he might return sooner, whether eight months could somehow become eight weeks, whether he felt the same strange hope I’d been carrying all evening.
But fear spoke first.
“I think I should go back inside,” I said.
“Leah…”
“Please don’t ask me to make another man the center of my plans.”
His expression grew pained.
“I wasn’t going to.”
“I know.
But I can’t do this tonight.”
He stepped aside.
“All right.”
He didn’t follow me.
And somehow that made leaving even harder.
Inside, the reception had recovered.
Kit and Felix were dancing.
Guests were laughing.
My mother stood near the windows watching the terrace.
She approached when she saw me.
“Leah, can we talk?”
I nearly refused.
But there was something different in her face.
She led me into a quiet corridor beside the glasshouse kitchens.
For a moment, she struggled to find the words.
“I owe you an apology,” she finally said.
I stared at her.
“I kept encouraging you to forgive Callum because I thought your breakup was a misunderstanding between two stubborn people.”
“It wasn’t.”
“I know that now.”
She looked toward the reception.
“When he announced your move to Canada, I thought you must have discussed it.
I never asked you.
And afterward, I listened to his explanation because it was easier than admitting I hadn’t listened to yours.”
My throat tightened.
“Mum, I loved him.
I just didn’t want to disappear.”
She took my hand.
“You shouldn’t have had to explain that to me more than once.”
We stood together while the muffled music drifted through the doorway.
It wasn’t a perfect reconciliation.
There were still years of misunderstandings between us.
But for the first time, my mother had stopped trying to persuade me that my own feelings were wrong.
Later, Kit found me sitting alone near the bridal suite.
She lifted the heavy skirt of her dress and sat beside me.
“You know,” she said, “you never needed to bring a boyfriend to make me happy.”
“I know.”
“Do you?”
I looked at her.
Kit smiled sadly.
“I wanted my sister here.
That’s all.”
I leaned my head against her shoulder.
“I’m sorry Callum ruined your speech.”
“He didn’t ruin my wedding,” she replied.
“He embarrassed himself.
There’s a difference.”
We laughed.
Then she grew serious.
“And for what it’s worth, Owen looked at you the way Felix looks at me.”
I swallowed.
“He’s leaving for Copenhagen.”
“Does he want you to go with him?”
“No.”
“Has he asked you to give anything up?”
“No.”
Kit was quiet for a moment.
“Then perhaps this isn’t the same story, Leah.”
I spent the rest of the evening trying not to think about that.
Outside, a sudden squall swept in from the sea.
Rain rattled against the glass roof, and wind pushed water beneath one of the terrace doors.
A member of the venue staff hurried to move a speaker cable away from the damp threshold.
Owen, who had returned to collect his jacket, noticed the problem and helped the technician isolate the affected equipment safely.
The music paused while they checked the connections.
I watched him from across the room.
He wasn’t performing for me.
He wasn’t trying to win an argument.
He was simply helping because someone needed help.
When the band resumed,
