Pretty Baby novel · Chapter 18 of 24
Chapter 18: Bernadette
I went down in my robe, with my hair loose and my face scrubbed raw.
Stefan came behind me in trousers and an unbuttoned shirt.
The lobby of his building had marble floors and a brass desk.
At that hour it held the doorman, a night porter and two neighbors in coats over pajamas.
They had come down because the doorman had called up, and because people like to see a scene.
My mother stood in the middle of the marble with a battered suitcase and a plain brown handbag.
Her roots had grown out, and she had no lipstick on.
"I won't take long," Bernadette said.
"You won't take any time at all," I said.
"I have something to give back."
She opened the handbag and took out a long white envelope.
She held it out in both hands.
"It's a cashier's check for three hundred thousand dollars," she said.
"I sold the condo on Tuesday. I cashed out what I had. I pawned the cross."
I looked at her throat, and it was bare.
"It's made out to the Hartwell Foundation," she said. "I don't deserve to put it in your hand. I put it where it came from."
The rest of this chapter is part of the paid portion of the series. Chapters 1–12 of Pretty Baby are free to read — start from the beginning, then unlock the rest with coins in the app.
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