EPISODE 12: FOREVER OWED ## CHAPTER 1: THE CEREMONY Mission Dolores stood ancient and patient in the San Francisco afternoon. Elena waited in the small room off the sanctuary, her father beside her, the weight of her grandmother's dress grounding her. Through the doors, she could hear the murmur of guests, the soft notes of the string quartet James had insisted upon. "Last chance to run," Arturo said. "Papá." "I'm joking." He wasn't quite joking. "You're sure about this." "I've never been more sure of anything." "He's a good man." "I know." "He wasn't when you met him. He was broken, closed off, half a person." Arturo took her hands. "You fixed him." "We fixed each other." "That's how the best marriages work." He straightened her veil. "Your mother and I—forty years we've had. Not easy years. Plenty of fights, plenty of struggles. But every morning, I wake up and choose her again. That's what marriage is. Choosing, every single day." "I know, Papá." "I know you know. I just needed to say it." His voice roughened. "You're my little girl. You'll always be my little girl. But today, you become something more." "I'll still be yours." "Yes. But you'll be his too. And he'll be yours." A hint of the fierce protector emerged. "If he ever stops choosing...