Chapter 14 - The Choice at the Cathedral
“Dr. Nathan Vale.”
Chloe stared.
“My obstetrician?”
Arthur’s face hardened.
The doctor who had warned Chloe about her blood pressure.
The doctor who knew her pregnancy.
The doctor who knew she planned to rest that wedding morning.
Vale had disappeared after Grace’s birth.
Marco investigated.
The truth surfaced quickly.
Vale had been paid by Michael Russo.
Not to kill Chloe.
To keep her isolated.
Her medical warnings were real, but Michael used Vale to track her movements.
On the wedding morning, Vale knew Chloe had overheard the poisoning plot.
Michael expected her to collapse before reaching the cathedral.
She didn’t.
“She survived because she’s stubborn,” Arthur said.
Chloe crossed her arms.
“Finally, appreciation.”
Vale was found at O’Hare Airport.
Federal agents arrested him.
His testimony closed the final gaps in Michael’s case.
No new conspiracy appeared.
No hidden assassin waited.
For the first time, the last secret really was the last secret.
Arthur didn’t trust that immediately.
Chloe understood.
Trauma trained people to expect another door to explode open.
Healing meant learning that sometimes a door was only a door.
Six months later, Chloe stood in the cathedral’s bridal room.
Vivian adjusted her veil.
The irony was not lost on either woman.
“You realize this is strange,” Chloe said.
“Extremely.”
“You were supposed to marry him here.”
“And you interrupted.”
“I was dying.”
“Still rude.”
Chloe laughed.
Vivian had become her friend in the strange way people sometimes became friends after surviving the same terrible men.
Amelia entered carrying Grace.
Grace wore a tiny white dress.
“Mama!”
Chloe took her.
“You ready?”
Grace nodded with enormous seriousness.
Vivian smiled.
“He’s terrified.”
“Arthur?”
“Marco said he checked the ceremonial wine himself.”
Chloe laughed.
“There is no ceremonial wine.”
“Exactly.”
Outside, Arthur stood at the altar.
No empire waited behind him.
No alliance.
No armed bargain.
Only people they had chosen.
Elena sat in the front pew.
Luca and Isabella sat beside her.
Marco stood as Arthur’s best man.
The cathedral doors opened.
Arthur looked up.
Chloe appeared.
For a second, neither moved.
Arthur remembered her soaked dress.
Her pale face.
Her collapsing body.
Thirty weeks.
Mine?
Whose else would it be?
He remembered catching her.
He remembered almost losing everything before realizing what everything actually was.
Chloe walked toward him carrying Grace.
Halfway down the aisle, Grace demanded to walk.
Chloe set her down.
Grace ran.
“Daddy!”
Arthur abandoned the altar.
Guests laughed as he caught her.
Chloe stopped.
Her eyes filled.
That was the picture she wanted forever.
Not Arthur Romano feared by Chicago.
Arthur, kneeling in a cathedral aisle while his daughter hugged his neck.
He carried Grace back toward Chloe.
“You’re supposed to wait at the altar.”
“I’ve developed trust issues with this aisle.”
Chloe smiled.
“Fair.”
He offered his hand.
She took it.
They walked the remaining distance together.
The priest began.
Arthur barely heard him.
When vows came, Arthur looked directly at Chloe.
“I can’t promise nothing frightening will ever happen again.”
Chloe smiled faintly.
“That would be suspicious.”
A few guests laughed.
Arthur continued.
“But I promise you will never face it alone because I decided alone was safer.”
Chloe’s eyes filled.
“I promise no silence when truth is difficult. No disappearing when staying is harder. And no choosing fear over you.”
Chloe squeezed his hands.
Her vows were simpler.
“I spent months thinking you left because I wasn’t enough for your world.”
Arthur shook his head.
She continued.
“Then I learned your world wasn’t big enough for the life we wanted.”
His eyes filled.
“So we made another one.”
Grace waved from Elena’s lap.
Chloe smiled.
“One with pancakes.”
Arthur laughed.
“Apparently.”
“One with arguments.”
“Constantly.”
“One with a little girl who owns her father completely.”
Arthur looked at Grace.
“Accurate.”
“And one where love doesn’t mean protecting somebody from the truth. It means trusting them with it.”
Arthur kissed her hands.
The priest smiled.
Before he could pronounce them married, the cathedral doors suddenly opened.
Arthur instinctively turned.
Chloe did too.
A delivery man stood there holding a large wooden box.
Marco reached beneath his jacket.
Chloe whispered, “If that is another family secret, I’m leaving.”
Arthur almost laughed.
The delivery man called, “Package for Chloe Henderson.”
Everyone looked at her.
There was no sender.
Chloe approached.
Arthur stayed beside her.
She lifted the lid.
Inside lay Thomas Henderson’s old diner apron.
Beneath it was one final sealed letter.
On the envelope:
FOR CHLOE’S WEDDING DAY.
Her hands began to tremble.
May you like
She opened it.
And the first sentence made her cover her mouth.
