My Ex Is Engaged to My Stepsister, and I'm Still His Wife novel · Chapter 22 of 24
Chapter 22: The Decree
The envelope came on the first Sunday of February, in the afternoon mail, and I carried it up Josiah's front steps without opening it.
It was thick and cream-colored, with a county seal in the corner.
He was in the kitchen in his shirtsleeves, putting greens into a pot.
I laid the envelope on the long counter between us.
"It came," I said.
He turned off the burner.
He wiped his hands on a dish towel and folded it, and put it down, and did not touch the envelope.
"You open it," Josiah said.
I tore the flap with my thumbnail and took out three pages.
I read the top of the first one, and then the last line of the third.
The last line said: Granted.
I read it again.
My hands were shaking, and the paper rattled.
"It says I'm free," I said.
"Does it?"
"Divorced. Done. It says Colton Satterfield and Marlee Dunavant are no longer married to each other." I looked up. "It says my name is mine."
Josiah crossed the kitchen.
He took the pages out of my hands, very gently, and laid them on the counter, face down.
He took my face in both of his hands.
"Ms. Dunavant," he said.
"Don't make me cry in your kitchen," I said. "I have a record deal, too."
"You have a record deal?" he said.
"The label president called on Friday. Mine, not his. I start in June."
"You didn't tell me," he said.
"I wanted to tell you with the paper."
He kissed my forehead.
He kissed my eyes, and my cheekbones, and the corner of my mouth, and I made a small sound.
"Come to bed," he said.
"It's three o'clock in the afternoon."
"I know what time it is," said Josiah. "I want to see you."
His bedroom was at the back of the bungalow, with two tall windows and a white spread on the bed.
The winter light came in pale and even, and he did not draw the curtains.
He did not turn off the lamp.
I stood by the bed, and he stood in front of me, and for a moment neither of us moved.
The rest of this chapter is part of the paid portion of the series. Chapters 1–6 of My Ex Is Engaged to My Stepsister, and I'm Still His Wife are free to read — start from the beginning, then unlock the rest with coins in the app.
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