Dear Brother, You Loved Me Too Late novel · Chapter 11 of 24
Chapter 11: Mother's Table
The long dining table had been laid for forty, with white linen and silver candlesticks.
At the head sat Gerald Boswell, grey in the face, with a glass of whiskey he had not touched.
On his right sat Colin.
Beside Colin, in a dove-grey silk dress and a pearl necklace, sat Delaney, glowing.
At the far end of the table, Angie sat in a blue velvet dress.
She put her napkin in her lap.
Dixon was on her left, in his only suit.
Clover was on her right, in a green thrift store dress.
She glared down the table at Gerald.
Gerald had stared when they walked in, but he could not throw out two guests in front of his board.
"This is my friend and her brother," Angie had told him, pleasantly. "I hope you don't mind."
Behind Gerald, on the wall, a wide screen glowed with a slow slideshow of a young woman laughing on a beach.
Every year it showed her mother.
Angie did not look at the screen yet.
She looked at Colin's profile, the straight nose and the set mouth, and felt her heart beating in her throat.
He was the only man in the room she could not stop seeing.
He had not looked at her once.
The soup was cleared.
Gerald stood, and the room fell quiet.
"Thank you all for coming," he said. His voice cracked and recovered. "Nineteen years ago I lost my wife. Every year, this table reminds me what a family is. A family stays. A family protects what it loves."
He did not look at Angie.
"To my wife," he said, and raised the glass.
"To Mrs. Boswell," forty voices said.
Angie lifted her water and did not drink.
Colin rose to his feet then, and tapped a spoon against his glass, and the murmurs died.
"Before dessert," he said, "I have something to ask."
Delaney pressed both hands to her chest.
Colin took a small velvet box out of his jacket.
Keep reading free with an account. Start Dear Brother, You Loved Me Too Late from Chapter 1, then sign up free to read the rest of this chapter.
← Chapter 10 · All chapters · Chapter 12 →
Want to keep talking to characters like these? Chat with AI romance characters: AI Boyfriend · AI Girlfriend · Dark Romance · Fantasy Romance · BL (Boys’ Love) · Billionaire Boyfriend · Mafia Boyfriend · Possessive Boyfriend · Hockey Boyfriend · Older Boyfriend · K-Drama Boyfriend · Anime Boyfriend · Vampire Boyfriend · Werewolf Boyfriend · Demon Boyfriend · Fae Romance · GL (Girls’ Love) · Anime Girlfriend · Goth & Alt Girlfriend · Gamer Girlfriend · Tsundere Girlfriend · Fantasy Girlfriend