I started crying again.
Nathan looked alarmed.
“Did I say it wrong?” he asked.
“No.”
“Then why are you crying?”
“Because apparently that’s what brides do.”
He accepted that.
Nathan started practicing that same week.
My uncle told me later.
Nathan was walking the upstairs hallway with his arm out, holding nothing, counting the steps.
One, two, three.
Pause.
Turn.
Again.
But practicing at home apparently wasn’t enough for him.
He phoned the church himself, without telling anyone, to ask the priest what he was supposed to do when we got to the front.
Father Michael called me afterward.
“Your brother is taking this very seriously.”
“I know.”
“He asked whether he bows before or after giving you away.”
I laughed.
“What did you tell him?”
“That nobody is giving you away.”
