“I just wanted one part of him to walk down the aisle today,” she said.
That was the point where my mother completely lost it.
She sat back down and started crying into a tissue.
I couldn’t look at her because I knew I’d start again too.
The officiant, who had been standing patiently beside us for this entire emotional disaster, finally leaned toward me.
“I’ll give you two a minute.”
I laughed. “We’ll probably need several.”
Claire smiled. “I’m sorry.”
“No.”
“I should’ve warned you.”
“No, you shouldn’t have.”
Her eyebrows lifted. “Really?”
I looked at the suit again. “If you’d told me, this wouldn’t have hit me the same way.”
“But you looked horrified when I came down the aisle.”
“I was.”
A few people laughed.
I added, “I thought you’d lost your mind.”
Claire laughed too. “I probably have.”
Then I touched the lapel.
The fabric felt old.
