Chapter 15
"Mom.
We're going to get you somewhere comfortable.
There's food, there's water, and then you and I are going to talk properly.
Can you do that?"
Celestine looked at him.
"I've been waiting six years.
I can wait another hour."
He stood up.
He turned to face the room.
He had never spoken in front of a crowd before without notes.
He was an architect.
He was used to presenting plans, materials, structural arguments.
Not this.
"I owe everyone here an apology," he said.
His voice carried easily in the silent room.
"You came for a wedding.
That isn't what today has turned out to be." He paused.
"The catering is paid for.
The venue is paid for.
Please stay and eat if you'd like to.
But the ceremony won't be continuing."
A murmur moved through the room.
Not hostile.
More like exhaled breath.
Gerald, standing near the corridor entrance, went very still.
"Additionally," Derrick said, "I'll be meeting with legal counsel on Monday regarding certain provisions in documents I signed in connection with this wedding.
If anyone present has information relevant to that matter, I'd be glad to speak with you privately."
Three people glanced at each other across the room.
Derrick noticed.
He filed it away.
Raymond moved to Celestine's side and offered his arm.
Vanessa stood near the door.
She had found her mother — a quiet woman named Diane who had spent the entire morning looking as though she had expected something like this — and the two of them stood together without speaking.
Gerald crossed the room in twelve paces.
"You have no idea what you've started," he said to Derrick in a low voice.
"I think I'm starting to," Derrick said.
May you like
"My relationships with your firm's partners go back fifteen years.
One phone call—"
