Chapter 3

Four days remained before my departure.

Lucien had returned very late the night before.

I woke up once and saw him sitting beside my bed. He fell asleep with my hand clasped in his.

A dinner that had long since gone cold sat on the nightstand.

He had dark stubble on his jaw, and he was still clutching a piece of paper in his other hand.

It was a drawing of a little house by the sea.

Three years ago, during our marking ceremony, he had promised to give me a real home there.

I moved a little, and he woke up at once. "Does it hurt?"

I shook my head.

He rested his forehead against the back of my hand. After a long silence, he finally spoke. "I miss him too."

My tears fell without warning.

For a moment, I wished he wouldn't say another word.

As long as he missed our pup too, I would have been content with him doing nothing more than sitting beside me for a while.

But footsteps sounded in the hallway and were followed by a knock at the door. It was Mom. "Kayla is having nightmares again. She keeps calling for Daniel, and no one can calm her down."

Lucien tightened his grip on my hand. "Erin–"

I smoothed out the drawing and placed it back on the nightstand for him. "I understand."

He hesitated briefly, but in the end, he still stood up.

I listened as his footsteps faded toward the far end of the hallway.

It wasn't that he had never loved me.

It was precisely because he once had that I remembered every time his footsteps should have stopped at my door.

After daybreak, I asked the butler to retrieve the things from the nursery.

He stood by the doorway and was reluctant to move.

I made my way down the hallway while holding onto the railing for support and finally saw why. The wooden nameplate on the door had been replaced.

Inside, the crib was made up with pale yellow sheets, and Kayla's luggage was piled against the wall.

The fabric stars I had sewn by hand were gone.

Mom was directing the maids as they moved the rocking chair. When she saw me, her voice softened. "Your dad thought this room was closer to Kayla's guest room, so we're letting Noah use it for now."

"Where are my things?" I asked.

"We packed everything up and stored them elsewhere. Seeing them every day would only make you sad."

I gripped the doorframe until my fingers gradually went numb. "I want to decide for myself what I should keep."

Mom stopped what she was doing. She seemed to realize at last that I was upset.

She brought me to the storage room downstairs.

My belongings had been packed into three cardboard boxes. The crib mobile they had taken down lay on top.

I picked out only the little fabric star with the crooked stitches.

Lucien had insisted on helping me sew it, but he had messed it up twice. I laughed at him for being unable to manage something so simple. He hid the crooked star behind his back and said our pup wouldn't mind if he wasn't very good at sewing.

Mom watched as I placed the star inside the wooden box. "Don't blame me, sweetheart. The pup who's still alive needs someone to take care of him."

"I don't blame the pup." I closed the lid. "But you should have asked me before touching my things."

That afternoon, when Lucien heard what had happened, he personally arranged for my belongings to be moved back into our bedroom.

He crouched beside the boxes before checking their contents one by one. When he saw the empty stand where the crib mobile had hung, his eyes welled with tears. "I should have made the arrangements clearer. I'll have the room put back the way it was."

I didn't stop him.

Kayla suddenly appeared in the doorway and asked softly, "Are you moving everything back now? Noah just fell asleep."

Lucien stood there while holding the mobile. He fell silent for a moment before turning to look at me. "Can we do it tomorrow?"

I reached out, took the mobile from him, and placed it back in the box. "Take your time," I said.

After all, I wouldn't even be living here four days from now.