Sweetheart Wife novel · Chapter 4 of 24

Chapter 4: Hester's Table

"Sit," Hester Middleton said. "Eat. You look like a plucked chicken."

I sat.

The kitchen of the brick house was big and warm and smelled of onions and thyme.

A pot of shrimp and grits steamed on the stove.

Hester ladled a mountain of it into a blue bowl and set it in front of me.

Her cane hooked over the back of the chair beside mine, and she lowered herself into it with the dignity of a queen.

"I'm Jonas's grandmother," she said. "I raised him. I'm told you've been married four hours."

"Grandma," Jonas said from the counter.

"Don't Grandma me. I'm seventy-four and I'm allowed to be thrilled."

I looked at Jonas.

He looked at the ceiling.

"Did he tell you how this happened?" I asked her carefully.

"He told me this morning he was getting married," Hester said.

"That was all, until he walked out the door."

"Then he told me the girl's first name."

"Willa."

She dipped her spoon and tasted her own cooking with a critical frown.

"I figured out the rest because I'm nosy and I have a telephone."

The grits were so good that I forgot to be careful for a minute.

I ate half the bowl, and then I realized that both of them were watching me do it.

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