He Hid Me Twelve Years and Paraded Her, So I Quit Both novel · Chapter 8 of 24

Chapter 8: The Rose Gazebo

The Stroud Foundation gala was held under a white tent beside the rose pavilion, and two hundred people in summer silk were drinking champagne on the lawn.

I wore a dark green dress that Bea had steamed in her bathroom.

Jonah wore a navy suit and a tie he kept adjusting, and he had asked me three times in the car if I was sure.

"I'm sure," I said. "Walter invited me too. He called it a family occasion."

"You're not family."

"Everett is going to do something. I'd rather see it coming than hear about it."

"Then I'm your date as a witness," Jonah said, and held out his arm.

I took it.

I did not tell him that I liked how it felt.

Walter found us at the champagne table, leaning on his cane for show.

"Miss Garrity. Mr. Calloway. Everett told me you'd come. He seems to think you've forgiven him."

"He's wrong," I said.

"I told him so. He didn't listen." Walter dropped his voice. "I'd stay near the pavilion. He's been rehearsing in the garden for an hour."

I followed his glance across the lawn.

Everett stood at the foot of the rose pavilion in a charcoal suit with his hair combed perfectly, talking with the foundation's board and holding a small velvet box that he thought nobody could see.

I felt sick.

"Walter," I said. "Is that what I think it is?"

"I'm afraid so."

"Do you want me to take you home?" Jonah asked quietly.

"No," I said. "I want to hear him say it."

At eight o'clock the band stopped, and Everett's voice came over the speakers.

"Friends. Donors. Family. I'd like two minutes."

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