“Mr. Carter?”
Michael turned.
The cameraman looked uncomfortable.
“I think you need to hear something.”
Vanessa’s head snapped toward him.
“No.”
Noah looked at her.
Then at Michael.
“My microphone was live.”
Everything changed again.
Michael frowned.
“What microphone?”
“I put a wireless mic on you before the ceremony.”
Michael touched his lapel.
He had forgotten.
Noah continued.
“There’s also a directional microphone on camera two.”
Vanessa’s face drained of color.
“Noah.”
The cameraman ignored her.
“When Ms. Hale walked over to Lily, camera two was pointed in that direction.”
Michael stopped breathing.
“You recorded them?”
“I think so.”
Vanessa moved toward him.
“You will delete that immediately.”
Noah stepped back.
Michael turned to her.
“Why?”
“It was a private conversation with a child.”
“You just said Lily misunderstood you.”
“She did.”
“Then the recording should prove that.”
Vanessa said nothing.
Michael looked at Noah.
“Can you play it?”
The videographer hesitated.
Two hundred guests watched him.
“I can pull the clip onto the monitor.”
Vanessa shook her head.
“This is insane.”
Michael’s gaze never left Noah.
“Please.”
Noah walked toward a table near the rear wall where his assistant had placed a laptop and two camera monitors.
Guests shifted in their seats.
Some stood.
Nobody left.
Michael hated that part.
Even in the middle of what felt like the worst moment of his life, he understood that people were watching something private become entertainment.
He considered clearing the room.
Then Lily tugged his hand.
“Daddy?”
He bent down.
“What?”
“I want you to hear it.”
He looked at her.
“Are you sure?”
She nodded.
That answer decided it.
Michael lifted her into his arms.
She had not asked him to carry her in almost a year.
Her legs wrapped around his waist as naturally as they had when she was four.
Margaret stood beside them.
Noah found the footage.
“Audio starts about forty seconds before Lily begins crying.”
Michael nodded.
The first sound was ballroom noise.
Chairs moving.
Muted conversation.
A violin.
Then Vanessa’s voice.
Clear.
Controlled.
“Lily, take that necklace off.”
Lily’s voice was barely audible.
“Daddy said I could wear it.”