Chapter 2

I didn't go to the lounge area.

When Zachery went up for the group photo, Madge stood at the edge of the stage, closer to him than anyone.

She had his cup and his jacket in her hands.

The host smiled. "Manager James's partner really takes good care of him."

The crowd laughed along.

Zachery glanced back and said nothing.

I stood behind the crowd, my fingers hooked around the strap of my bag.

That blue folder sat at Madge's feet.

Inside were the copies of the family documents we'd need at the clerk's office tomorrow, the photos, and the thank-you speech I'd written for Zachery.

I'd taken one step forward when Madge had already bent down and picked the folder up.

"Zachery, I'll set your things over at the side of the stage for now."

He nodded.

"Sure. Don't lose it."

I called out to stop him. "That's my folder."

Zachery turned, his brow lowering.

"Do you really have to draw a line between yours and mine here tonight?"

"The paperwork for the marriage license tomorrow is inside."

"I know."

He paused, then added, "It's easier with Madge. She's going to help me run through the program in a bit."

Madge hugged the folder to her chest, her voice light. "Miss Fox, don't worry. I won't lose it."

The more polite she was, the stranger the looks around me became.

One coworker dropped his voice low. "Is this a friend of Manager James's?"

No one answered.

Zachery didn't answer either.

The man laughed to smooth it over. "Got it. Manager James likes to keep things quiet."

Keeping things quiet, when it landed on me, turned into something that shouldn't be there.

Madge picked it up at once. "Zachery's always worried about it affecting work. There's a lot he doesn't like to bring out into the open."

It came off her tongue so smoothly, as if she were the one who'd been hidden away for four years.

Zachery only took a sip of water.

He let her explain for him, and let me stand there and listen.

It hit me then that Madge didn't have to fight for anything.

She only had to speak, and Zachery would save the place for her.

And every time I wanted so much as an answer, I became the one who wasn't giving him face.

When that little corsage was handed over, I didn't even have the standing to reach for it.

A staff member handed a family corsage to Madge, and she took it like it was nothing.

I watched it get pinned on, and my chest went tight.

The eyes around me settled back on me.

People started toasting Zachery.

The second glass had barely reached him when Madge stepped in.

"He didn't eat at noon. Don't let him drink on an empty stomach."

She took stomach pills and warm water out of her bag.

Zachery took them without even reading the label.

I thought of last winter, when his stomach hurt so badly he messaged me in the middle of the night.

I carried medicine and porridge over and rushed to the lobby downstairs.

On the phone, he only told me to leave it all at the front desk.

That bowl of porridge went stone cold in the end, and never made it into his hands.

I asked, "When did she start carrying your medicine for you?"

Zachery's face darkened.

"She's at the company. A lot of things are easier for her than for you."

"So I'm the inconvenient one."

He looked at the people around him and dropped his voice further. "Gail, don't make normal help sound so ugly."

Madge handed the cup back to him. "Zachery, they're rushing us backstage."

Zachery took the pen she passed him and bent to sign the program sheet.

At the very bottom of that sheet was a line for family confirmation.

Madge's fingertip rested right beside that line.

Madge turned it to the signature spot for him.

The motion was too smooth.

She didn't even ask which page to sign.

And Zachery didn't feel anything was off.

Once he'd signed, Madge carried the blue folder off toward the side of the stage.

Zachery said to her, "The speech is in there too. Take a look at it for me."

I looked up at him. "I wrote that speech."

Zachery paused. "I know."

He didn't take the folder back.

Standing in the shadow of the backstage lights, I watched Madge set the folder down at her own feet.

Our photos were in there. So were the copies of my family documents.

Zachery had clearly heard me, yet he turned away to take the next glass of wine.

The people around them moved Madge to Zachery's side and cleared a space for the two of them to be photographed.

The cufflink box in my hand grew heavier and heavier.

Not because it was expensive.

It was because when my mother handed it to me, she truly believed I'd marry a man whose whole heart and eyes were on me.