The Perfect Wife Walked Away
the celebrant said, and the words stretched, expanded, filled the church like music, "husband and wife."
Husband and wife.
Not CEO and merger asset. Not heir and diplomatic accessory. Not Adam Ballard, the prodigal son, performing his dynastic duty.
Husband.
Her husband.
"You may kiss the bride."
I leaned in. She leaned in. And the world contracted to a single point of contact — her lips against mine, warm and soft and tasting faintly of something sweet, maybe champagne, maybe just her — and in that single point of contact, I felt the entire universe rearrange itself into an order that made sense for the first time since I was twenty-one years old and standing in an alley, watching a girl wi