My Marriage Was Their Bet novel · Chapter 19 of 24

Chapter 19: The Other Ledger

The youngest wife brought the second ledger to Fenner Street at seven the next morning, in a grocery bag.

She set it on the steel table in front of me.

"My husband keeps it under the floor of his office closet," she said. "He thinks I don't know."

It was a smaller book than Bancroft's, bound in pink cloth.

Ten women had written in it, in ten different pens.

I opened it.

Each page was a year.

Down the left side ran the wives' names, and beside each name was a dollar amount and a verdict.

Stays.

My hands went cold.

"Nine of them," Bea said, reading over my shoulder. "Nine of the ten."

"They bet on me," I said.

"Every year."

I turned the page.

The wives had not only bet.

They had written notes.

Year two, in a round hand: "She'll cry at the party, but she'll serve the cake."

Year five, in blue ink: "She'll thank him in private. Easiest one he's ever had."

Year eight, in a slanted script I knew from Christmas cards, she had written this.

"She trained the last girl better than I trained my own dog."

I read that one three times.

"I sat next to that woman at Thanksgiving," I said.

"I know," said the youngest wife.

"She held my hand."

"She had money on you."

I closed the book.

Kitty came out of the walk-in with a tray of rolls and stopped.

"What happened?"

"The wives were in on it," Bea said flatly.

Kitty put the tray down and wiped her hands on her apron.

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