Chapter 73 - The Invitation She Could Refuse
Ruth found us in the kitchen that evening.
She had spoken with Maya.
Then with Marco.
Now she stood beside the table holding a bag she had forgotten to put down.
“She asked him directly.”
Lena took the bag and hung it on a chair.
“What did he say?”
“What happened.”
Ruth sat.
“He didn’t make it sound better.”
I looked at her.
“And Maya?”
“She asked why he hadn’t refused.”
A question I had heard in several forms.
A question with no answer that would return the years afterward.
“He said he should have,” Ruth continued.
Nobody spoke.
Then she pressed her hands together.
“I want my daughter there.”
“Of course you do,” Lena said.
“I keep thinking I could explain it properly. Find something she hasn’t considered.”
“What would you want her to understand?”
“That I’m not overlooking it.”
Lena nodded.
“Then say that. You can tell her what you believe without deciding what she has to feel.”
Ruth looked down.
“I thought getting married at this stage of my life would mean fewer complications.”
I almost smiled.
“Have you met any families?”
She laughed, then covered her mouth because the laugh had arrived too close to tears.
The following Saturday, Ruth and Maya met for lunch.
I learned about it later from Ruth.
She told her daughter that she loved Marco, that she knew the past remained serious, and that she had not mistaken an apology for the end of responsibility.
Then she gave Maya an invitation.
No request for an answer before dessert.
No arrangement for someone else to persuade her.
Maya took it.
That evening, Marco came to help Nico repair a drawer in the model cabinet they had built.
He worked for nearly an hour before saying anything about the wedding.
“Ruth told me she spoke with you.”
“Yes.”
He adjusted the runner.
“I wish Maya had met a different version of me.”
I held the side of the cabinet while he checked it.
“She met the version that exists.”
He nodded.
“That’s the problem.”
Nico came downstairs carrying two handles.
“Which one?”
Marco examined them.
“This one will fit more easily.”
“Is the other wrong?”
“No. It needs more work.”
Nico chose the easier handle and went to fetch the screws.
Marco watched him leave.
“I don’t want the wedding to become another occasion where everyone has to decide what I deserve.”
“Then make sure Ruth gets a wedding too.”
He looked at me.
For the first time that evening, his attention moved away from his own shame.
“What does she want?”
May you like
I handed him the screwdriver.
“That sounds like a useful question to ask her.”
