Sarah flinched. “Cassandra doesn’t have a lot of the emotional fortitude. Physical pain she can take, but emotionally she’s much more vulnerable.”
“I’ll talk to her after the wedding. Listen to what she has to say. I don’t want to hold up things for you.” But God, he wanted to go to Cass right now. To take back what he’d said about not being part of the family, about nobody wanting her around.
“No,” Sarah said, walking back over to stand with Roman. “I don’t want to get married without all my family here. Cassandra is included in that.”
“I don’t know that she’ll be in any state to come back here.” Physically or emotionally.
Now Roman spoke up. “Then we’ll wait till next Saturday. You two make up one eighth of our wedding party anyway.”
“I’m sorry I messed this up.”
“Cassandra thinks she’s worthless,” Sarah said gently. “It’s ingrained in her thinking, Dominic. I work with children all the time so I see this sort of thing. Emotional abuse that has been rooting for years, probably before you even knew her before. It affects her judgment. Her ability to see herself and others. And it’s not something that can be fixed quickly. She needs someone who can understand how precious she is. If you can’t be that person then you need to let her go.”
“I already am that person. I just lost sight of it.”
“Then go to her and don’t leave her side until you’re sure she knows.”