Gerald took two heavy steps toward the stage, but his signet ring hit the edge of a mahogany chair, and he stopped.

“You have no legal right to read that here,” Gerald rasped.

“Evelyn wrote it when she had seventy-four dollars in her bank account,” Clare said into the mic.

“And every word of it was true.”

She slid the blue sheet back into the kraft envelope and stepped down from the stage.

Clare walked toward the glass doors of the main club foyer, holding the framed photograph against her bridal gown.

I walked beside her, keeping my pace steady.