Chapter 17 - Ryan’s Wedding
Eight years after the snowstorm, Ryan got married.
Nobody expected me to be his maid of honor.
Including Ryan.
Mostly because men usually don’t have maids of honor.
He asked anyway.
“I don’t care if it’s weird.”
“It’s extremely weird.”
“Will you do it?”
I stared at him.
“Why me?”
His answer came immediately.
“Because you’re the person whose respect I had to earn back.”
I said yes.
The wedding took place at the farm.
Our grandmother’s farm.
Ryan’s wife, Emily, knew the entire story.
Before marrying him, she made one rule.
“No secrets used as protection.”
Ryan laughed when he told me.
“I apparently have a type now.”
“What type?”
“Women smarter than me.”
“Low bar.”
He deserved that.
Before the ceremony, I found him alone behind the barn.
Nervous.
“You okay?”
“What if I become like Grandpa?”
The question surprised me.
“You won’t.”
“How do you know?”
“Because Grandpa never worried about becoming Grandpa.”
Ryan laughed.
Then cried.
I fixed his tie.
“Also Emily would destroy you.”
“That helps.”
During the reception, he gave a speech.
He did not tell the snow story.
He simply said:
“My sister taught me that being family doesn’t give you permission to hurt someone and expect them to stay. It gives you a responsibility to become someone safe enough to come back to.”
I cried.
So did Mom.
Michael pretended something was in his eye.
Daniel openly sobbed.
May you like
Evelyn filmed all of us.
For once, a family video captured something worth remembering.
