All Chapters of Married in Her Name: Chapter 291 - Chapter 298

Patricia waits until after dinner.Leah notices.Of course she does.Throughout the meal, Patricia never sits close enough to make conversation unavoidable. She remains three places down from Margaret at the adjoining table, speaking when required, smiling when Lady Ashbourne addresses her, and never looking at Leah long enough for anyone else to call it staring.But she watches.Leah feels it every time someone asks her an ordinary question.How she answers.Whether she hesitates.Whether she looks toward Daniel before speaking.Whether Daniel touches her.Whether Margaret’s earlier confrontation has left any visible mark.By dessert, Leah begins to understand why Patricia does not approach immediately.She is waiting for fatigue.People become less careful after two hours beneath chandeliers and scrutiny.A strained smile slips.A hand trembles.A woman who has managed herself perfectly during the first confrontation may react badly to the second.Patricia knows that.Daniel seems t

Margaret waits until Robert has left the ballroom.Leah notices that too.The timing is too precise to be accidental.Robert’s argument with Daniel ended quietly enough that most of the room probably heard only fragments, but those fragments were already spreading in the way society always spreads things: through glances, pauses, and people suddenly finding reasons to stand nearer than before.Daniel has barely returned to Leah’s side when Margaret begins moving toward them again.Patricia stays behind.Charles does not.He shifts closer to the edge of the room, near enough to watch without becoming part of the conversation.Leah’s stomach tightens.“Again,” she murmurs.Daniel follows her gaze.Margaret is coming.His expression hardens immediately.Leah looks at him before he can say anything.“Remember.”“I remember.”“You do not answer for me.”“I know.”“If she touches me—”“I wait.”“If I freeze?”“I ask if you want to leave.”Leah nods.Daniel’s voice lowers.“Twice.”The remin

Daniel does not mention the tears in the car.Not when they reach the estate.Not when Marcus opens the door, and Leah steps out with her face composed again.Not when Mrs. Turner appears in the entrance hall, takes one look at Leah, and quietly tells the staff that nobody needs anything else from Mrs. Cole tonight.Daniel simply walks beside her.The house is almost painfully quiet after the charity event.No cameras.No Margaret.No Robert.No Patricia watching the angle of Leah’s shoulders and deciding what it means.Leah reaches the foot of the staircase before Daniel speaks.“Do you want to be alone?”She stops.The question should be easy.A few months ago, it would have been.“Yes” would have meant safety.A closed door.Distance from the husband she never chose.Tonight the answer catches somewhere inside her.Leah looks up the staircase.Then back at Daniel.“No.”Something changes in his face.He does not smile.He only nods.“Study?”Leah shakes her head.“Not there.”Too m

Elaine finds the name less than an hour after Patricia files the request.By then, Julian has already objected to the proposed appointment process. Not to evaluation itself. Leah made that distinction clear.She will not refuse an independent assessment simply because the Grants want one.She will refuse a process in which Patricia gets to choose what independent means.Elaine enters the west study carrying her tablet.Daniel looks up immediately.“You found the list?”“Part of it.”Leah is sitting near the window with Margaret’s welfare petition open in front of her. She has read it enough times that she no longer needs the screen.“Who?”Elaine places the tablet on the table.“Dr. Malcolm Pierce.”Daniel’s expression remains blank.Leah does not recognize the name either.“What is he?” Daniel asks.“Clinical psychologist. Private practice. Family conflict, dependency assessment, high-pressure decision environments.”Daniel gives a humorless laugh.“Convenient.”Elaine does not smile