The Whole Valley Called Her the Plain Fiancee, So She Let the Banquet Read the Deed novel · Chapter 18 of 24

Chapter 18: The Date

Signe's POV

Helene Wheelwright did not disown her son.

She had said it in a text, and by Tuesday noon she had thought better of it.

A disowned son has no signature to give, and a son with no signature is no use to her at all.

So she did the cleverer thing.

On Wednesday evening, at the Advent supper in the Presbyterian church hall, she stood up at the head of the long table.

She stood between the potato salad and the coffee urn and tapped her glass.

I was at the far end, with my father and Tobin.

Rhys sat across the hall from me, beside the minister, in his black coat.

We had come separately.

I had insisted on it, because I wanted to see what she would do.

"Friends," Helene said, in her warm, clear voice.

"I owe this valley an apology."

The hall went quiet.

Two hundred people had come for ham and green beans and the children's pageant.

They had read the Seattle paper, and they had watched a video of Rhys in the feed store, and every one of them had an opinion.

"There has been a great deal of unkind talk in the last week," Helene said.

"Some of it came from me.

"I said things about my son's engagement that were hasty, and I regret them."

She turned and looked down the long table at me.

Her face was soft and her eyes were wet.

It was the best performance I had ever seen anyone give.

"Signe," she said.

"I've been a stiff old woman, and I hope you'll forgive me.

"I'd like to put it right in front of everyone.

"The wedding will be on Christmas Eve, here, in this church, with the whole valley invited."

A murmur ran through the hall, warm and pleased.

"My son and Signe will be married on the twenty-fourth," Helene said, "and the Wheelwrights will pay for every guest."

She raised her glass.

"To the bride," she said.

Two hundred glasses of church-hall punch came up, and someone started to clap.

I looked across the hall at Rhys.

He sat with his hands on his knees, looking at his mother.

I could see what she had done.

A wedding date, announced in public by the bride's own mother-in-law, with the valley watching.

If I refused, I was the heiress who would not marry.

If I agreed, I had a day on which my signature would be wanted, and a husband whose signature would follow it.

She had not asked me for anything.

She had only given a party.

Rhys stood up.

The clapping faltered.

Every head turned to him, and I held my breath.

He stood very straight, with his shoulders square.

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