The Wedding Was A Game And Her Father Was The Prize Chapter 10
Two years passed.
Spring came slowly to Munich, and the chestnut trees along the streets pushed out fresh new leaves.
I wheeled Dad out of the rehab wing of the Munich Ophthalmology Institute.
His vision had come back even better than the surgeon had predicted.
He’d put on reading glasses now and sit by the window watching me sketch.
When he couldn’t make sense of the design, he’d laugh anyway and say.
“Everything my daughter draws is beautiful.”
Over those two years, I finished my design program in Munich and joined an independent studio.
At first I was just helping my mentor sort fabric and adjust patterns.
Then my work started showing up in emerging designer showcases.
Eventually, I had my own small first collection.
On the night of the launch, Dad insisted on wearing a proper suit.
He stood in front of the mirror, carefully straightening his tie.
“How do I look? Am I going to embarrass you, showing up like this?”
I froze for a moment.
I had heard that sentence before.
On the day of the wedding, he’d gripped my hand and asked the same thing, so nervous his voice had trembled.
“Claire, did Dad embarrass you?”
Back then, he couldn’t see the ridiculous red stamp on his own face.
He couldn’t see any of the cameras pointed at us.
He’d only been afraid of dragging me down.
I stepped over and adjusted his tie for him.
“Dad, you could never embarrass me.”
“You’re the person I’m proudest of in this whole world.”
His eyes went wet, but he smiled and nodded, hard.
The launch was packed.
My mentor came. Colleagues. Buyers. Clients. A few of the friends I’d pulled all-nighters with at the design school.
And outside, on the other side of the glass doors, Nolan stood watching.
He didn’t come in.
For two years, he had rehearsed this moment in his head countless times.
The apology. The explanation. The confession.
Or asking her, just once, for another chance.
But actually seeing her, he realized none of those words meant anything anymore.
She stood at the center of the room, her face bright, her expression easy.
Beside her was the father who could see again, and friends who applauded her because they meant it.
Her world was warm. Whole.
There wasn’t a place in it for him anymore.
Nolan stood on the other side of the glass for a long time.
Long enough that Dad seemed to sense something and glanced toward the door.
Nolan’s first instinct was to step out of sight.
Then he stopped himself.
He faced Dad and bowed. Deeply.
Like an apology that had come far too many years too late.
Dad recognized him and was quiet for a moment.
He didn’t come over. He didn’t call to me.
He simply looked away.
Nolan understood.
He shouldn’t be here anymore.
By the time the launch ended, the sky had gone dark.
A fine spring rain came down, and the streetlamps flickered on one by one.
Dad smiled at me.
“Claire, what do you want to eat tonight? Dad’s treating.”
I teased him.
“Then I’m ordering the most expensive thing on the menu. I’m going to empty your wallet.”
We walked together down the street.
I never noticed Nolan standing at the entrance of the gallery, quietly watching us go.
In his hand was an invitation to the launch.
He’d had a friend pull strings to get it for him.
From beginning to end, he had never let himself walk through the door.
He had spent five years wearing down the one person who had truly loved him.
Now he had the rest of his life to understand something.
Some people, once you lose them, are gone for good.
The rain came down harder.
Nolan finally turned and walked off into the dark alone.
I lifted my umbrella and kept walking, slowly, beside my father.
The streetlamps burned steady, and the wet pavement threw back their light, gentle and bright.
Every laugh, every bet, every humiliation, every tear from before.
I left all of it behind me.
My life was never going to be anyone’s wager again.
It belonged to me.