She Fell for Her Stepbrother, Then Found Out She Was Pregnant novel · Chapter 20 of 24

Chapter 20: The Board

The boardroom on the fifth floor seats fourteen, and on Thursday morning every chair was full.

Seven board members sat along the far side of the long table.

My father sat at the head with his reading glasses on their cord and his hands folded.

Diane sat at his right.

Caleb and I sat at the foot, side by side, with Mara standing against the wall behind us holding a manila folder.

Paul Whitaker came in last.

He wore a grey suit and a pale blue tie, and he nodded to each of the seven board members by name.

He did not look at us.

"Thank you all for coming at short notice," he said, when he'd taken his seat. "I'll be brief, because I know none of us enjoys item four."

The board's chair, a white-haired woman in pearls, cleared her throat. "Go ahead, Paul."

"I regret this very much."

He touched a tablet on the table.

"Our Director of Retail and our Director of Operations have been engaged in a relationship that violates our conduct policy and the family's own rules."

Nobody moved.

"I have photographs."

He pressed the tablet.

The screen at the end of the room lit up.

It was the boathouse door, wet, at night, with me in it.

A board member made a small sound in his throat.

Whitaker clicked.

The next picture was me in the Delaware drugstore parking lot, one hand over my mouth, Mara holding my elbow.

He clicked again.

It was Caleb's car outside my building at midnight.

"I include these for completeness," Whitaker said gently.

"There is also the matter that Ms. Brooks is expecting a child.

"I take no pleasure in saying so, but it bears on judgment, and on the succession."

The room was so quiet I could hear the air conditioner.

I felt Caleb's hand close around mine under the table.

Mara's folder rustled once behind me.

I stood up.

My chair scraped, and every head turned.

"Yes," I said.

Whitaker blinked.

"Excuse me?"

"Yes. Everything you just said is true. I'm pregnant. The baby is Caleb Mercer's. We are together, and we're going to stay together."

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