His Dancer, His Chains novel · Chapter 23 of 24

Chapter 23: Cap and Gown

Pippa graduated on the second Saturday in December, in a gym that smelled of floor wax and carnations.

Three hundred folding chairs stood in rows on the basketball court, and every one of them held somebody's mother.

Rafferty had come an hour early to get the seats.

He sat on the aisle in a plain navy suit with a program rolled in his fist, and he looked ready to fight anyone who tried to take the one beside him.

"Sit back," I said. "You'll crease it."

"I want to see her face."

"She's number two hundred and eleven. It's an hour."

"Then I'll see it in an hour."

When the name came, he was on his feet before the announcer finished.

"Pippa Pownall."

She came across the stage in a blue gown, with her braid down her back, and her cap crooked.

She did not look at the dean.

She looked straight at us and raised both arms over her head.

Rafferty clapped so hard the woman behind us leaned forward.

"That's my sister-in-law," he told her, "and she has a new heart valve."

"It's a repair," Pippa told me afterward, on the lawn, with her diploma folded in her fist. "He keeps saying new."

"He's proud."

"I know. I love him. It's embarrassing."

She hugged me, a long hug, and when she let go, her eyes were wet.

"You did it," she said.

"You did."

"We did," she said. "Shut up and take the picture."

Rafferty took it, with the phone held at arm's length and his thumb in the corner of the frame.

Keep reading free with an account. Start His Dancer, His Chains from Chapter 1, then sign up free to read the rest of this chapter.