He Asked Me To Wait, I Asked For A Divorce novel · Chapter 6 of 24

Chapter 6: Terms

The spouses' brunch was held on Saturday at Shelby's quarters, in a living room full of white wicker and lemon cake.

I almost didn't go.

Jo had said, "Don't walk into the lion's den in a nice dress," and then helped me pick the dress.

Eleven women sat around the coffee table with their mimosas.

They looked at me when I came in the way you look at a fire alarm.

"Hannah," Shelby said, rising. "Come sit. We were just talking about you."

"I'll bet."

She laughed as if I had made a joke, and patted the cushion next to her.

I sat on the opposite side of the room instead.

"I'll be frank, because I think frank is kinder," Shelby said, folding her hands. "Hannah is a wonderful girl. She's had a hard week. She was married for two days, and her husband got his orders, and she isn't herself."

A few heads nodded.

"She's overwrought," Shelby went on. "She served divorce papers on a flight line. Some of you saw that. I'd like us all to remember what that kind of stress does to a person."

I felt the warmth rise in my chest.

Everyone in the room knew exactly what she was doing.

She was making it sound like a diagnosis.

"Shelby," I said, and stood.

The room went still.

"May I say something?"

"Of course, honey."

"His orders were stamped five weeks before he proposed to me."

Nobody moved.

"He told me he'd taken shore duty. He told me that the night before the Captain came. The paper says he applied for the island before he ever asked me to marry him, and the endorsement is signed by the squadron's family readiness officer."

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