I ought to have been filled with jubilation that my greatest rival and irritation from the last decade would soon be gone and married. But instead there was an unexpected emptiness. I could not account for it. Why should such news affect me at all? I tried to brush it off. I was used to having Marigold around, that was all. Someone to spar with when the winters grew long and dull. Life would be different with her gone, of course. Calmer. More enjoyable. But despite my rationalizing, the dullness in my chest did not dissipate.
