Chapter 15: Ask Me in a Week

"Yes," I said. "That's your wife."

He didn't answer, and I listened to him breathe.

"I'm sorry you found out from a video," I said. "I gave her until Thursday to tell you herself. I won't say more than that over a phone."

"Is the baby..." His voice broke off.

"Ask her. Ask her to her face."

"Where?"

"The Bellhaven Harbor Hotel, Thursday at seven. I'll leave a seat for you in the back row."

"Will he be there? The man in the video?"

"He says he will."

"Then I'll be there too," said Candace's husband. "I won't say a word until I've heard it."

On Thursday the ballroom filled by half past six.

Two hundred women came back, and others behind them stood along the walls with their coats over their arms.

Abram's guards stood at the doors, and he stood between them with his hands clasped.

He caught my eye across the room and gave me one small nod.

It was the only thing he'd said to me since Tuesday, and I held onto it.

Miles sat in the front row with his cello case between his knees.

Across the aisle, Neil took his seat in a charcoal suit with a fresh haircut.

Candace sat beside Neil in a cream dress with her hands in her lap, and she was white to the lips.

The banner behind me said WELCOME BACK, and it was perfectly straight.

I walked to the center of the stage with no slides and no notes.

"Thank you for coming back," I said. "I owe you a real evening."

They clapped, and I let them.

"First, anyone who wants to speak tonight may speak for three minutes. This is not my stage. It's yours."

In the front row, Neil stood up.