Chapter 53
WILLIAM
At the church, William felt like a politician.
As guests walked up the wooden steps, everyone shook his hand before he directed them to the appropriate rows of pews.
The procession was so long that William didn’t believe they could all fit.
Someone’s child dropped a cup of apple juice by the doors, causing yellow jackets to swarm, their small amber heads lapping at the sugar, and everyone strode inside to avoid them.
Drops of sweat blotted William’s shirt. Oscar and Scott were among the last to arrive, Uncle Stephen pushing Oscar forward, shaking his head at William in exasperation, like he too would understand that the work of a father was never done.
Shay and her bridal party were the only ones missing.
William hadn’t considered how Shay would arrive at the church, but of course she had no choice. She would arrive on a golf cart like everyone else.
He stood on the church’s threshold, seesawing back and forth on his heels.
The priest was stationed by the altar, wiping his brow with his white stole, which seemed like sacrilege, though what did William know.
No woman with a shaved head had slipped in among the guests, but even though everyone was excitedly talking and smiling, children crawling over the pews, he sensed a quiver of anxiety in the air.
Guests glanced back at the doorway, as if many of them thought there was a genuine possibility that Shay would not appear.
He looked nervously at his watch. William had been so focused on Aunt Eleanor, on his sister’s distance and the threat of the woman, that he hadn’t thought of whether Shay actually wanted to get married.