Bury the Ex, Wed the Heir novel · Chapter 19 of 24

Chapter 19: The Heir Walks In

Silvan Ravenscroft put on the black suit at seven in the morning, and for the first time in forty days he went down the front stairs.

Nobody stopped him.

The housekeeper stood in the hall with her apron twisted in her hands, and when he passed she bowed her head.

Madam waited at the front door in a black coat and a hat with a short veil.

The silver oak leaf was pinned to her lapel, and a second one lay in her palm.

"Lean down," she said.

He bent his head, and she pinned the leaf to his lapel with steady fingers.

"Your grandfather wore this the day he married me," Madam said. "It has never been on a man who walked into a room he was not meant to leave."

"I'll leave it, Grandmother."

"See that you do."

Linnet came down last, in a gray silk dress and her mother's pearls.

She stopped at the foot of the stairs, and her eyes went over him slowly.

"You look alive," she said.

"I'm told it suits me."

"It does."

Edith followed her, with her bag held in both hands.

"If that man says one word to my daughter," Edith said, "I will put my handbag through his teeth."

"Mother."

"I'm only saying it."

The Ravenscroft car crossed the city at ten and took the river road.

Silvan watched the black water go by and did not look away from it.

He had not seen the bridge since the night he went into it.

He saw the stop sign, and the bend, and the new railing on the bridge, bright and raw.

Linnet's hand found his and held on.

"I'm here," she said.

"I know."

He turned his hand over and laced his fingers through hers.

The Dray estate stood on a hill behind a stone wall.

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