He Invited His Ex-Wife Home, But She Was Here for Me novel · Chapter 18 of 24

Chapter 18: Dear Bridie

Helen's backyard held forty people, a rented cake table and a banner that said HAPPY 67TH.

The church ladies sat in a row of folding chairs under the maple, with paper plates on their knees.

Glen stood by the grill in a pale blue shirt, laughing at something a deacon said.

He saw us at the side gate, and he did not stop laughing.

I walked in with Mindy on my left and Gabe on my right.

I had a white shoebox under my arm.

Conversation died one table at a time, until the only sound was the grill hissing.

"Kaitlyn." Glen crossed the lawn with both hands out. "And Min. You came. Mother, look who came."

Helen rose from her chair at the head of the table.

She wore her best navy dress and the pearls. Her mouth was a line.

"You brought the whole circus," she said, very low, to me.

"I brought you a present."

I set the shoebox on the cake table, between the cake and the stack of paper napkins.

Helen looked at it.

All the color left her face.

"That is private," she said.

"It's addressed to Mindy."

"It's my house."

"It's her mail."

I took the lid off.

Eight envelopes lay inside, stacked on their sides, soft with age. The top one said Bridget Sundberg Roark in a slanting hand.

I knew the lopsided y.

Forty people watched me pick it up.

"Kaitlyn," Glen said gently. "This isn't the place."

"It's the only place with everyone in it," I said.

I slid my thumb under the flap. It had been sealed for three years.

The paper inside was lined, torn from a pad. I read it out loud, because my voice was the only thing I had that was steady.

"Dear Bridie. I got your mother's address from the church directory, and I'm sending this to Helen Roark in case she knows where you are. I don't know what to say. I'm sorry I stopped calling. I was a coward and your mother made it easy."

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