CHAPTER TWELVE — THE REHEARSAL
On Friday evening, the family gathered in the ballroom for a rehearsal.
Lillian was downstairs greeting former colleagues.
Denise placed markers on the floor for each speaker.
Claire practiced introducing their mother.
Simon tested the microphone with a joke about seventh-grade algebra.
Andrew stood near the stage holding a stack of programs.
The room smelled of fresh linen and flowers.
For several minutes, he remembered why the weekend mattered.
Then Hannah appeared beside the back doors.
She was carrying the original program inserts.
“I need to speak to everybody,” she announced.
The room grew quiet.
Andrew stepped toward her.
“Not here.”
Hannah held up the papers.
“I want to correct the misunderstanding before it becomes worse.”
“Then speak to the people you directly misled,” he answered.
“Don’t turn Mom’s rehearsal into another announcement about us.”
Claire moved beside him.
“Hannah, this is Lillian’s event.”
Hannah looked at the stage.
“I was part of this family for ten years.”
“You still are part of many people’s memories,” Claire replied.
“That doesn’t entitle you to take this microphone.”
Hannah’s expression hardened.
“Andrew has already told everyone his version.”
Simon shook his head.
“He hasn’t.”
“We know there’s a problem because you told us there was an agreed separation,” Claire said.
“Now you’re saying something different.”
Hannah looked at Andrew.
“You promised we’d never embarrass each other publicly.”
“I promised to be your partner,” he replied.
“You didn’t give me the information required to keep that promise.”
The room remained silent.
Hannah glanced down at the programs in her hands.
Then she placed them on the nearest table.
“I’ll leave,” she said.
She walked out without looking back.
Denise waited until the doors closed.
“Shall we continue?” she asked.
Lillian’s former student, a middle-aged firefighter named Owen, raised his hand.
“I would like to test the microphone before I forget my speech,” he said.
A few people laughed.
The rehearsal resumed.
Andrew felt unexpectedly grateful for Owen’s ordinary courage.
CHAPTER THIRTEEN — THE THING ETHAN DIDN’T EXPECT
Late that night, Ethan requested a meeting in the courtyard.
Andrew agreed only after asking Claire to stay nearby.
Ethan arrived alone.
He looked more exhausted than Andrew remembered.
“Hannah told me you were threatening to expose her to everyone,” Ethan said.
Andrew stared at him.
“She’s still giving you new stories?”
“I’m not accepting them,” Ethan replied.
“That’s why I’m here.”
He showed Andrew a message from Hannah.
She had asked Ethan to attend Saturday’s dinner anyway and make a public declaration of love if Andrew tried to silence her.
Andrew handed back the phone.
“She wants you to force another scene.”
“I know.”
“Are you going?”
“No,” Ethan said.
“I came to tell you that she asked, and that I refused.”
Andrew was quiet.
“That was the right decision,” he said.
Ethan nodded.
“Rebecca is furious with me.”
“She has reason to be.”
“I treated my doubts as minor inconveniences,” Ethan said.
“I didn’t ask whether the man she described would actually agree with what she was telling me.”
“You couldn’t know everything,” Andrew answered.
“But you could have stopped treating your uncertainty as permission.”
Ethan accepted that.
“I won’t contact you again unless there’s something directly relevant.”
He started toward the garden gate.
Then he turned.
“For what it’s worth, I never wanted to hurt your mother.”
Andrew looked at the lights above the courtyard.
“The people affected by a lie don’t get to choose whether they were included in it,” he replied.
Ethan left.
Claire stepped out from behind the stone arch where she had been waiting.
“He looked like he wanted you to forgive him,” she said.
“Maybe,” Andrew answered.
“I don’t know whether I ever will.”
“You don’t have to decide tonight.”
Andrew put his hands in his pockets.
“Everyone keeps trying to make me decide everything tonight.”
Claire smiled sadly.
“Then let tomorrow be about Mom.”
He nodded.
“That’s the only decision I’m ready to make.”
