The Hidden Heiress: Married to My Ex's Brother novel · Chapter 14 of 32

Chapter 14: The Lake House

I called him back from the wheelhouse.

"Ten days," I said.

"Ten days." Walter sounded tired. He never sounded tired. "Somebody on that board has been promised a very nice condo. So I told the chair this afternoon."

My boots came off the console.

"Told him what?"

"Who you are. If you walk into that room, I want one man in it who isn't surprised." He chuckled. "He sat down on the floor of my study."

"Grandpa."

"Hen. Tell your husband. Before somebody else does."

"I will."

"When?"

I looked at the gold band on my finger.

"This weekend."

The Beckfords went to the lake the same weekend every fall.

Rem told me over Thai takeout at his kitchen table.

"It's a tradition," he said. "My father's idea of a tradition is a board meeting with a boat."

"He'll check." He pointed his chopsticks at me. "And my stepmother's been very quiet since the terminal. I don't like her quiet."

The house on Lake Chelan was three hours over the mountains.

Dark logs, a wall of glass, a long dock, and too many antlers.

Lance's mother met us on the porch in a white cashmere wrap.

"Remington. Etta." She kissed the air beside my cheek. "I've put you two in the boathouse. Newlyweds need privacy."

The boathouse room sat over the water at the end of the dock.

One window. One lamp. One bed.

It wasn't a big bed.

Rem stood in the doorway and looked at it.

"I'll take the floor," he said.

"It's a plank floor over a cold lake."

Dinner was venison and silence.

Lance sat at one end next to Liza, and they didn't look at each other once.

Lance's mother talked to me.

"Tell me about your people, Etta. Where did you grow up?"

"Here and there."

"And your parents?"

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