Never In Another Life novel · Chapter 18 of 24

Chapter 18: Play It

Kira's POV

I heard Margo's voice through the service door before I saw her.

It came out of the ballroom speakers, warm and wet and perfectly pitched.

"I want to thank Declan for his honesty," she said. "He's right. I did love him. I've loved him for years."

I stopped with my hand on the push bar.

"I was weak, and I'm ashamed. But I never hurt Kira. I begged her to stay. I begged her, and she walked out on a four-year-old."

A soft sound ran through the crowd.

I pushed the door open.

The ballroom was hot and gold.

Three hundred people sat turned toward the stage, and on it Margo stood in green silk with Declan's hand in hers.

He was standing rigid.

His palms were flat on his thighs.

He had not lifted them once.

Behind her my mother-in-law stood with her eyes fixed on nothing.

"Kira has been alive for three years," Margo said, and her voice cracked right on cue. "She watched her son stand at his own mother's funeral. She let this man go to prison for it."

Gasps.

Real ones.

A woman at the nearest table said, "That poor child."

"And now she comes back with a video, and a lawyer, and a story," Margo said. "I will say only this. I have loved that boy since the day he was born. I would give my life for him."

I walked down the center aisle.

I did not hurry.

Heads began to turn, one at a time, and then all together.

Someone at the back whispered, "That's her."

I climbed the three steps to the side of the stage in my navy scrubs, the only ones I owned, and saw Margo's face see me.

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