Sweetheart Wife novel · Chapter 5 of 24

Chapter 5: Hello, Dale

I followed Jonas out onto the porch, and he did not tell me to stay inside.

I noticed that.

Dale stood at the iron gate at the bottom of the drive with his tie loosened and a long white envelope in his hand.

He had changed out of the black funeral suit into a grey one that cost more.

A silver sedan idled at the curb behind him, and Lacey sat in the passenger seat with sunglasses on, pretending not to look.

Two of Jonas's neighbors had stopped on the sidewalk with a dog on a lead and a stroller.

Dale had always loved an audience.

"Willa!" he called, in the warm voice that used to make me forgive him for things. "Sweetheart, thank God. Come on down here."

I did not move.

Jonas went down the porch steps alone.

He walked slowly across the gravel with his hands loose at his sides.

He was not hurrying, and Dale's smile began to slip before he reached the gate.

"This is private property," Jonas said.

"I'm here for my fiancee," Dale said. "I have papers for her. It's a family matter."

"She isn't your fiancee."

"Pardon me, but we've been engaged for seven years."

"She dropped your ring in a bowl in front of forty people," Jonas said.

"Half of Charleston has heard it by now, and some of them say you were on your knees."

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