Thirty-Six Wedding Lanterns All For My Younger Sister Chapter 01
In my hometown, when a woman gets married, her family makes thirty-six handmade mason-jar lanterns for her send-off. On the wedding day, the lanterns line the driveway and walkway, lighting the bride’s way as her family sends her off into married life.
My younger sister, Chloe Bennett, and I were getting married on the same day.
For several nights in a row, the living room stayed brightly lit late into the night as my family crowded around mason jars, wire, and ivory ribbon, laughing as they worked on the lanterns.
When the thirty-sixth lantern was finally finished, Chloe picked it up and beamed at me.
“Maya, does my lantern look pretty?”
Behind her, Mom and Dad had already started cleaning up, as though it hadn’t occurred to either of them that I was getting married that day too.
I asked quietly, “Dad, when are you going to make mine?”
My brother dropped the broom in his hand, his face tightening with anger.
“Maya Bennett, can you be a little more considerate?”
“Mom and Dad aren’t getting any younger. They don’t have the energy to make another set for you.”
Mom didn’t even stop what she was doing, her voice flat.
“You can use the two old porch lanterns we put up for Christmas. What’s the difference?”
Dad sounded even more annoyed.
“You really think you’re something special, don’t you? You always have to make a big deal out of nothing.”
I looked around at the room full of wedding lanterns made only for Chloe and said nothing.
If they were willing to put everything they had into lighting the way for her but not for me, then there was no reason for me to ever come back to this house.
…
I stared at the two old porch lanterns hanging beside the front door. Years of sun and bad weather had faded them until I couldn’t even tell what color they’d once been, and whenever the wind blew, powdery dust sifted down from them.
A week earlier, our neighbor Mrs. Miller had stopped by and offered to help.
“With two daughters getting married at once, are you going to have time to finish that many wedding lanterns? I can pitch in.”
Mom and Dad immediately waved her off.
“No, no. This is something a girl’s own family should do for her.”
I was a Bennett too. I was their daughter too…
Mom rapped the broom against my shin.
“Move it, brat. If you’re not going to help, at least stop getting in everybody’s way.”
She drove me into a corner. I glanced down at the apron tied around my waist while a pot of chicken and dumplings—the dinner Chloe had specifically requested—continued simmering in the kitchen.
I wanted to tell Mom I’d only stepped away for a minute because I wanted to see the wedding lanterns they’d made for me.
But the words died before I could say them.
There weren’t any lanterns for me. There was nothing left to argue about.
Chloe nestled her head against Mom’s shoulder.
“Mom, you even tied one of your handmade lace bows around my lantern. It’s so pretty.”
Mom gently stroked her hair.
“Of course. Chloe’s lanterns deserve the prettiest lace bows. It’s tradition around here.”
“Around here, people talk if a bride’s own family doesn’t even light her send-off.”
So Mom knew perfectly well that a bride whose family didn’t light her send-off would become the subject of gossip.
But I didn’t have a single lantern, and she couldn’t have cared less.
As long as the whispers weren’t about Chloe, my humiliation meant nothing to her.
My brother took the lantern from Chloe and held it high.
“Chloe, when it’s time for the family send-off, everyone in town will know you’re a bride whose family stands firmly behind her.”
They gathered around Chloe while I stood alone.
Dad’s eyes reddened, and he wiped away a tear.
“Our baby girl is getting married already. It’s hard to let you go…”
“I still remember when you were tiny enough to ride on my shoulders, bouncing around up there.”
I looked at Dad’s back, no longer as straight as it once was, and remembered Chloe clutching his hair and kicking her little feet as she shouted, “Giddyup! Faster, Daddy!”
Back then, I was always the one running after them, asking if I could get a turn riding on Dad’s shoulders too.
Dad never answered. He only ran faster until I couldn’t keep up and fell, skinning my knee, and not once did he look back.
They pulled one another into a hug and dissolved into tears.
I was left standing in the corner, painfully out of place.
Chloe and I were sisters. We had the same parents, and we were getting married on the same day.
So why wasn’t a single one of them sad to see me go? Why wasn’t a single tear for me?
A bitter ache spread through me, and I turned away.
Just then, a familiar figure came in through the front door.
It was Evan Brooks, who had grown up alongside us. He was Chloe’s fiancé now, but once, he had been the boy who promised me forever.