The Wedding She Survived novel · Chapter 10 of 24

Chapter 10: Don't Go

"Mom," I said. "What are you doing?"

"Packing." She didn't look up. "I have my sister's spare room in Bangor. It's only three hours."

"You're not going to Bangor."

"You've got him now, baby. You don't need an old woman underfoot." She folded a cardigan and pressed it flat. "I'm not going to stand between you and your children's father."

"You're not standing between anyone."

"Then why did I stay up half the night listening to a door close across the street?"

My face burned.

"Mom, I'm thirty-one."

"I know how old you are. I was there." Her voice broke. "I just wanted to do right by you. That's all I ever wanted, and now it's all I've got."

I knelt down on the hall floor and took the cardigan out of her hands.

"You've done everything for me. You held my hand through the whole thing. You're not going anywhere."

"I lied to that man in April."

"I know you did. You told me why."

"I was so afraid."

"I know."

She started to cry, small, ashamed sobs into her hands, and I held her.

She was lighter than I remembered, with her shoulders thin through the wool.

"Unpack the case," I said. "Please. The kids would be heartbroken."

"The kids," she said, wiping her face. "Yes. The kids."

She stayed.

I took the three of them to school at eight o'clock, and I didn't go to work.

I went across the street.

Killian had a stack of papers on his kitchen table, and he stood up when I came in.

"Don't be angry," he said.

"That's a hell of a way to say good morning."

"It's a trust. I had my lawyer draw it up in Hamburg before I flew home." He pushed a folder toward me. "Draycott Marine shares, in the children's names. They can't be touched until they're twenty-five. It's not a gift to you. It's theirs."

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