The groom read the letter while tears ran down his face.

She has been threatening me for months. She wants my place, my house, and my children gone.

The bride shook her head quickly.

“That’s fake.”

The older girl screamed, “You locked us in the garden shed!”

The whole room gasped.

The groom looked up slowly.

“What?”

The younger girl trembled. “She said you didn’t want us anymore.”

That broke him.

He ran down the aisle and dropped to his knees in front of them.

Both girls fell into his arms, muddying his tuxedo as they clung to him.

“I didn’t know,” he cried. “I swear I didn’t know.”

The bride’s bouquet slipped from her hands.

“I did it for us,” she whispered. “You were never going to move on while they were there.”

The groom turned, holding one daughter in each arm.

“They are not something I move on from,” he said. “They are my children.”

A woman in the front row stood, crying.

“I saw them near the east wing,” she said. “I thought they were playing in the rain.”

The groom looked at the bride like she had become a stranger.

“You left them outside?”

The bride sobbed. “I was scared of losing you.”

“You just did.”

He stood slowly, still holding his daughters, and removed his wedding ring.

The metal hit the floor with a small sound that somehow silenced the entire hall.

“The wedding is over.”

The younger girl touched his cheek with muddy fingers.

“Daddy, are we going home?”

He kissed her hand and pulled both girls close.

“Yes,” he whispered. “And no one will ever lock you away from me again.”