Chapter 9: Six Weeks

The silence in the room went on until I could not stand it.

"What else do you know?" I said again.

Florian looked up.

"About Pia," he said.

"What about her?"

"She told Clemens she was pregnant in the first week of September. That's when it started to matter."

I tracked back the dates without wanting to.

September was six weeks ago.

I had spent that month choosing napkins.

"You knew," I said.

"Yes."

"For six weeks."

"Yes."

"I tried on the dress in October. You both came to the fitting, you drove me, you carried the garment bag."

"I remember," Florian said.

"You said it was beautiful."

"It was."

Nils got to his feet in one motion.

"We told him," he said. "Marit, listen to me.

"The night we found out, we told him to tell you himself, or we would. He swore he'd do it that week.

"Then he said after the party. Then he said he'd find the right moment."

"And you let him."

"We gave him time."

"You gave him time."

My voice had gone very quiet.

"I made a three-tier cake. I wrote a seating plan.

"I stood in a room full of people while he told them I was a footnote."

"I know."

"You watched me do all that."

"Yes," Nils said, and his voice cracked. "Yes. God. I'm sorry."

I crossed the room before I knew I was going to.

I hit him across the face, flat-handed, as hard as I could.

Keep reading free with an account. Start They Thought I Was Asleep, So I Let Them from Chapter 1, then sign up free to read the rest of this chapter.