After Dad Di:ed, My Brother with Down Syndrome Offered to Walk Me Down the Aisle—But My MIL Objected

“No.”

“Or you could walk alone.”

“No.”

“Claire.”

“Ethan asked.”

“I said yes.”

“That’s decided.”

Margaret’s smile tightened.

“I understand the emotional part.”

“No, I don’t think you do.”

She ignored that.

“I’m thinking about the photographs.”

Silence.

I genuinely did not understand.

“What photographs?”

“The processional.”

“The wedding album.”

“The framed pictures.”

“All of it.”

Adrian went very still.

Margaret continued.

“If Ethan walks you, his face will be in virtually every important aisle photograph.”

I stared at her.

I kept waiting for another sentence that would somehow make the first one less ugly.

It did not come.

She continued carefully.

“You and Adrian will have these photographs for the rest of your lives.”

“So?”

“So perhaps you should think about what you want displayed.”