Wedding Eve Goodbye novel · Chapter 15 of 24

Chapter 15: What Rhonda Kept

I woke Dominic with my hand on his shoulder and the note in my fist.

He read it once and was on his feet.

"She's been gone an hour," I said. "She'll be at the Marden house."

He took his keys off the workbench.

The driver was asleep at his post in the street, and Dominic walked past the car without waking him.

He stopped at his own black car and opened the passenger door.

He held it open for me.

I stood on the pavement and looked at the seat.

"Three years," I said.

"Get in," said Dominic. "Please."

I got in, and he shut the door gently.

He drove with both hands white on the wheel and his jaw locked.

I did not talk.

At every corner I watched the muscle in his cheek, and at every green light I put my hand on his knee and left it there.

Rhonda's front door stood open.

We found them in the kitchen.

Mina sat at the table in her coat with a white face.

Rhonda stood over the stove with the kettle in her hand.

A stack of old envelopes lay beside Mina's elbow, tied with string.

A check lay beside the envelopes.

"Elin, sweetheart," said Rhonda, without turning around. "I wondered if you'd come."

"Mina," I said. "Get up. We're leaving."

"No," said Mina. "I want to hear the rest."

"There's very little rest," Rhonda said, and poured the water. "I was telling her about her mother."

"Her mother is dead."

"Her mother worked for your father for ten years. The week after his funeral I closed the Marden office and let her go."

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