Only Your Mother

PART 5

Consequence arrived before relief.

By midnight, most guests had left. A few stayed because Rosa asked that the food not be wasted or the kitchen staff lose tips.

Daniel spent an hour in a small venue office signing revised payment schedules.

Arturo's name disappeared from the remaining balances.

Daniel's did not.

The honeymoon and car service were canceled first. The next morning, Daniel would call his bank about the house savings.

The truth did not make the bills symbolic.

When Daniel returned to the ballroom, Rosa sat alone at the second table beside the untouched place setting.

Her blue dress looked tired now. The chair beside her held the clear bag containing the cook's uniform. She had asked Nadine not to throw it away yet.

Daniel sat one seat over rather than taking the chair closest to her.

The ivory corsage remained in his palm.

For a while, neither spoke.

Somewhere behind the service wall, water ran over pans. Staff rolled tables through the corridor. The night was ending in work, as expensive nights often did.

Rosa touched the untouched plate.

"You should have eaten."

Daniel almost laughed.

"You are still telling me to eat?"

"You being heartbroken does not make your blood sugar special."

The familiar irritation in her voice nearly broke him.

He looked down.

"I'm sorry."

Rosa closed her eyes.

"For tonight?"

"For tonight. For every time you tried to tell me and I translated it into something easier. For wanting their approval so badly that I treated your discomfort like the admission price."

Rosa folded her hands.

"I should have said more."

"You said enough. I just liked the version where nobody asked me to choose."

She looked at him then.

"I did not want to be the reason you lost someone you loved."

"You aren't."

"Daniel -"

"Valeria is the reason Valeria lost me. I am the reason I did not see it sooner. You are not carrying either part."

Rosa's eyes filled.

He let the silence remain instead of rushing to repair it.

After a moment, she pointed toward the corsage.

"Give me that."

Daniel placed it in her open hand.

The white flowers were beginning to soften at the edges. One side of the ribbon hung loose where Valeria had cut it.

Rosa turned it over.

"I hated this thing when you bought it," she said.

"You said it was a waste of money."

"It was."

He smiled despite himself.

Then she grew serious.

"When she took it off, I thought maybe she was right. Maybe flowers like this belonged to women who knew which fork to use and how to sit without making anyone nervous."

Daniel's face tightened.

Rosa held up one hand.

"I know that is not true now. But knowing it after does not erase believing it for an hour."

"What can I do?"

"Do not make me comfort you because you feel guilty."

He sat back.

"Okay."

"Do not tell everyone you saved me. Nadine helped me change. The kitchen workers kept Valeria from leaving me alone. I spoke for myself."

"Okay."

"And do not ask me to forgive her so you can feel peaceful."

"I won't."

Rosa studied him, measuring whether his agreement was another promise made under bright lights.