The Portrait They Took While I Was Gone
The photograph was taken during the seven minutes I was away from my own wedding.
I know it was seven minutes because our photographer’s assistant later checked the timestamps for me.
At 5:18 in the afternoon, I was standing beside my husband beneath the stone arches of the Bellamy estate, smiling while his grandmother adjusted the sleeve of my dress without asking.
At 5:25, I returned from the bridal suite carrying a glass of water.
Between those moments, my mother-in-law gathered her husband, her four children, and the photographer in front of the fountain.
My husband stood in the middle.
His mother placed one hand against his chest.
His sisters leaned toward him.
His younger brother tucked both hands into his pockets and smiled.
They looked elegant, wealthy, and complete.
I was nowhere in the frame.
My name is Natalie Rowan, although by then nearly every place card, menu, and embroidered napkin in the ballroom called me Natalie Ashford.
