I Married the Don for the Debt, and My Husband Walked In Alive novel · Chapter 20 of 24
Chapter 20: The Night Before
I wrote the speech on the floor of the music room, on index cards, with a pencil from the bakery.
Rafe sat at the upright piano with his back to me and played nothing in particular.
It was after eleven, and the house was dark except for one lamp.
His mother had gone to bed with her rosary and a warning about shoes.
The tall mirror stood between the shutters, in a carved gilt frame that had come with the house.
I could see his shoulders in it, and the back of his bent head, and the cards in my lap.
"I'm done," I said.
The music stopped.
"Read it to me."
"All of it?" I asked.
"All of it."
I read it.
It took a while, and I read it standing, with my cards in my hand and the lamp behind me.
He did not move once.
When I finished, I looked down at the last card.
"I chose him with my eyes open," I said. "That's the end."
The silence in the room was very large.
Rafe turned on the bench.
His face in the lamplight was raw, and his eyes were wet, and he did not try to hide either.
"Don't change a word," he said.
"Not even the middle?"
"Not even the middle."
I put the cards on the piano lid and squared them up.
"Tomorrow I'll stand up there," I said, "and I'll say it in front of everyone. And tonight I want to say it to you, without anybody listening."
"Say it."
"I chose you."
He stood.
He crossed the floor in three steps and took my face in his hands, and he kissed me slowly, taking his time.
"Then let me show you what I see," Rafe said against my mouth. "Come here."
The rest of this chapter is part of the paid portion of the series. Chapters 1–6 of I Married the Don for the Debt, and My Husband Walked In Alive are free to read — start from the beginning, then unlock the rest with coins in the app.
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