At 72, when joy knocks, you do not make it stand on the porch.
A week before the wedding, Linda caught me alone in the kitchen.
I know now that was her first attempt to warn me.
We’d been dating for a year when he proposed.
She stood across from me, wringing her hands. “Do you feel you know my father well?”
“As well as one can know another person.”
“Don’t be so glib. Please.” Her face tightened. “Has he ever mentioned—”
“I found them!” Arthur entered, carrying the wedding invitation mock-ups. He froze. “Did I interrupt something?”
“No.” Linda grabbed her purse. “I should be going.”
I didn’t see her again until the wedding.
“Did I interrupt something?”
We had a small ceremony in Arthur’s backyard.
Arthur looked handsome in his navy suit. I wore cream. I had no interest in pretending I was anything other than exactly who I was: a woman who had already loved deeply and had somehow found room in her heart to love again.
As I stood there holding his hands, I felt excited. That’s what breaks my heart when I think back on it.
“I do,” I said before the pastor could finish.
People laughed softly. Arthur smiled.
Just like that, I was a wife again.
That’s what breaks my heart when I think back on it.
Linda stood off to the side, watching. Even after everyone else started dancing.
Every time I looked over, she wore the same pained expression.
I couldn’t take it anymore. She’d been cold and strange, and if she didn’t like me (as I suspected was the case), then it was best to clear the air now.
I crossed the yard to her.
“Linda, it’s time we had a heart-to-heart,” I said.
“I couldn’t agree more.”
She took my hand and led me away to a quieter spot. Then she said the most unexpected thing.
“Linda, it’s time we had a heart-to-heart.”
For the first time, her face softened.
“You’re a wonderful woman, Caroline,” she said in a low voice, “and I’m worried my father is deceiving you.”
“What are you talking about?”
She glanced back toward the main gathering. When she looked back at me, her eyes were filled with tears.
