She continued to glance at the entrance the entire time. “Are you okay?” I murmured to her. “What’s wrong?” Alice shook her head slightly and smiled ahead at the priest.
We went ahead and said our vows, Alice’s eyes still flickering to the door. Who did she expect to show up? I wondered.
The priest’s voice echoed through the venue once more—a solemn call for any objections to our marriage. “If anyone here has any objection, speak now or forever hold your peace.”
Silence reigned, causing me to smile. But it was shattered within seconds by the dramatic entrance of a man whose presence immediately caused Alice’s face to light up in a way that I hadn’t seen throughout the entire ceremony.
Every muscle in my body seized. “Stop it!” the man boomed. “Stop the ceremony!” Alice gasped, clasping her hands to her chest.
“I’m so sorry for interrupting the ceremony! I know I’m late, Father,” he said. “But please, let me just walk my little girl down the aisle.
I’ve broken all promises to her, but this one, I can’t.” Our guests murmured, their shock evident. Alice’s mother was on her feet, her hands clutching Alice’s bouquet tightly “Alice, is that…?”
I began, my voice trailing off as the reality of the situation dawned on me. Of course.
Alice had the man’s eyes, and his chin. It was clear. “Yes,” she whispered.
“That’s my dad.” Her father, a man who had been more absent than present in her life, had chosen this moment to fulfill a promise, to be there for his daughter when it mattered the most. “Shall I carry on?” the priest asked me. “No, let’s do the walk again,” I smiled.
As her father took her arm, guiding her toward me, I saw Alice in a new light. She finally looked like a bride who had been waiting for this day. She beamed.
We began the ceremony again. This time, Alice laughed through her vows and cried through mine. Afterward, her father embraced me tightly.
“Thank you,” he said. “Thank you for looking after my girl.” Later, when Alice and I were in our rented car, being driven off to the airport for our honeymoon, she told me everything. It turned out that Alice had reached out to her father a few weeks before the wedding.
They had been speaking on and off over the years, but when it came down to our wedding—she just wanted him to walk her down the aisle. “My dad bought me the handbag,” she admitted. “But the shoes and earrings were from my bonus.”
I’m not sure if my father-in-law plans on being a part of our lives, but I do know that I’m grateful he walked Alice down the aisle.
“Maybe he’ll stick around,” she said later when we were sipping on champagne. Maybe he will.
