Chapter 1 - The Cake
The bride dumped the wedding cake over my four-year-old son’s head before anyone could stop her.
I heard the plate hit the floor.
Then I heard her say, “Maybe now you’ll learn to wait.”
I turned from the photographer.
Noah stood beside the cake table, frosting sliding down his cheeks. His little navy jacket hung open. One hand was still lifted, reaching toward the place where I’d been standing.
He wasn’t crying.
That was what scared me.
“Noah?”
My new wife, Claire, stepped backward.
“Daniel, he ran into me.”
But the cake stand was behind her. Noah stood several feet in front of it. And twenty people were staring at her with the same stunned expression.
I crossed the ballroom so fast I knocked a chair sideways.
My son flinched when I reached for him.
“Buddy. It’s Dad.”
His eyes found mine.
“I just wanted you.”
I dropped to my knees. Frosting covered his eyelashes. A pink sugar flower clung to his collar.
Behind me, Claire laughed once.
A small, ugly sound.
“Everyone’s acting like I hurt him. It’s cake.”
I looked up.
She wore the white dress we’d chosen together. An hour earlier, I’d promised to love her for the rest of my life.
“Get me a clean towel,” I said.
“Daniel—”
“Somebody. Please.”
My sister, Rachel, was already moving.
I lifted Noah, and he folded himself against me with frightening speed, his sticky hands gripping my collar.
Claire caught my sleeve.
“You cannot walk out on our reception.”
I looked at her fingers until she let go.
Then I carried my son through two hundred silent guests.
In the hallway, the ballroom doors closed behind us. The music stopped halfway through a song.
Rachel brought warm water and towels. I sat on a bench and carefully wiped Noah’s face.
“You didn’t do anything wrong,” I told him.
His lower lip trembled.
“Not even running?”
“Not even running.”
He stared past my shoulder at the ballroom doors.
“Will you be mad if I tell?”
My hand stopped.
“Tell me what?”
May you like
He pressed his mouth close to my ear.
“She said you’d send me away if I told you about the laundry room.”
