Chapter 120
Received and Witnessed
The dowry procession continued.
Chests kept coming. One after another. Silk-wrapped parcels followed, heavy and deliberate, carried past the guests and into the house. Each item landed with quiet finality, like a sentence being ended with a firm hand.
This was not symbolic.
This was not modest.
Grandmother Halton watched it all in silence. Her eyes moved through the parlor, over every face, over the stunned stillness, the swallowed smiles, the pity that had hardened into something closer to fear. She gave a small nod, barely noticeable, as if something she had already decided was now confirmed.
"The ceremony," she said.
It wasn't a question.
"We may proceed."
Mother moved at once, breath quickening, posture snapping back into place. "Of course," she said, finding a version of her hostess voice again, though it trembled if one listened closely. "Everything is prepared. Please... this way."
