Now I understood why she had seemed so interested in my property.
To her, everything was a steppingstone.
Including me.
Caleb slowly removed his wedding ring.
Sabrina stared at his hand.
“What are you doing?”
He placed the ring on the empty table beside the roses.
“I need space from you.”
Her mouth opened.
“We’ve been married for twenty minutes.”
“I know.”
“You cannot humiliate me like this.”
He looked at her for a long moment.
Then he said, “You humiliated my mother because she wouldn’t give you something that belonged to her.”
Sabrina stepped toward him.
“Caleb, don’t.”
But he had already turned away.
He bent down, picked up the fallen rose, and placed it gently back into my bouquet.
“Mom,” he whispered, “will you come with me?”
I looked at his face.
He was thirty-five years old, but suddenly I could see the frightened little boy who used to search the audience for me during school concerts.
I nodded.
We walked toward the ballroom doors together.
Behind us, Sabrina shouted his name.
Neither of us turned around.
Outside, the evening air was cold enough to make me gasp.
The hotel valet had been called to bring Caleb’s car, but he stood beside me beneath the stone entrance, staring at his hands.
“Mom,” he said finally, “how long have you known?”
“About the document? Since Tuesday.”
“Why didn’t you tell me?”
