Then I heard a faint, rustling sound coming from behind the laundry room door near the lodge’s service entrance. I reached for the handle, but the brass knob would not turn.
“Hannah, sweetie, are you inside this room?” I called out while tapping on the wood.
A heavy silence followed before her small, frightened voice finally floated through the bottom crack of the door. “Dad, I am in here, but she told me I cannot come out until everyone leaves.”
I reached up to find the spare key resting above the doorframe and quickly unlocked the deadbolt. Hannah was sitting on the cold floor beside a noisy washing machine with her knees pulled tightly against her chest. Her wicker flower basket was knocked over on its side, and several crushed rose petals were stuck to her blue skirt.
I dropped to my knees immediately and pulled her hands away from her face. “Why are you sitting in the dark, and who told you to stay inside this room?”
She twisted the satin ribbon around her waist until her knuckles turned pale under the fluorescent light. “Brenda said I had to stay hidden in here until the whole ceremony was finished.”
Every noise inside the busy lodge seemed to fade away into total silence. “Why would Brenda ever say something like that to you on today of all days?”
Hannah looked toward the open hallway as if she expected Brenda to walk in at any second. “She said today needed to belong to your new real family, and the guests would feel awkward if your first wife’s daughter stood up there beside you.”
I felt my heart rate slow down into the steady rhythm I relied on during high-stress situations. “Did she say anything else to you before she turned off the light?”
Hannah nodded slowly without meeting my gaze. “She said everything was going to change after you married her today, and I needed to stop acting like I was the most important girl in your life.”
Then she asked the single question that shattered whatever future remained between Brenda and me. “Dad, am I doing something bad by reminding you about Mom?”
I wrapped my hands around her trembling fingers and looked straight into her tear-filled eyes. “You have done absolutely nothing wrong, sweetie, and nobody in this world will ever punish you for being Rebecca’s daughter.”
