Chapter 13 - The Guest from St. Catherine’sA woman near the far wall rose from her table.
Dr. Evelyn Hart, chief of emergency medicine at St. Catherine’s, had attended the wedding as a guest of the Montgomery family.
Until that moment, the floral arrangements had hidden her from Jenna’s view.
“Silas is not mistaken,” Evelyn said.
Jenna turned.
“Dr. Hart?”
Evelyn approached the center aisle.
“I recognized you when you entered, but I assumed Felicity had invited you because she finally told the truth.”
Felicity’s face tightened.
“You knew?”
“I knew Jenna was the nurse from Adrian’s trauma.”
Silas looked at her.
“Why didn’t the hospital give me her direct information?”
“Patient privacy and employee policy. Jenna also requested no publicity.”
Evelyn faced the guests.
“She was nominated for the fellowship. We never understood why she failed to complete the application.”
Jenna looked toward Richard.
He had lowered his eyes again.
Evelyn continued.
“That fellowship later went to another nurse. Jenna stayed on nights because she could not afford the graduate program.”
Richard whispered, “I did not know it would affect her career.”
Jenna laughed once, without humor.
“You hid a career opportunity. What did you think would happen?”
Felicity moved toward Evelyn.
“You have no right to interfere in my wedding.”
Evelyn’s expression remained cold.
“You made a nurse’s profession the subject of public ridicule. I am correcting the record.”
She looked toward Jenna.
“During the year after Adrian’s trauma, Jenna received our hospital’s highest nursing commendation.”
Applause began hesitantly from one table.
Then another.
Within seconds, much of the ballroom was standing.
Jenna’s eyes filled.
Felicity remained alone in the aisle, surrounded by applause meant for the woman she had tried to humiliate.
Silas did not clap.
He watched Felicity with the expression of a man realizing the danger was not only the original lie.
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It was how easily she had continued telling it.
👉 The hospital chief had confirmed Jenna’s story, but she also carried a record proving someone had forged Jenna’s response to the fellowship.
