The Bride Changed. The Bill Didn't. novel · Chapter 20 of 24

Chapter 20: Paid to Cry

"That is a forgery," Estelle said into the microphone.

Her voice shook for the first time since I had known her.

"Turn that off. Someone turn that off."

Nobody did.

The next slide was a page from my father's notebook, blown up until the pencil lines were as tall as my hand.

"Bracket 7 north deck. Not inspected, signed as done. Told the office."

Under it: "Told Mrs. Thurston herself. She does the books. She said she'd handle it."

Under that: "Still not handled. Asked again. She said I should be grateful for the work."

A woman in the third row put her hand over her mouth.

"Mrs. Thurston," a man called from the back. He was gray-haired and wore a donor's pin. "Is that true?"

"My late husband's company employed Walter Linden for twenty years," Estelle said. "He was a drinker and he was careless."

I stepped up to the foot of the stage.

"My father never drank," I said. "He clipped his harness in my kitchen as a joke."

My voice carried because the room had gone silent.

"You came to the funeral with a casserole, Estelle. You came with your son. You held my hand."

"Mara, this isn't the place..."

"You chose the place. You chose the date. You chose Saturday a year ago and would not move it for anything."

I turned to the room.

"Four years ago on the nineteenth of October, my father fell from a scaffold built by Thurston Construction. This Friday was the day the family could no longer be sued for it. I was engaged to her son until that very evening."

The room made a sound I had never heard a room make.

It was low and wide, two hundred people starting to talk at once and then stopping.

← Chapter 19 · All chapters · Chapter 21 →

Want to keep talking to characters like these? Chat with AI romance characters: AI Boyfriend · AI Girlfriend · Dark Romance · Fantasy Romance · BL (Boys’ Love) · Billionaire Boyfriend · Mafia Boyfriend · Possessive Boyfriend · Hockey Boyfriend · Older Boyfriend · K-Drama Boyfriend · Anime Boyfriend · Vampire Boyfriend · Werewolf Boyfriend · Demon Boyfriend · Fae Romance · GL (Girls’ Love) · Anime Girlfriend · Goth & Alt Girlfriend · Gamer Girlfriend · Tsundere Girlfriend · Fantasy Girlfriend