The Bride He Replaced novel · Chapter 23 of 24

Chapter 23: Page Four

Miles came to Bea's kitchen on a Tuesday in the sixth week, at the hour I had told him.

He wore a plain grey coat, and he carried a thick envelope and nothing else.

Jonah slept on my shoulder, and Bea sat in the corner pretending to shell peas.

"The decree is in there," Miles said. "My lawyer says it's final the moment we both sign."

"Is that all?"

"There's one more thing."

He put his hand in his coat and took out a folded sheet.

It was creased, yellow-tabbed, and a little soft at the edges.

I knew it before he unfolded it.

"My mother kept it in her safe," he said. "When the board took her office, they took the safe, and I asked for this."

I looked at the last paragraph.

*I, Hannah Draycott, waive all present and future claims.*

My own signature sat underneath, and it was a good signature, large and neat and trusting.

"You can burn it," Miles said. "You can do anything."

"I don't need to burn it."

I laid Jonah in the crook of Bea's arm.

She took him without a word.

Then I picked up the page in both hands, and I tore it down the middle.

I tore the halves again, and again, until I held a small drift of paper, and I let it fall onto the yellow cloth.

Miles watched every piece land.

"I'm sorry," he said. "I'm not asking you to forgive me."

"Good."

"I'd like to be a better father than I was a husband."

"That's a low bar."

"I know."

"Then clear it," I said. "On a schedule, with a nurse the first year, and a judge when it's time."

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