Moonlight
Victor Van Dort nervously glanced at the form of his wife—whom he had married only an hour before—still dressed in her wedding gown, curled up in a chair and fast asleep.
He smiled, absently fiddling with his tie. After all that they had been the past couple of days, they were finally together—happy.
"Married", he whispered the word under his breath, testing to see if he liked the sound of it. He sighed. Yes, he was happy, but…
He walked over to the windowsill, looking up at the bright, cloudless moon.
"I had forgotten how beautiful the moonlight is."
He remembered Emily's words, and he continued to stare at the sky, as if hoping that the beautiful corpse would somehow appear again—a lost butterfly or moth, perhaps?
He felt a twinge in his heart. He closed his eyes and saw Emily's face before him: her adoring eyes; her luscious lips close to his…
He snapped his eyes open again, breathing quickly.
"No", he chided himself. "I mustn't think of such things."
But the thought resolutely crept into his mind…
What if Victoria had not shown up at the church? Would he still have married Emily?
Though he was guilt-ridden about it, he found that the answer was yes. Emily had shown him things—vivacity, excitement, love—that possibly Victoria could never show him—at least not in the same way.
But it was over now, and Emily was at peace, Lord Barkiss having received what he deserved.
Now Victor had a whole new life ahead of him, and that was his main focus. He was going to have to support his family. He gulped, filled with anxiety at the prospect of what lay ahead on the path he had chosen.
He turned away from the window and looked back at his sleeping new bride, and some of his anxieties disappeared.
As he gazed at her, he knew that he loved her, and would love her even more in the time to come, but he also knew that part of his heart belonged to the Corpse Bride.
Perhaps she had taken that piece of his heart when she had kissed him for the first time after he had recited his "vows".
Victor placed a hand over his chest. He was glad that she had it—she would keep some of his love with her at all times, wherever she was, in her realm of tranquility and happiness.
And Victor would always feel her love whenever he looked at the moon, on still, quiet nights as this, and remember how much she loved the moonlight and how happy and lovely she looked when she was dancing in it.