Gasps erupted.
Someone near us whispered, “Goodness.”
“TURN THAT OFF!” she screamed. “TURN IT OFF RIGHT NOW!”
Alex didn’t move.
“Why?” he asked calmly. “You weren’t ashamed when you did it.”
“You’re humiliating me!” she shrieked.
“On your wedding day?!”
He stepped closer, eyes hard.
“No, Mom,” he said. “You humiliated yourself the day you decided your ego mattered more than my wife.”
The word “wife” made my chest ache.
“And since we’re honoring people today,” he said, turning back to the room, “I want you all to know something.”
He lifted our joined hands.
“This woman walked into her wedding with courage, dignity, and more beauty than any haircut could take away.”
Tears blurred my vision.
He turned back to Elaine.
“And you, Mom,” he said, voice firm, “are no longer welcome in our marriage. Not until you learn what respect looks like.”
You could hear a pin drop.
“Alex… you don’t mean that,” she whispered.
“Oh, I do,” he replied.
“Security will escort you out now.”
Two venue staff members walked toward her. They weren’t rough, just steady.
She pointed at me, shaking. “This is HER fault!
She turned you against me!”
Alex stepped in front of me.
“No,” he said. “You did that all on your own.”
Elaine looked around for allies and found none. Even her own sister stared down at her plate.
They walked her out of the reception she’d tried to ruin.
The doors closed.Continue reading…
