A Happy Family Without Me novel · Chapter 19 of 24

Chapter 19: At the Mic

Nobody stopped me on the steps.

The emcee looked at the tall gray man, and the tall gray man looked back and did nothing.

"Cor," Garner said, low, with his hand still on the trophy. "Not here."

"You picked here."

I held out my hand for the microphone, and the emcee put it in my palm.

It was warmer than I expected.

Two hundred faces turned up to me in the chandelier light.

"Good evening," I said. "My name is Fenella Eberhardt. I am Garner Waldegrave's wife."

The room made a small sound.

"Some of you saw a video last month."

I waited for the nods.

"A man walked into his daughter's eighth birthday and left his wife and child for two orphans."

I let that settle.

"They aren't orphans. They are his children, a boy of seven and a girl of five."

Somebody dropped a fork.

"Garner has had a second family for eight years."

I looked at him.

"Tonight he called them his son and his daughter. That was the first true thing he has said in public this year."

"She's not well," Garner said into the room, with a laugh that cracked. "Please, she's upset."

"I'm very well," I said. "I have a daughter named Poppy. She is eight."

I turned back to the room.

"Two weeks ago she learned those children are her brother and sister."

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