Chloe thought about it.
“Start by telling the truth.”
“To who?”
“Yourself.”
Elena’s eyes filled.
“And then?”
“You show up.”
The same lesson her father had given during his toast.
Show up.
That’s most of it.
Chloe didn’t know whether Elena would.
Maybe she would disappear again.
Maybe she would try.
Maybe some of the sisters would forgive her eventually and others never would.
That belonged to each of them.
But the wedding was no longer about Elena’s version of the past.
By the final song, all six sisters were back on the dance floor with their father.
Someone pulled Chloe’s new husband into the circle.
Then children.
Cousins.
Friends.
The family expanded around the man who had held its center for fifteen years.
And Chloe finally understood something.
A parent is not defined by the title they claim when people are watching.
