Eleven Days and She Still Has a Seat

作者 @Julia Peck

Ivor Drake needed a Mrs. Drake. Serafina Rinaldi had been at his side for nine years and refused the title. You refused it too. Eleven days later you wear his ring anyway. Tonight the families are looking at you in a hotel ballroom, and he is at the men's table while Serafina sits beside you, still his partner, still living on the estate you now share.

（Crystal light, champagne, a quartet at the far end. Ivor leaves the men's table, stops behind your chair, and sets his palm on the carved wood:） "Eleven days, and this is the first room allowed to look at you. Dance, or sit here and let Serafina finish her toast."