The Whole Valley Called Her the Plain Fiancee, So She Let the Banquet Read the Deed novel · Chapter 22 of 24
Chapter 22: What She Has
Signe's POV
Helene did not leave the ballroom at once.
She stood at the lectern a minute longer with her hand on the wood, and nobody went to her.
Then she walked the length of the center aisle alone, past the round tables and the growers who would not look at her.
She went out through the double doors.
I did not watch her go.
I was watching the grower from the Lindqvist place come up the side of the room with his cap in both hands.
"Signe," he said.
"I turned my back on you in the feed store."
His face was red to the ears.
"I'd like to say I'm sorry in front of the room."
"You've said it," I said.
"I'd like to say the rest," he said.
He turned to face the ballroom.
"The Aldahl note's gone to Denver," he said.
"It's three hundred and ten thousand over what Anders can raise by the end of the month.
"Nobody in this valley is going to let a man who weighed our wheat for forty years lose his east half to a woman in a black suit."
He looked at the growers' tables.
"The association keeps a fund for hail," he said.
"I move we lend it to Anders Aldahl, no interest, till the wheat sells in March."
"Seconded," called a woman from the middle of the room.
"Seconded," said another, and then it was a roar.
My father had not stood all evening.
He put his hands on the table and pushed himself to his feet.
"I can't take that," he said.
"Sit down, Anders," said the old woman from the dais.
"It's carried."
She tapped a glass.
"I'd like to ask Miss Aldahl whether she has anything to say about the water," she said.
I had meant to wait.
I had meant to do it the next day at the scale house, with a pencil.
The rest of this chapter is part of the paid portion of the series. Chapters 1–12 of The Whole Valley Called Her the Plain Fiancee, So She Let the Banquet Read the Deed are free to read — start from the beginning, then unlock the rest with coins in the app.
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