I looked past her.
Brendan trailed in behind, meek as ever, and with them came my future mother-in-law.
The moment Sarah Gilbert walked in, she sized me up, then said in that heavy, well-meaning tone,
"Nelson, take some advice from me. Stop making a scene."
"A man takes responsibility once he's married. There's no sense in keeping everyone waiting on you."
Looking at that smug, damage-smoothing face, I felt something cold rise in my chest.
"Take a look at the state I'm in. You call this making a scene over nothing?"
Sarah's mouth twisted, and her tone was already turning impatient.
"Brendan just apologized. Why are you still sulking here?"
"If you ask me, it's your own body that isn't up to it. Looking like this, how am I supposed to feel safe handing my daughter to you?"
Before I could say anything, my mother was already shaking with rage, jabbing a finger right at Sarah's face.
"Do you even hear yourself?"
"Your daughter brought that bastard in, and he had someone break my son's hand on purpose!"
"You don't discipline him, and now you're siding with an outsider to gang up on my son?"
Sarah didn't so much as flinch. If anything, she straightened her back.
"Now, now, let's not put it that way."
"Our Karen is a boss worth hundreds of millions now."
"There are lines of men out there who'd want to marry her. For Nelson to marry into the Gilbert family, he's the one reaching above his station."
"If Nelson goes out there and gets this wedding done without a fuss, he's still my son-in-law."
"But if he keeps throwing this ungrateful little tantrum and it really falls apart, do you two honestly not know who ends up losing?"
My father had had enough. He grabbed the glass off the table and smashed it against the floor.
"Get out!"
"This marriage is off!"
Karen's expression darkened.
"Mr. Swanson, don't throw your weight around as an elder."
"My mother's only thinking of the bigger picture."
She turned to me, her eyes full of that lofty, condescending charity.
"Nelson, the fifteen minutes are up."
"Come out with me now, and I can pretend none of it ever happened."
I found it almost funny.
"You'll pretend it never happened?"
"Karen, I'm the one whose hand got broken. I'm the one they suggested finding a vet to set the bone."
"What gives you the right to turn the page for me?"
Her face went completely cold.
"Nelson, how did I never notice how overbearing you are?"
"Since you want to stay in here, then let Brendan stand in for you."
"It's just going through the motions anyway. When you've come to your senses, you can walk out yourself."
Brendan shrank back, timid.
"Ms. Gilbert, this isn't right, is it?"
"Nelson will be angry."
Sarah shoved Brendan straight over to Karen's side.
"What's not right about it? If you ask me, you suit him better than Nelson does!"
"Come on, let's go out. We're not indulging this nasty attitude of his!"
The door shut again.
Outside, the wedding march started up soon after.
I sat on the couch and heard the officiant say,
"Ms. Gilbert, do you take the man beside you, to have and to hold, for richer or for poorer, in good times and in bad…"
Without a second's hesitation, Karen answered, "I do."
Seven years together, made a joke of in that single moment.
My father slammed a fist onto the table and turned to storm out.
I caught his arm.
"Dad, don't rush."
"The higher I let her climb, the harder her fall will be."
Just then, the phone I'd left on the table lit up.
A message from my assistant.
*Mr. Swanson, the check you had me run on Brendan Fox is back.*
An encrypted file was attached below.
I opened the first page. It was Brendan's medical record from six months ago.
When I saw the diagnosis, I finally remembered why he'd looked familiar the first time I met him.
