We Ran From Our Babies' Fathers, Then One Toddler Went Viral novel · Chapter 19 of 24

Chapter 19: The Benefit Dinner

The ballroom in Lisbon had four hundred people in it, and every one of them knew my face.

They looked as I walked in on Preston's arm, in a green dress I had bought myself.

Some of them looked away.

Preston did not let go of me, and I didn't ask him to.

Jack sat on my other side.

Bridget sat across from us with her hands folded in her lap, very straight.

At the back, near the doors, a woman in a plain gray dress sat beside a quiet man with a laptop bag.

Preston had told me what was in it.

I had told him I wanted to hear it with everyone else.

Mrs. Aldridge crossed the stage at nine o'clock in a white suit and a string of pearls.

The room clapped for her.

She waited for it to stop.

"Twenty years ago," she said, "I stood in this room to ask you to help sick children. You helped. Tonight is no different."

She smiled at the donors.

She spoke about the new wing and a girl who had learned to walk again.

Every sentence landed exactly where she aimed it.

Then she lowered her voice.

"But it would be dishonest to stand here and pretend this has been an easy season for my family."

A hush.

"There has been a great deal in the press about a child. My granddaughter. I would like to say, with a heavy heart, that I have been shown evidence that her exposure was no accident."

Beside me, Jack's hand closed on the edge of the table.

"Tonight, I..."

"Mrs. Aldridge."

Nobody had expected the voice.

It came from across the table.

Bridget was on her feet.

She didn't wait for permission.

She walked up the three steps to the stage in her old black dress, and she took the microphone out of the stand while the older woman's hand was still in the air.

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