Free Hold Your Peace (Short Story) by H.M. Bailey Page B

need to put closure on this before I can go on.”
    Closure? Wait, did he mean clo sure with me or closure with her? Of all the times for her to resurface, she chooses the middle of our wedding. What a total drama queen. I felt like I was in a scene from a bad soap opera.
    “Ok, let’s figure this out,” I said meekly. I looked at Father Patrick with pleading eyes and he said, “Why don’t the two of you, or, umm, three of you, I guess, go into the prayer room where you can talk privately.” He motioned to a door behind the altar.
    Then, thankfully, he spoke to our guests so we didn’t have to. As we walked to the prayer room, I heard him apologize to everyone for the delay but asked the quartet for some music while they waited.
    I caught a fleeting glimpse of the my flower girl, Cassi dy, flopping down on the ground looking bored a nd then saw my parents, whose faces were both full of pity for me. That was too much to see, and I felt a lump growing in my throat, matching the one that was already in the pit of my stomach.
    We were about to go into the room when I looked at Ryan, who still appeared to be in shock. I grabbed his hand and stopped him.
    “Ryan, do you want to talk to her alone, because I understand if you do.” I really hoped he would want me there, too, but thought I would at least offer. As miserable as I was feeling right now, I couldn’t imagine the emotions he must have been experiencing.
    “Of course not, you need to be here, too.”  I smiled at his words, grateful that he didn’t forget about me and wanted me with him.
    Once behind closed doors with Amanda, I got a closer look at her. She didn’t look happy to see me included in their reunion.  And I wasn’t happy to see that s he was even more stunning up close. Her tan skin was perfectly clear and glowing. She smelled like strawberries and vanilla . I wondered that in all the time I’d known Ryan why I had never even seen a picture of her. Once we started dating, he had taken down any pictures he had of her and I never asked to see them because I hadn’t wanted to cause him any pain. I knew that it had been hard on him, but it wasn’t an issue in our relationship. He had told me that finding me was the best thing that had ever happened to him and that he loved me and that the thought of spending the rest of his life with me made him the happiest man in the world. I hope that he still felt that way now.
    There was a small round table in the room and we all sat down at it, Ryan helping me with my gown as I carefully took my chair. Then he looked at her, his eyes filled with disbelief.
    “Mandy, I never thought I’d see you again, how can you be alive?”
    “Ryan, I’m so sorry, honey, but I didn’t have a choice.”
    I cringed at hearing her call him ‘honey’.
    She continued with her story as she clasped her hands in front of her and I noticed that she was wearing an engagement ring.
    “I t’s true that I was in a car accident, but it wasn’t just an accident. Someone ran me off the road on purpose, they tried to kill me. It was a miracle I survived. ”
    “What?” Ryan asked, stunned.
    “Remember the Peterson case, the one where I was supposed to be a witness?”
    Peterson case…that sounded familiar. I remembered seeing something about it on the news a few years back.
    “Was that the man who murdered someone in Hillcrest Park?” I interrupted.
    She looked at me like she had just noticed me for the first time. The loving kindness she had in her eyes when she looked at Ryan completely disappeared when her gaze shifted to me. It was obvious she would have rather had this moment with Ryan alone. Too bad, lady, I thought, deal with it.
    “Yes, Grant Peterson shot a man there on one of the trails. He was murdering his wife’s lover and thought it would look like a random robbery gone bad, but I happened to be running on the trail and saw what happened. He hadn’t seen me because I hid in some bushes but I went to the