Chapters (59)
- Cover
- About the Author
- Praise
- Dedication
- Epigraph
- January
- One
- Two
- Three
- Four
- Five
- February
- Six
- Seven
- Eight
- Nine
- Ten
- Eleven
- Twelve
- March
- Thirteen
- Fourteen
- Fifteen
- Sixteen
- April
- Seventeen
- Eighteen
- Nineteen
- Twenty
- Twenty-One
- Twenty-Two
- Twenty-Three
- Twenty-Four
- Twenty-Five
- May
- Twenty-Six
- Twenty-Seven
- Twenty-Eight
- Twenty-Nine
- Thirty
- Thirty-One
- June
- Thirty-Two
- Thirty-Three
- Thirty-Four
- Thirty-Five
- Thirty-Six
- Thirty-Seven
- Thirty-Eight
- Thirty-Nine
- Forty
- July
- Forty-One
- Epilogue
- Acknowledgments
- Author’s Note
- Ladies of the House - Reader’s Guide
- Questions For Discussion
- Excerpt
“I’ll make sure to go to your mother tomorrow and beg forgiveness,” I said, watching a firefly float past my window. “She can do with me what she will.”
“Cleaning up your wreckage on the way to becoming a better woman.”
“Following along,” I said, “in the grand tradition of being a white feminist in this great country.”
“Preach,” he said with a chuckle.
I leaned my head against the back of the seat. “And I’m going to take Wallis home earlier.”
“What do you mean? Switch flights?” He groaned. “Daisy, you don’t have to. That’s burning money.”
“I do. And it’s just money.” And I would have my income back soon. I had to.
“You know,” Bo said, “when I asked you what you were going to do, I meant right now. About Wallis.”
“What if I go up there and she tells me she’s still in love with him?” This possibility made me even more reluctant to leave the car.
Bo nodded. “One of my old friends texted me when we were at the bar. He said that my mother was right. Blake Darley is beginning to tell people that he’s running. Apparently he got the approval a few days ago.”
“The balls on this guy,” I said, shaking my head. “Confirmation hearings for his mother haven’t even been scheduled yet. Now I’ll have to tell Wallis before it’s fully public.” Though maybe it would make her feel better, to know why he left. To know the truth about who he was.
Bo’s eyes, and mine, flicked toward the house and up to the illuminated window of our guest room. “What did she mean in the bar when she was talking about how Blake promised her? What did he promise her?”
“I have no idea.”
“Here’s what I want to know,” Bo began. He placed his hands behind his head and closed his eyes. “I want to know if he asked her to ride with him. I want to know—did he even ask if she’d give up your family name? Did he even ask if she’d delete all her old tweets and burn the bumper stickers? Did he even offer her a ring in exchange for her vote?”
“He knew her well enough. He knew that if he asked for any of those things, she’d refuse.”
“Did you see her tonight?” Bo murmured, his eyes fluttering open. “I’m not so sure you’re right.”
Wallis lay on the bed, choking with sobs. She didn’t tell me to go away, so I stretched my body next to hers, my cheek on her hair. We spent a long time this way. I knew the world was full of traitorous, cruel people, but I suppose the disappointment that came with trusting one still hurt. So I cried, too.