Limited Love novel · Chapter 20 of 24

Chapter 20: The Toast

The Langham ballroom held three hundred people on Friday night, and every one of them had a champagne glass.

I wore the silver gown again.

Chadwick stood beside me in black tie with a glass of soda water, and under the table his hand held mine.

At the head table Eleanor sat with her cane hooked on the back of her chair and her olive-green coat folded beside her.

At eight, the chairman of the Foundation tapped his glass.

"Our toast tonight," he said, "comes from someone who has worked at the heart of Higginson Holdings for four years."

Lacey walked up the three steps to the microphone.

She wore white lace with her hair pinned in pearls, and she held the glass with both hands.

She had one palm pressed lightly low on her stomach.

"Thank you," she said. Her voice shook. "I'm not used to speaking in front of so many people."

A few guests smiled kindly.

"I wanted to toast the Higginson family," she said. "Because it's a family I love, and because it's about to become bigger."

She looked at Chadwick.

Every head in the room turned the same way.

"I'm so sorry, sir," she whispered, into the microphone. "I wanted to tell you in private. I'm going to have your baby."

The sound that went through the ballroom was one long breath.

I did not move.

Chadwick did not move either.

His hand had gone tight on mine.

Then Eleanor stood up.

She was five foot three, and she did not need a microphone, but a waiter brought her one at a run.

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