I couldn’t help but feel nervous as I peeked out of the curtain and saw all of our friends sitting there waiting. The aisle was covered in flowers and my beautiful wife was standing next to the pastor in a navy blue tailored suit. Her hair was tied up elegantly and a few strands were hanging off her beautiful face. Next to her was Kit and Angie in light blue silk dresses holding flowers. On the other side Emily was standing wearing the same dress.

Shane and Sarah were engrossed in conversation with Shay sitting in between them, Tasha was holding a newly recovered Alice closely, and Max, Rich, and Helena were motioning for Mattie to walk down the aisle.

The moment Mattie stepped out of the curtain holding the pillow with the rings on them everyone focused their attention on him. Bette smiled proudly at him and Angelica giggled. Alicia, her now girlfriend, was laughing along with her.

I glanced at him and saw that he was skipping down the aisle with a grin on his face. "He’s such a happy boy."

I turned and saw Jared behind me looking very good in his suit. "Yes he is, we give him all the love he needs," I said.

"You’re a good mother," Jared said, "and so is Bette. So you would know how mom felt if one day Mattie or Angie just decided to stop talking to you."

"Jared…" I said shaking my head.

"Just give her a chance Tina," Jared insisted.

"Sit down Jay, I’m gonna tell you something," I said with a sigh.

Jared sat down and looked at me expectantly.

"Do you want to know what happened when Mom found out about L…Leylani?" I said.

Jared gulped, "y-you said her name."

"That’s cause that little girl she molested wasn’t the first one," I said, "I was."

Jared gasped, "what?"

"And when mom found out about it, she said it was my fault," I said, "she said I convinced Leylani to do it, but I was only 12 years old and she was 16."

"But it wasn’t your fault!" Jared cried, "s-she I can’t believe she did that."

"Mom couldn’t either," I said, "so she took me to the shed and hit me with a horse whip. She hit me until I bled and begged her to stop. She didn’t have mercy and she even made Michael and Leylani watch. And when I cried and begged she just did it harder…"