My Regretful Ex-Husband novel · Chapter 22 of 24

Chapter 22: Not a Clause

Wren looked at the pen, and then at the folded paper, and did not take either.

"What is it?" she said.

"A small arrangement." Margaret's voice was thin. "The child will spend every summer at Pryce House, and bear the family name. In exchange, I'll leave Ravenport and these people can have their story."

The reporter's pencil had stopped moving.

"You want me to sign my baby over for the summers," Wren said.

"I want my grandchild." Margaret's hand was not quite steady. The pen shook and a drop of blue fell on the cake. "I have a son who despises me, and a house with nobody in it. She is the only Pryce I will ever be allowed to love."

"Mother," Jonas said.

"Don't. I am speaking to her."

Nobody in the bakery breathed.

Wren thought of the dining room, and of the warm hand on her back at Fernwood.

She thought of three years of being taught how to fold napkins.

For one minute, just one, she could see why this woman wanted this child.

"No," she said.

"Wren, think. A girl needs a grandmother."

"She has one." Wren nodded at the head of the table. "She's eating your lemon cake."

Ruth lifted her fork in salute.

"You forged my signature to take away my husband," Wren said. "You took my mother's name off a door. You told two hundred people I was bought. Now you want the one thing that nobody can forge."

"I'm offering a fair trade."

"No."

"Be sensible, dear."

"I'm being sensible." Wren put both hands on the table. "She will not be a summer arrangement. She will not be a clause. If you want to meet her, you'll start by telling the truth to people's faces, and you'll find out how long that takes."

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