The horror between them seemed suspended as Percy’s words landed between, full of platitudes that Percy could hardly believe he had uttered. Then Maggie’s dress rustled as she stood up. She stepped toward him and it took Percy a great deal of effort not to shy away from her. His name lingered between them as if she wished to say more and he glanced up at Maggie’s beautiful face. The face that had always anchored him, the face that had been by his side of years, the face that was almost unreadable as she stood near him and delivered a final blow that he could never have expected but should have.

For a moment Percy could not fathom what ‘there’ could possibly mean. His mind fought against the truth that faced him before he realized precisely what she meant. The wedding. She wanted him to be at the wedding. Looking at Maggie’s face he knew he only had one answer for her. Even if that answer would make him acutely aware of his foolishness and pain. There only ever was one answer when it came to her. “I’ll be there.” Percy told her, the words sticking in his throat. It would become the only promise that he had ever made her that Percy almost disregarded.