“You’ll embarrass the whole family!”

“Then let’s talk in front of the whole family.”

She hesitated, suddenly uncertain.

“You don’t understand what’s going on,” she said weakly.

I folded my arms.

“Then explain why my wife is working in the kitchen while everyone upstairs celebrates.”

Allison drew a breath and finally blurted out the argument she had been saving.

“Meredith doesn’t understand finances. She doesn’t know how to behave in the social circles you’re in now. We were protecting your reputation.”

Meredith’s shoulders sank even lower.

I reached out and took her hands carefully.

She flinched slightly from the tenderness in her skin.

“No one protects anything by humiliating my wife,” I said quietly.

Then I untied the apron from her waist.

“Let’s go.”

Allison stepped in front of the doorway.

“You can’t just—”

I spoke one word.

“Move.”

She stepped aside.

The Party Upstairs