The Night He Chose Her Over Me novel · Chapter 17 of 24
Chapter 17: Nine O'Clock
Gabe let me out at the curb of the Lake Club at ten past eight and did not say a word.
He didn't have to.
He put his hand over mine on the seat for a moment, and then he let go.
"I'll be right here," he said.
"I know."
Marguerite was waiting under the awning in navy silk with her pearls on.
She looked at the red dress, and at the long camel coat I wore over it, and she took my arm.
"Tonight," she said, "you will not be polite."
"I'll try."
The ballroom held two hundred people.
I knew most of the faces from forty dinners over three years.
Investors in dark suits, their wives in silver and pearl, partners from the firm, and by the far wall two people with notebooks who were pretending to be guests.
A banner hung over the stage.
AN EVENING OF RENEWAL, it said, in gold script.
Dalton stood under it with a microphone and a glass of water.
"Friends," he was saying, "I want to thank you for coming on a hard night."
He had not seen me yet.
"Many of you know that my wife was badly hurt in an accident last month," he said.
"I was not at her side when it happened. I was helping a friend through a family emergency.
"I have not forgiven myself."
A murmur of sympathy went through the room.
Marguerite's arm went rigid under my hand.
"Since then," said Dalton, "my wife has been confused.
"She has been taken in by people who do not have her interests in mind.
"A man whose truck struck her car has been in her life every day since.
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