“Would I violate your privacy like that?” He frowned, feigning hurt.

I narrowed my eyes and snatched my phone away, but he’d already pressed play and the opening bars to “Eye of the Tiger” started playing. I couldn’t help but laugh. It actually kind of helped. I stopped it halfway through, sufficiently pumped, and then with some trepidation I went to Uncle Vince’s room, where Dad was supposed to be getting dressed.

He was sitting on a tufted ottoman at the foot of the bed when I walked in.

“Oh God. What’s wrong?” I groaned. He lifted his head with a snap and I saw that his expression, although tired, was cheerful.

“No, no, nothing. I have something for you.”

“Is that it?” Praise Jesus. That was an easy one. No wardrobe malfunctions or surprise babies. Then I realized that I knew Beth was pregnant and he didn’t.

“Yeah, I didn’t want to walk around out there looking for you in case I got stuck talking to Beth’s aunt again, and no offense, but I didn’t trust your friend Oliver with it.”

“I could see why you might get that impression. He has a certain je ne sais quoi of general iniquity.”

He got up and unzipped a sports bag. From my vantage point I saw a pair of fancy shoes, a spare pair of socks, and the best man’s gift, a watch, from Dad to Uncle Vince. He rummaged into the corners and pulled out a pink gift bag with a unicorn on it.

“It was the only one they had.”

I looked in the bag and saw a mint-green camera. The kind that spits out instant photos. I’d asked him to get one for my birthday.

“It’s not my birthday for a couple of weeks,” I said, but I was grinning when I took it out of the box.

“It’s not for your birthday. It’s a thank-you. For . . . for not making my life as miserable as you could have over this wedding.”

“Wow, I really thought I had.”

“No, I think you had a lot more in you that you could have pulled out if you wanted to.”

After a quiet second of me considering what I could have done better (or worse, depending on your perspective), I agreed and hugged him.

“Why did you want one of these anyway?”

I debated not telling the truth. But I tried to think of what Mum would say in her therapist-y wisdom. It was hard to channel that version of her after so long. But I thought it might be something like, if you hide your feelings from the people you love, then you aren’t giving them a chance to really know you. I thought of what Ruby would say. She’d say, be honest, life’s too short to pretend.