway.”
She closes her eyes for a quick second and takes another deep breath, gearing up for something.
I wrap my arms around myself. I’m not sure I’m emotionally ready for anything else today.
“There’s another thing I want to say,” she says. “I’m sorry for the way things happened between me and your dad. And I’m sorry that this is hurting you. I love your dad. I know you might never like me, but I already love you because you’re a part of him.”
I don’t know what to say, so I don’t say anything.
Her eyes roam across my face, looking for something. “You’re so much like him,” she says with a smile. “He’s real good with uncomfortable silences too.”
She turns around to face herself in the mirror. “I’m terrible at it. All I want to do is talk and talk and talk to make it better.” She laughs and adjusts her veil. “I’m doing it right now, I guess.”
“A little,” I say with a small smile.
There’s hope on her face when she turns to me again. But I drop my eyes from hers. I can’t make any promises. I’m not ready for that, not yet.
“Thanks for coming today, Evie. It’s really nice to see you,” she says.
——
Danica’s mostly quiet for the entire cab ride home. She doesn’t even look at her phone.
I stare out the window and think about all the visions I’ve seen in the last few months. It occurs to me that an unhappy ending for one person can mean a happy beginning for another, the way Mom’s unhappy ending with Dad led to Shirley’s happy beginning with him. I think about the way we’re all just starring in our own stories.
In her speech, Ms. Gene made it sound like Dad rescued Shirley somehow. In her version of things, Shirley’s not the evil stepmother that I think she is, that Ithoughtshe was. She’s the princess who finally found her prince.
“What did you think?” I ask Danica when we’re almost home.
“I thought it was beautiful,” she says.
