Chapter 29 - BEFORE THE WEDDING, KAYLA FINALLY LEARNED WHICH PEOPLE GUNTHER HAD LOVED BEFORE HER
Their wedding planning caused more conflict than the proposal.
Gunther wanted forty guests.
Kayla wanted sixty.
Victor wanted one hundred.
Jacqueline wanted Victor banned from planning anything.
Sam wanted barbecue.
Gunther stared.
“No.”
“It’s food.”
“At a wedding.”
“Yes.”
“No.”
Kayla sided with Sam.
Gunther lost.
Good.
Then the guest list created a more serious question.
Jacqueline.
Gunther looked at Kayla.
“She should come.”
“I know.”
“Are you sure?”
“Yes.”
“She’s Victor’s partner.”
“I know.”
“And my former—”
“I know.”
Gunther stopped.
Kayla smiled.
“Do you want her there?”
He considered.
“Yes.”
“Then invite her.”
Simple.
Jacqueline received invitation.
Called Kayla.
“You’re either extremely secure or deeply unstable.”
“Both.”
Jacqueline laughed.
Then Gunther received a letter from Caleb.
Not begging.
Not blaming.
Three pages.
For the first time, he described Northstar without saying:
I never intended.
I didn’t know.
Moss misunderstood.
Instead:
I knew enough to stop it and chose not to because stopping it would cost me.
Gunther read the sentence twice.
Kayla sat beside him.
“Will you invite him?”
“No.”
“Are you sure?”
“Yes.”
Good.
Forgiveness did not require access.
Victor asked Gunther privately whether he had ever loved anyone before Kayla.
Gunther frowned.
“Why are you asking?”
“Jacqueline asked me.”
“That seems unhealthy.”
“She wants to know what I think.”
Gunther sighed.
“My mother.”
“Not what I meant.”
“No.”
“Never?”
Gunther thought.
“There were women I cared about.”
“Jacqueline?”
“Yes.”
“Love?”
“No.”
“Anyone?”
Gunther looked toward Kayla across the room, arguing with Sam over flowers.
“No.”
Victor studied him.
“That is either romantic or evidence you were emotionally defective.”
“Both.”
At Kayla’s bachelorette dinner, Jacqueline answered the same question from the other side.
“Yes, I loved him.”
The table went quiet.
Kayla smiled.
“I know.”
Jacqueline continued.
“But love isn’t ownership.”
“Me loving Gunther once does not threaten what I love now.”
She glanced at Victor.
“And it doesn’t threaten what he loves now.”
Kayla nodded.
That was the final clarification she needed.
No rivalry.
No hidden claim.
No woman waiting in shadow.
Gunther’s past was real.
So was Jacqueline’s.
Both had moved.
Elias attended the wedding with Natalie.
At reception, Gunther found him near bar.
“Dr. Ward.”
“Mr. Woods.”
They shook hands.
Elias smiled.
“You still hate me?”
“Less.”
“Progress.”
Gunther glanced toward Kayla.
“She would have been okay without me.”
Elias’s expression became serious.
“Yes.”
“That used to bother me.”
“Now?”
“That’s why this means something.”
Elias nodded.
For once, Gunther liked him.
Slightly.
Sam walked Kayla down aisle.
Not Gunther’s choice.
Kayla’s.
Her parents were gone.
Sam had been family she fought for long before Gunther knew her name.
Gunther watched them approach.
Sam’s brace visible beneath his trousers.
No attempt to hide it.
Kayla wore a simple ivory gown.
No ten-foot train.
No royal spectacle.
When she reached Gunther, Sam whispered:
“If you screw this up, I know where you live.”
Gunther said, “You have known for years.”
“Threat still stands.”
Kayla laughed.
During vows, Gunther did not promise forever first.
He promised something harder.
“I promise I will never use staying as proof that you cannot leave.”
Kayla’s eyes filled.
“And I promise not to confuse your fear with your intention.”
She squeezed his hand.
“I promise to ask before I assume.”
“I promise to tell you the truth even when the truth makes me look worse.”
“I promise not to make you responsible for my conscience.”
Kayla smiled through tears.
“And I promise not to make your past my identity.”
When they kissed, Victor cried.
Jacqueline caught him.
“You’re crying.”
“No.”
“You absolutely are.”
Gunther heard.
Did not mention it.
At dinner, barbecue was served.
Gunther hated that everyone loved it.
Kayla leaned against him.
“Happy?”
“Yes.”
“Regret the food?”
“Yes.”
She laughed.
Later, Jacqueline approached.
Champagne glass in hand.
“To breaking up in person.”
Gunther smiled.
“To moving on properly.”
Victor joined them.
Sam too.
Denise.
Elias.
Natalie.
A strange collection of people who would once have existed only at different levels of Gunther’s hierarchy.
Now they were simply relationships.
Friend.
Brother.
Wife.
Former lover.
Colleague.
Witness.
Victim.
People.
Not positions.
Kayla looked at Gunther.
“What?”
“Nothing.”
“Liar.”
He smiled.
“You look happy.”
Years earlier, he had said the same thing at a Greek restaurant before their first date.
This time, Kayla answered exactly as before.
“I am.”
And Gunther believed her.
May you like
Not because he controlled every reason.
Because he didn’t.
