A Marriage Left Behind novel · Chapter 15 of 24

Chapter 15: Seven Years

Nobody at the table moved.

Eight church friends sat with their hands in their laps and their dinner going cold.

"Say that again," I said.

"I knew." Brady's voice scraped. "Not the whole list. I never saw the paper."

"Then what did you know?"

"That Mom picked you."

He looked at his plate instead of me, and then he made himself look up.

"The first week," he said. "She sat me down in her kitchen and said I'd be a fool to let you go."

"Because I was kind?"

"Because you were stable. Because you had a good job and no family nearby to talk you out of things."

"Brady," Judith said. "That's not how it was."

"Yes, it is, Mom."

It was the first time I had heard him say that to her.

"Let him finish," said his father.

Brady swallowed.

"She said you'd be a blessing to the family. I knew what she meant."

"What did she mean?"

"She meant money."

I had known it for ten minutes.

It still landed hard on my chest.

"You knew that when you asked me to dinner," I said.

"I knew it, and I told myself it didn't matter."

"Why?"

"Because I liked you. I liked you in about a day."

I stood up.

I didn't mean to.

The carved chair scraped back, and I was on my feet with my palms on the pine.

"I thought you were weak," I said.

"That's what I told myself for seven years. Brady is soft, and can't say no to his mother."

"I told myself Brady would never hurt me on purpose."

"I never meant to."

"I made excuses for you at every Christmas. I told Bev you were a good man in a bad family."

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