Taken in My Sleep by My Stepfather David and His Friends novel · Chapter 14 of 24

Chapter 14: The Keys

David's POV

Zelda put my phone on speaker and set it on the kitchen table next to Garson's.

It was twenty past five, and still dark outside.

Clarence answered before the first ring finished.

"David," he said, pleasant as ever. "I thought it might be you. How is she?"

"It's me," Zelda said.

There was a short, delighted pause.

"Baby. You sound tired."

"I've had a night." She held my eyes while she said it. "I listened to the memo. All of it."

"I'm so sorry you had to hear it that way."

"No, you're not."

"No," Clarence agreed, easily. "I'm not."

I felt Bernard shift against the counter, and I looked at him, and he went still.

"I'll be there at four," Zelda said. "I want to know what I'm signing, so I can read it first."

"There's nothing to read. It's a gift to the family, and my mother has it."

"When do I sign?"

"After the vows, before the cake. People are loose by then, and nobody watches the family table." He laughed softly. "Sign it, and I'll delete my copy while you watch. You'll see me do it."

"You'll delete it."

"I give you my word."

"And if I decide not to marry you at all?"

"Then three hundred people hear what you really want," Clarence said. "And they'll look at your stepfather, and they'll wonder what four men do with a woman for three days."

Garson's thumb moved on the recorder screen.

He did not look up.

"I'll see you at four," Zelda said.

"Wear the dress, baby. Come back to yourself."

He hung up.

Nobody spoke for a long moment.

"I'd like to put him through the wall," Bernard said conversationally.

"After," Zelda said. "He said all of it. Garson?"

"Every word," Garson said.

She breathed out and sat down hard in the nearest chair.

I went out to the truck.

I needed to be somewhere that wasn't a kitchen, and I needed to do one thing before the day got any bigger.

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