The 23rd Deletion Bride novel · Chapter 8 of 24

Chapter 8: Come Home, Linnea

They discharged me Sunday at ten, in a wheelchair, with a leaflet about bed rest and a bottle of pills.

Hattie pushed.

Cullen walked on my other side, carrying the archive box under his arm.

The elevator doors opened on the lobby, and the noise hit me before I could see anything.

There was a string quartet playing on the hospital steps.

They were playing the song from my wedding.

"Oh, you have got to be kidding me," Hattie said.

Past the glass doors stood the white van, and the banner across its roof, and a hundred people.

Some were patients in dressing gowns.

Some were visitors.

At least thirty held up phones.

In the middle of them stood Dalton, in a navy suit and a crisp white shirt.

He held an enormous bouquet of red roses.

He saw me through the glass, and he put his hand over his heart.

"Don't go out there," Hattie said.

"I have to go out there."

"Lin."

"If I go out the back, he tells everyone I ran." I took a breath. "Push me, please."

The doors slid open.

Dalton came down the last step with his arms wide, his eyes wet, and his voice carrying.

"Linnea! Thank God. I've been here all night."

The quartet swelled.

Somebody in the crowd said, "Aww."

He went down on one knee on the wet concrete and held up the roses.

"I was wrong," he said, loudly. "I took you for granted. I let people treat you badly, and I didn't see it."

"I'll spend the rest of my life making it right. Please come home. Our baby needs a family."

A woman near the front pressed her hands to her mouth.

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