One Letter Missing From the Invitation

Chapter 1: Letter C

The missing letter was so small that Anna almost blamed the printer.

She stood at the kitchen counter on Christmas Eve, holding the sample card beneath the yellow light. Outside, rain tapped softly against the windows. The house smelled of coffee, pine needles, and the cinnamon rolls her future mother-in-law had baked that morning.

Across the top of the card, in dark green ink, were the words:

Daniel and Anna Shultz invite you to celebrate their marriage.

Anna read the line twice.

Then she placed the card on the counter.

“My name is wrong,” she said.

Daniel looked up from the table, where he was sorting envelopes into neat piles. He always arranged things carefully. Stamps in one stack. Addresses in another. Pens lined up with their caps facing the same direction.

“It’s not wrong,” he said. “That will be your name after the wedding.”

Anna thought he was joking.