He Sent a Proxy Groom, So I Walked Away Forever novel · Chapter 14 of 24

Chapter 14: The Microphone

I walked up the middle of the room alone, and this time I didn't wish for anyone's arm.

Cal stayed where he was, at the edge of the dance floor, with his hands at his sides.

I could feel him watching my left side all the way to the podium.

Gwendolyn kissed my cheek again and pressed the microphone into my hand.

"Take all the time you need," she said, warm and quiet, so only I could hear. "Nobody here will judge you."

She stepped back to the front row and sat down with her hands folded over her purse.

It was the same purse, and it was the same smile.

The room was so quiet that I could hear the cider urn ticking.

I looked out at two hundred faces I had never met, and I picked one, an old man near the back who was holding his wife's hand.

"My mother's name was Ingrid Okerlund," I said. "She taught third grade for thirty years, and she died in this county's hospice three years ago this November."

A few people nodded.

"The night nurse who looked after her is running the lights tonight. His name is on your program."

Across the room, a tall man in blue scrubs lifted two fingers from the sound desk.

I had not expected my throat to close, and I waited until it opened.

"She never saw me get married," I said. "I didn't want anyone to walk me down the aisle, and I told people it was because I'm independent."

Somebody laughed softly, kindly.

"It was because I thought if I walked alone, nobody could leave me standing there."

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