Page 50 of A Wedding in the Bay

She found Pearl standing against the wall in the bathroom, staring at the pieces of glass that were strewn all over the bathroom floor.

“I—I broke it,” Pearl said, starting to cry.

Caitlin looked down at the pieces of glass, trying to figure out what it was that her daughter had broken. It wasn’t something she recognized, and then she made the connection when she recognized the smell that was in the air.

“Was that Michael’s cologne, honey?”

Pearl nodded, tears dripping down her face. “I’m sorry,” she said, her voice wobbling. “My elbow bumped it.”

“It’s okay,” Caitlin assured her. “I’m not mad. It was a mistake.”

“What happened?” Michael asked, hurrying toward the bathroom. He froze when he saw the shattered glass on the floor. Caitlin watched him carefully, wondering how he was going to respond, and her heart warmed when she saw how calmly he reacted to the situation.

“Don’t worry about it, Pearl,” he said, making eye contact with the little girl. “You didn’t do it on purpose.”

“I bumped it,” Pearl said, sniffling.

Michael started to hurry forward to comfort the little girl, but Caitlin grabbed the sleeve of his suit jacket.

“Hang on a minute,” she told him. “We’ve got to get this glass cleaned up first.”

“I’ll help you,” he said.

“Stay there, Pearl,” Caitlin told her daughter, whose tears were subsiding already. The little girl was barefoot, and Caitlin wanted to ensure that she didn’t step in any of the broken glass. “We’ll be right back.”

“Okay,” Pearl said.

“Good thing we started to get ready early,” Caitlin said, sighing as she and Michael hurried toward the cleaning supplies closet. “Otherwise this would have made us late for the wedding.”

“You’re smart like that,” he said, grinning at her.

She paused in the hallway. “You’re amazing,” she told him. “I’m so impressed that you’re not upset right now.”

He shrugged. “It’s old cologne—nothing very expensive, and the bottle was more than half empty anyway. Besides, Pearl didn’t break it on purpose. I shouldn’t have left it resting right on the edge of the counter like that. It’s my fault.”

She kissed his cheek, still amazed by him. “I’m so lucky I get to marry you,” she whispered.

“Likewise,” he whispered back.

Then they both seemed to remember at the same time that Pearl was waiting for them. They hurried to the closet and grabbed rags and a small broom and dustpan. Caitlin also grabbed the paper towel roll.

Back at the bathroom, Michael worked on sweeping and wiping the floor clean while Caitlin carefully checked Pearl’s feet, wiping them with damp paper towels to make sure there were no broken glass shards on them.

“Are we going to be late?” Pearl asked, her bottom lip quivering again.

“Not a bit,” Caitlin told her cheerfully. “And besides, look! We’re all just about ready to go.”

“You’re wearing your pajamas,” Pearl pointed out doubtfully.

Caitlin chuckled. “True, but my hair and makeup are done. All I’ve got to do is pop on my dress and my heels and I’m all ready to go.”

“And I’m ready,” Michael said, smiling as he finished wiping up the floor. “And you look beautiful, Pearl. You’re ready, right?”

Pearl smiled. Caitlin had carefully braided her hair into two French braids that were tied with ribbons halfway down, letting the little girl’s curls bounce around underneath them like Dorothy in The Wizard of Oz. She was wearing a pink dress, which she’d picked out for the wedding herself. “Yeah, I’m ready. I’ve just got to put on my shoes.”

“Go ahead and put your shoes on, Pearl,” Michael told her. “I’ve got the floor all cleaned up.”

Pearl scampered out of the bathroom, her spirits restored, and Michael and Caitlin shared a smile.

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