Out of Time: The Family That Lost Me novel · Chapter 20 of 24

Chapter 20: The Banner

Mal's POV

The church hall had a banner across the stage in blue and gold.

CONGRATULATIONS COLT, it said. OHIO STATE GRADUATE.

Under it stood a cake in the shape of a diploma, with a fondant ribbon.

Sixty people sat at round tables with paper cups of punch.

Nobody saw us come in.

They were looking at the stage, where my mother stood at the microphone in a lavender dress and a string of pearls.

She had the folder open on the lectern.

I stopped the wheelchair inside the double doors, in the dark behind the last table.

Dad's shoulders were stiff under his suit.

"Not yet," he whispered.

"I know."

"Let her finish."

My mother lifted her eyes from the page, and her voice wavered perfectly.

"I'd planned to give a very different speech tonight," she said. "A happy one. My son is graduating."

A warm sound went around the room.

Colt stood at the side of the stage in a shirt and tie, gray as paper.

He did not look at me.

My mother pressed her fingers to her mouth.

"But I can't stand here and let this night go by without being honest. Because there is someone missing from this room."

Heads turned toward the empty chairs at the family table.

There were five of them, with name cards.

One said Russ.

One said Mallory.

"My husband is very ill," my mother said. "Many of you know he is due for heart surgery very soon. I had hoped we could count on every member of this family to help him through it."

She stopped and let the silence work.

"I didn't want to say this in public. I have kept it in for six years."

"Six years of what, Diane?" a man called, kindly, from the back.

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