LOGINYou ordered and I delivered part one. How many gifts, comments, or gems do I deserve before releasing part two? 😂😂😎😍😍😍 Love you guys ❤️
NathanielSunday arrived far sooner than I wanted it to.Perhaps that was simply the way peaceful weekends always ended. One moment you believed you still had another day ahead of you, and the next you were standing in the hallway watching suitcases being carried toward the front door.Mother insisted she felt perfectly capable of helping. Mrs. Lewis insisted otherwise.“You are not lifting anything heavier than your handbag.”“It’s only a basket.”“It’s a basket full of enough food to feed an entire village.”Mother looked inside it—two loaves of freshly baked bread, three jars of homemade jam, a tin of biscuits, fresh fruit from the orchard, sandwiches wrapped neatly in cloth, and enough pastries to stock a small bakery—and frowned.“Perhaps it is a little much.”“A little?”She ignored the question and turned to Amelia instead. “I wasn’t sure what you’d feel like eating on the drive home.”Amelia smiled. “I don’t think we’ll go hungry.”“You absolutely won’t,” Mrs. Lewis muttered a
NathanielThe rest of the morning passed without urgency.Mother insisted on showing Amelia the orchard behind the farmhouse, despite Mrs. Lewis repeatedly reminding her that “showing” someone an orchard did not require walking the entire length of it. Amelia, naturally, encouraged her every step of the way. By lunchtime, I was fairly certain the two of them had formed an alliance against the rest of us.I found them sitting beneath one of the old apple trees, talking as though they had known each other for years instead of days. Watching them together settled something inside me I had not realized had been restless. For a long time I had worried about what would happen when I finally brought someone home. Mother had spent so many years living inside memories that I feared she would compare every woman to an impossible standard. Instead she had simply opened her heart. I suspected Amelia had done the same.After lunch Mother announced she intended to take a nap, though she insisted
NathanielBreakfast stretched longer than any of us intended.Mother and Mrs. Lewis were still arguing over whether homemade jam tasted better with warm bread or scones, and Mrs. Lewis had firmly declared that neither mattered if everyone allowed their tea to go cold while talking. Amelia laughed more than she ate. The sound suited her. There had been a lightness about her ever since we arrived, something I had not realized I was missing until I watched it return. The strain Blake had brought into our lives had not disappeared, but for the first time in weeks it no longer sat between us at every meal.I looked across the table just as Amelia caught me watching her.“What?” she asked, smiling.“Nothing.”“I know that look.”“What look?”“The one where you’re pretending you aren’t staring.”“I wasn’t staring.”“You were.”Mother glanced between us. “He was.”I looked at her. “You too?”“I raised you. I know exactly what your face looks like when you’re admiring your wife.”Amelia laugh
AmeliaI woke the next morning to an empty bed.For a brief moment, I frowned, my hand reaching across the sheets until my fingers brushed the cool space where Nathaniel should have been. He couldn't have been gone long. His pillow still carried the faint warmth of sleep, and the familiar scent of his cologne lingered in the room.I pushed myself upright carefully, one hand settling instinctively over my stomach."Your father has escaped," I murmured to the twins.The only answer I received was a small flutter that made me smile.After dressing in one of Nathaniel's shirts and a pair of soft trousers, I made my way downstairs. Somewhere below, I could smell freshly brewed coffee, warm bread, and something sweet baking in the oven.The kitchen was already alive.One of the house staff stood over the stove stirring a pot while Mrs. Lewis arranged fruit on a large platter. Evelyn sat at the long farmhouse table with a cup of tea, though from the way she pointed toward the counter and is
AmeliaWe slipped away after dinner while Evelyn and the staff were still occupied clearing the table and debating which dessert deserved to come out first. Their laughter drifted through the open kitchen windows as Nathaniel reached for my hand and quietly led me away from the farmhouse.The night wrapped around us almost immediately. The farther we walked, the softer the sounds from the house became until they were replaced by crickets, rustling leaves, and the occasional splash from somewhere across the lake. Moonlight spread across the water like silver silk.I slowed without meaning to. “This place truly is beautiful,” I whispered.Nathaniel looked out over the lake instead of answering. There was something peaceful about him here, as though the constant pressure he carried had finally eased.“When I first saw this place,” he said after a while, “I stood exactly where we’re standing now. I came here looking for somewhere my mother could disappear from the world.”I turned toward
NathanielBy the time we stepped inside, my mother had already forgotten every instruction Mrs. Lewis had given her about resting.She led Amelia through the entrance hall herself, pointing out rooms with the easy confidence of someone who had already claimed every corner of the house as her own. Fresh flowers sat on the side tables, knitted throws rested over the backs of the sofas, and the farmhouse already felt lived in—warm in a way the city house never quite managed.“The kitchen is through there,” she said. “You’ll smell the bread before you see it. Martha insists fresh bread should be baked every morning.”“I don’t insist,” Martha called from somewhere deeper in the house. “You insist.”Mother smiled without the slightest embarrassment. “I may have suggested it.”“You threatened to bake it yourself.”“I did no such thing.”“You absolutely did.”Amelia’s laughter brightened the entire hallway.She turned slowly, taking it all in. “It’s beautiful.”Mother’s expression softened. “
Rain continued pouring from the sky while Amelia sat collapsed on the pavement outside the house she used to call home.Her hair clung to her face.Her clothes were soaked through completely.But she barely felt the cold anymore.The older woman standing beneath the umbrella looked deeply uncomfort
Amelia stared at the divorce papers like they were written in another language.The words blurred through her tears until she could barely make them out anymore.DIVORCE AGREEMENT.Her hands started shaking instantly.“No…”Daniel leaned back in his chair with terrifying calm.“It’s over, Amelia.”
By the time Amelia stumbled out of Carter Enterprises, she could barely see through her tears.Rain poured heavily from the sky, cold droplets soaking through her clothes within seconds, but she barely noticed. Her entire body felt numb, hollowed out from the inside.Daniel’s words kept echoing in
The house still smelled like Noah.Amelia noticed it the moment she stepped out of her bedroom, and the realization hit her so hard she had to steady herself against the wall.Strawberry shampoo.Chocolate cereal.The sweet powdery scent of the baby soap Noah still insisted on using even though he







