The ceremony itself was lovely. As I walked down the aisle with Lily scattering petals beside me, Ethan burst into tears. He looked stunning in his blue suit and was overcome with emotion. Until the very last moment, I didn’t know that Patricia, sitting in the front row, was dressed in black. My heart leapt with joy when Ethan promised to love both me and Lily for the rest of our lives as we exchanged vows under an arch of white flowers.
The celebration got off to a wonderful start. Warm lights were hung inside the village barn we had rented. Lily couldn’t contain her joy as she twirled around the dance floor in her pink tulle dress. When we danced for the first time, Ethan said, ‘See? There’s nothing wrong with her. Put your fears about her aside.’ I allowed myself to believe it.
However, after the toasts were made, the situation changed.
Logan, Ethan’s brother, gave a touching speech. Finally, Maya spoke movingly about my journey as a single mother and the love I had discovered along the way. At the end of her speech, she raised a toast to Ethan, who loved Lily and me as one, calling him ‘the jackpot.’
Patricia finally stood up just as I began to calm my breathing. My stomach ached. Ethan tensed up. She walked over to the DJ and grabbed the microphone.
She began with, ‘I would like to say a few words about my son,’ smiling contagiously charmingly. The room fell silent. ‘Ethan is a kind and caring guy, but sometimes he can be too caring. He deserves the best. Someone who can provide for him. Someone who will be completely focused on him and his aspirations, which they both share.’
Then the words came out of his mouth: ‘He deserves a woman who is not burdened by the past.’ Not someone who is the parent of another man’s child. Because the child will always come first, a single mother will never be able to love her spouse fully. My child deserves to be the priority.
The silence was as silent as ice. We froze 200 visitors. Maya appeared out of nowhere. Ethan’s jaw was clenched.
Then Lily, maintaining her composure and putting away her chalk, moved to the front of the class.
Ethan’s deep connection with his mother, as well as the intensity of his affection for us, will become clear to you at this point. Two weeks before the wedding, he took Lily to the park and gently explained to her that when adults are anxious, they often say cruel things to young people. He handed her a sealed envelope. He continued, ‘I want you to read this as a warning in case someone at our wedding says something unpleasant about your mother. My name is on the envelope. You’ll know what to do.’
In total, they practised three times. She put the letter in the flower girl’s purse, which she had made out of white beads. Ethan’s plan was brilliant: if he decided to confront his mother himself, people would expect him to do so. If Lily, his stepdaughter, received the letter, it would have a deeper effect, because she was the one being fired.
The moment Lily stepped forward, holding her little pocketbook in her hands, Patricia remained motionless. ‘Excuse me, Grandma Patricia,’ Lily said to Patricia’s grandmother as she approached the microphone. May I also express my opinion? I received a letter from my new father, Ethan, in case anyone treats my mother cruelly.
The room filled with sighs. Patricia’s face was completely charred. With a trembling hand, she handed the microphone to Lily.
Lily opened the envelope. Hi, my name is Lily. In case anyone says anything hurtful about my mother, my new father wrote something for me to read.
It began: ‘Dear wedding guests, if you are hearing this, it means that someone has questioned whether Claire is worthy of being my wife or whether our family is complete. To be clear, I did not compromise. I made a golden move.’
It was normal to lean forward. Some shed tears.
“Claire was not hurt in the slightest. She did not compromise in any way. Only for the sake of her child did she make the courageous decision to leave her broken marriage. She is a woman who worked nights raising a child — her child — and she is a healer and protector.
Tears welled up in my eyes, and my hands rose to my face of their own accord.
When I first met Claire and Lily, I didn’t see any ‘baggage’ in them. I saw a family filled with love. Lily was not only a gift, but also a responsibility. I am not the one who inherits the difficulties. I get a place I can call home.
Everyone in the room had tears in their eyes. Maya openly shed tears. He bowed his head in humiliation.
Continuing to read, Lily wrote, ‘If you think Claire should put me above Lily, then you don’t know who I am.’ I like Claire because she puts Lily above everything else. That’s the kind of mother I want for each of our children.
There were no sounds. Then another clap. After that, loud applause broke out. Everyone stood up. Maya clapped her hands. At that moment, Lily came up to me and folded the letter. Climbing onto my lap, she continued, ‘And my mum bakes the most delicious pancakes, so Dad Ethan is very lucky.’