Chapter 23: Doors Close at 5:30

Jo's POV

"Let them in, Rafe," I said from the lobby. "They have a ballot."

He opened the door.

My father came through it first, breathing hard, with Mom one step behind him.

A hundred and forty people turned in their chairs and watched them walk down the aisle.

Mom took the seat on the aisle in the third row.

Dad stood a moment beside the other one, and then he sat.

I climbed the two steps to the little stage at the front of the hall.

A choir alto handed me the microphone, and my hands were steady, which surprised me.

"Thank you for coming," I said. "My name is Joanna Brennan. This was supposed to be my wedding."

Nobody laughed.

"For six years my family has voted on my life."

"My father keeps the count on a legal pad."

"I raised my hand every time, and I lost every time, four to one."

A low sound ran through the rows.

"I found out last month that I was never in the count. Someone else raised my hand for me."

"That is a private matter," Dad said, from the third row.

"It's a family vote, Dad. Here's the family."

I held up a white ballot.

"Everyone gets one, and a pen. The choir will pass the baskets."

The altos stood.

They moved down the rows with baskets, and the hall filled with the sound of pens scratching.

"Motion one," I said. "Did Joanna Brennan cast her own vote for six years? Yes or no."

They wrote.

The baskets came back to the stage, and the oldest alto read the slips into the microphone.

"No, a hundred and thirty-seven. Two left blank."

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