Tristan slammed the cell phone onto the coffee table for the third time that day.  His hands trembled.  His face was bright red, a single bead of sweat dripping down from his perfectly styled hair.  The anger and hurt were clear in his eyes.  “He didn’t answer!” he cried, his booming voice filling the house.  Tristan’s once-straight bow tie hung clumsily untied around his collar.  The sleeves of his suit jacket were rolled up to his elbows.  This was the day he had been waiting for, but he was suddenly filled with anger rather than enthusiasm.
     Michael, fully dressed in his suit and tie, strutted into the room.  “Please don’t let him ruin this,” he pleaded.  “This day isn’t about him.  It’s about us.”  Michael grabbed the bow tie that drooped from his fiancee’s neck, hurriedly retying it.  Tristan squirmed, anxious about his previous phone calls.  “Now stand still and let me help you.  We’re already running late for our own wedding.”
     Obeying, Tristan stood still, but he still had jitters.  “I just can’t believe it,” he said, pain evident in his voice.  “He’s not coming.  My own father.”  As Michael finished straightening Tristan’s tie, the two rushed out of the house and into the limousine they had hired.  “Sorry we’re late,” Tristan called up to the driver as a formality, then spoke as the car began to move: “I guess I always just thought that maybe things would have gotten better by now.  We’ve been together for six years now, and my dad still won’t even answer my calls.”  His eyes brimmed with tears, but he blinked them away out of embarrassment.
     “He’ll come around,” Michael told him.  “Maybe not today, but someday.”  He hugged Tristan close to his chest, feeling the man shaking in his arms as they drove away.
     Tristan thought back to the first time he’d ever seen Michael.  He was in his senior year of college and would be graduating in just a few months.  As he was walking to class alone one day, he caught sight of a stranger - a very cute stranger -  walking down the same path.  “Hi, I haven’t seen you here before.  Are you a new student?” he asked the stranger, feeling a blush appearing on his cheeks.  “My name’s Tristan, by the way.”
     “Michael,” the man replied.  “And no, I’m not new here.  I’ve never seen you before either.”  Taking a deep breath and looking away, he said, “But I’d like to see you again.”
     The two did meet again, and again, and again, and Tristan was happier than he had ever been.  Unfortunately, his father was not quite as happy.  Saying things such as, “This isn’t how I raised you,” he was completely unsupportive of his son.  After a few months of Michael and Tristan dating, his father refused to speak to him anymore.  They hadn’t spoken since.
     Later, the two stood just outside of the chapel where they would soon be married, making last-minute adjustments to their tuxedos.  “Are you ready?” Michael asked with a smile.  Tristan smiled back and nodded, thrilled for the day’s events but still wishing that his father had showed up or at least called.
     As the church organ started to play, Tristan felt butterflies in his stomach.  His mind was racing with what-ifs when he stepped out into the room filled with friends and family.  The chapel, the flowers, the guests… everything was perfect.  Only one thing was missing, and that was his father.  As hard as Tristan tried to let go of his father, to just forget about him completely, it was impossible.  He was starting to have second thoughts about going through with this.  If his own dad couldn’t accept his marriage, how could anyone else?
     Once both men reached the altar, they turned to face each other.  They exchanged vows and rings, and the minister had begun speaking by the time something caught Tristan’s eye.  A door was propped open in the back of the room, daylight spilling in, and there was a face peeking through.  The eyes were familiar to him.  He tried to keep from getting hopeful, but as soon as he locked eyes with the man on the other side of the door, his heart skipped a beat.  “Thank you, Dad,” he mouthed, his eyes once again filling with tears.  With his dad’s approval, he was now ready to marry the man of his dreams.