Chapter 3 — Rebecca’s Empty Chair
Michael met Rebecca in 2007.
She was twenty-four.
He was twenty-six.
Rebecca’s mother, Helen, disliked him almost immediately.
Not because Michael mistreated Rebecca.
Not because of money.
Not because of his family.
Helen simply had a very specific picture of Rebecca’s future.
Rebecca was supposed to remain in Wilmington.
Work at the same elementary school where Helen worked.
Live near home.
Marry someone from their church community.
Michael represented change.
He lived ninety miles away.
Worked in another city.
And Rebecca loved him enough to consider leaving Wilmington.
Helen treated that decision like a rejection.
Arguments became frequent.
Claire was only twenty at the time.
She still lived at home.
She usually sided with their mother.
Then Michael and Rebecca became engaged.
Helen refused to attend the engagement dinner.
Claire didn’t attend either.
Months later, invitations went out for the wedding.
Michael remembered Rebecca addressing Claire’s personally.
“She wasn’t invited,” Emma said.
Michael looked at her.
“Who told you that?”
“Aunt Claire.”
Michael stood.
He walked toward a cabinet in the study.
Inside was a box he rarely opened.
REBECCA — WEDDING.
Emma followed.
Michael removed the original seating chart.
Table three.
He pointed.
CLAIRE BENNETT.
Next to her:
HELEN BENNETT.
Emma frowned.
“That’s Grandma.”
“Yes.”
Neither seat had been occupied.
Michael found another envelope.
Inside were two unused place cards.
HELEN.
CLAIRE.
Rebecca had kept them.
Emma looked confused.
“Why didn’t they come?”
Michael sighed.
“That’s a grown-up story.”
Then he stopped himself.
That phrase had caused enough damage in this family.
“Actually, that’s a story I don’t fully know either.”
He knew Helen opposed the marriage.
He knew Claire never arrived.
But Rebecca never told him exactly what happened between the sisters during the final week before the wedding.
Then Emma noticed an old DVD inside the box.
Handwritten across it:
WEDDING — FULL CAMERA 2.
Michael stared at it.
He had not watched the full recording in years.