I kept checking my watch, nerves replacing the joy of a flawless wedding ceremony. My grandmother Eleanor—who raised me since I was ten—was missing. I asked Maddie, my new wife, if she’d seen her.
“She went to the restroom a while ago,” Maddie said, concerned. But she hadn’t returned.
The DJ announced the mother-son dance. Grandma’s seat was still empty.
Panic rising, I was about to go look when my cousin Lisa ran up. “Ethan, Grandma’s locked in the bathroom!”
I raced down the hall and found her trapped inside, pounding on the door. I noticed a gold earring on the floor—one Linda, my stepmom, had been wearing earlier. Suddenly, everything clicked.
I turned to the reception and saw Linda, smiling confidently on the dance floor, expecting me to take her hands. She’d locked Grandma away to force herself into the moment meant for Eleanor.
I grabbed the mic. “We can’t continue the mother-son dance because my grandmother has been trapped in the bathroom—deliberately.” Gasps rippled through the crowd as I held up the earring. Linda paled.
Grandma burst in just as Linda tried to deny everything. But the truth was clear. “It was just supposed to be a little delay,” Linda muttered.
“No,” I said. “You tried to steal this moment.”
The crowd applauded Eleanor—the true mother figure in my life. I took her hand, and we danced. She smiled through tears and joked, “Next time, bring a crowbar.”
Linda left quietly before the cake was cut. Dad followed her out, torn.
Later, Maddie squeezed my hand in the car. “You were amazing.”
“I learned from the best,” I said, thinking of Eleanor—the strongest woman I knew.
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