The Twin Missing From the Family Photo novel · Chapter 19 of 24

Chapter 19: Ivy Takes the Stage

The ballroom held three hundred people at round tables, under chandeliers, and every one of them loved my father.

I sat in the third row on the aisle, in green silk, with Talbot on my left.

In my lap, folded in four, was the logbook page, printed on plain white paper, the lines of blue ink still plain.

At the back of the room a small light glowed in the AV booth.

Miles had missed the family portrait because he was in the AV booth at the back, with his hand on a mixing board.

Dad walked to the stage first, as the program said he would.

The applause went on and on.

He stood at the lectern in his tuxedo, silver-haired and kind.

The board chair handed him a glass plaque with his name engraved on it.

"I became a doctor to bring people into the world," he said. "I've done it four thousand times. And I did it first for my own children, in a snowstorm, with nothing but my hands."

The room made a soft sound.

At the front table, my mother pressed a napkin to her eye.

My father smiled at her.

"Ivy is here tonight," he said. "She's the reason I do any of this. Ivy, honey, stand up so they can see you."

Ivy stood up.

She had her cane in one hand, and she did not look at him.

She looked at me.

I gave her the smallest nod I could.

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