The Wife He Never Knew I Became novel · Chapter 31 of 32

Chapter 31: The Gate

The old welder was the first to make a sound.

He coughed into his hard hat, loudly, and turned his back on both of us to study the river.

I looked at my husband, standing beside my father's gate with his hands in his pockets.

"We're already married," I said.

"I know. I was there. Mei cried into her scarf."

"So this is for what?"

"For daylight," he said.

"For your aunt, and the man from the flower market, and him."

He tipped his head at the welder's back.

"For your father's gate, standing up."

I looked down at the white letters on the grass.

"Here," I said. "At the yard. With the gate open."

"Is that a yes?"

"It's a date. September."

The old welder turned around, his face wet, and said, "Thank God. My knees."

On the first Saturday of July, the river end of my father's yard was still locked behind a chain-link fence.

The padlock on it still said ZHANG GROUP.

It had belonged to Chen Marine Works since Tuesday, when Zhang Group's board signed it over without debate.

By ten there were thirty people on the plaza.

Mei, in her overalls, with a thermos of coffee and a bag of pineapple buns.

My aunt, in a sun hat, holding my hand a little too tightly.

The old flower vendor from the market, with an armful of sweet peas wrapped in newspaper.

The woman from unit 908 and her tall son, who'd brought a folding chair for her.

Five of my father's old workers, gray-haired, with their arms crossed.

The old welder had a pair of bolt cutters as long as my arm.

He held them out to me, handles first.

"It's your lock to cut," he said.

They were heavy. I needed both hands and all my weight.

The Zhang Group padlock snapped on the second try, and the chain slid off the gate and rang on the concrete.

Mei whooped, and one of my father's old workers took his cap off.

I pushed the fence open and walked onto my father's ground.

It wasn't much.

A strip of cracked concrete along the water. The old slipway, running down into the brown river, green with weed.

The bollard, black and thick, with the brass plaque bolted to its base.

And where the yard office had stood, a glass pavilion with chained doors and a dusty sales desk.

The pavilion would come down on Monday. I'd already said so.

I knelt beside the bollard with a wrench from the welder's truck.

← Chapter 30 · All chapters · Chapter 32 →

Want to keep talking to characters like these? Chat with AI romance characters: AI Boyfriend · AI Girlfriend · Dark Romance · Fantasy Romance · BL (Boys’ Love) · Billionaire Boyfriend · Mafia Boyfriend · Possessive Boyfriend · Hockey Boyfriend · Older Boyfriend · K-Drama Boyfriend · Anime Boyfriend · Vampire Boyfriend · Werewolf Boyfriend · Demon Boyfriend · Fae Romance · GL (Girls’ Love) · Anime Girlfriend · Goth & Alt Girlfriend · Gamer Girlfriend · Tsundere Girlfriend · Fantasy Girlfriend