The groom slowly pulled his arm away.

“What did you say?”

The bride shook her head.

“They’re confused.”

The older girl reached inside her muddy coat.

She pulled out a crumpled photograph.

The groom took it with trembling hands.

It showed both girls beside their mother.

And standing behind them was the bride.

His breathing stopped.

“Why were you with them?”

The bride backed away.

“I can explain.”

The younger girl started sobbing.

“She came after Mommy disappeared.”

The groom looked at his daughters.

“What happened to your mother?”

The older child’s voice broke.

“She told us to run.”

The ballroom went silent.

“From who?”

The girl looked at the bride.

“From her.”

The groom’s face collapsed.

The bride whispered,

“That’s not true.”

Then the older girl pulled a small phone from her pocket.

“Mom made me keep this.”

She pressed play.

A woman’s frightened voice filled the ballroom.

His missing wife.

“If anything happens to me, take the girls to their father. Don’t trust the woman he’s going to marry.”

The bride went white.

The groom looked at the woman standing beside the altar.

Then at the two daughters he had mourned for three years.

He tore the flower from his jacket.

“The wedding is over.”

The bride started crying.

“You’re choosing them over me?”

He walked down the aisle toward his children.

“No.”

He dropped to his knees and opened his arms.

“I’m choosing the family you made me believe I buried.”