They Vetoed My Wedding 5 Times I Vetoed Them for Life novel · Chapter 19 of 24

Chapter 19: Nothing Left Quiet

Theo's POV

I came back to the dock office at dusk with a bag of ice for the galley and found my wife sitting at my desk with the commission's letter flat under her hand.

She did not look up.

"When did it come?" she said.

"Tuesday."

"Tuesday morning."

"Delia."

"You told me about the church hall. You told me about the ferry loan. You told me he'd had you in a corner." She tapped the page. "You left this one out."

"It's my lease."

"It's your boat. It's your cottage. It's the thing he can take that you can't buy back." Her voice shook. "Why wouldn't you tell me?"

I set the ice down.

"Because you had your father, your brother and your sister in one house."

I rubbed my face.

"You had a funeral and a wedding, and I had a letter. I thought, she's carrying enough."

"That's not yours to decide."

"I know."

"You don't get to decide what I can carry."

"I know, Dee."

"Do you?" She stood up. "Five years you told me okay. Every time. You didn't fight, you didn't say a word, and I thought it meant you didn't care. Now you're doing it again, and I know exactly what it means."

"What does it mean?"

"It means you'd rather lose everything quietly than ask me to help."

I stared at her.

She was right, and I hated how right she was.

"You want it all?" I said. "Fine."

Something in my chest came loose.

"I sat in this office with a pencil and priced the Gull Rock. If he took the lease, I meant to sell her and be gone before the hearing, so you'd never have to pick."

Her breath caught.

"Go on."

"Six years, Dee. Every time he put his hand on your shoulder and said for the family, I wanted to hit him."

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