My Marriage Was Their Bet novel · Chapter 21 of 24

Chapter 21: The Gala

Daphne's POV

The ballroom held three hundred people and a string quartet, and every table wore white linen and Bancroft's name.

I stood at the double doors in a dark green gown.

My wedding ring was on my hand, and last year's diamonds were at my throat.

Kitty had carried the velvet box to me at dawn.

"They're yours," she had said. "I wore them for exactly one night, and I'd like to give them back."

Bancroft came up beside me and offered his arm.

He looked tired.

He had slept badly, and he had shaved too close.

"You look beautiful, baby," he said. "You wore the diamonds."

"You asked me to."

"Good girl."

I took his arm, and we walked in together while the room stood up to clap.

Bancroft smiled left and right, waving, the host of his own party.

I smiled too.

Last night, at two in the morning, Samson had stood in the dark of Bea's kitchen.

He had played me Bancroft's voice from the study.

The clinic, the doctor, the Friday morning.

I had listened to it with both hands flat on the steel table.

When it ended, I had not cried.

I had gone to the sink, washed my face and made a list of what I needed from the sound table.

Then I had said only, "Tomorrow. Before he reads."

"It's yours," Samson had said. "All of it. Tell me where to stand."

"At the back. Near the doors."

"I'll be there."

Now I looked for him over the heads of three hundred guests.

He sat at the last table in a black suit, alone.

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