Chapter 4

Chapter 4

Lillian did not invite him inside. Instead, she stepped out onto the front porch, pulling the door halfway closed behind her. She did not want her mother to listen to their conversation.

Margaret Harper had never hidden her feelings about Nathaniel Brooks, and today was not the day for that conversation.

The morning air was cool. Lillian crossed her arms and looked at him.

Nathaniel stood a few feet away. Up close, he looked worse than she initially thought. The tiredness around his eyes was deep. His jaw was unshaven. He was still wearing the same shirt from last night with the top button undone.

“You look terrible,” she said flatly.

He almost smiled. “I couldn't sleep.”

“That’s not my problem.” She tilted her head. “You said you needed to talk. So talk. You have five minutes.”

Nathaniel exhaled and pushed both hands into his pockets. He looked at the ground for a second, then back at her. “I came to apologize.”

Lillian stared at him confused. “For which part?” she asked.

“For last night,” he said. “The things I said and the way I said them.”

“Okay.” She nodded slowly. “Apology noted. Is that all?”

He frowned. “Lillian—”

“Nathaniel.” She said, keeping her voice even. “You stood over me and screamed. You told me you never loved me. You told me I forced myself into your life.” She paused. “And then you told me you were going to divorce me. So forgive me if a five-minute apology on my mother’s porch doesn’t quite cover it.”

Nathaniel was quiet for some time. “I was angry,” he finally said.

“I know you were angry. You are always angry with me.” She tilted her head. “That’s the problem, isn’t it? You have been angry with me since the day we got married.”

He looked away briefly as his expression shifted.

“Vanessa called me this morning,” Lillian said.

His head snapped back toward her. “What?”

“She called me,” Lillian repeated calmly. “She told me that you too are getting married soon and that I'm the only thing standing in your way.”

Nathaniel’s jaw tightened. “She had no right—”

“Maybe not,” Lillian said. “But she did it anyway.”

A silence stretched between them. A bird called from somewhere in the garden as the cool breeze moved through the trees.

“Is it true?” Lillian asked. “What she told me?”

Nathaniel looked directly at her. “No.”

Lillian felt bewildered; just moments ago, Vanessa had confidently stated that they were getting married soon, yet here he was directly contradicting her words. 

“I don't understand.”

He opened his mouth and closed it again. Then he said, “I realized I have been punishing you for something that was never entirely your fault.”

Lillian let out a short unhappy laugh. “Never entirely my fault. Wow. That is quite the apology, Nathaniel.”

“I’m trying to be honest with you.”

“No,” she said quickly. “You are trying to make yourself feel better. There is a difference.”

He flinched slightly at that.

“So what exactly do you want?” she asked. “You came here this morning with your wrinkled shirt and your tired eyes. You apologized. So what is the next part? What is it that Nathaniel Brooks actually wants?”

He stepped closer, just slightly, and said. “I want you to come back.”

Lillian blinked. Of all the things she had prepared herself to hear, that was not one of them.

“For what exactly?” she asked carefully.

“For us,” he said. “I want to treat you properly. The way I should have from the beginning.”

The words hung in the cool morning air between them.

Lillian stared at him for a long moment. The part of her that had loved him since she was thirteen years old stirred quietly in her chest but she shut it down immediately.

“It's too late,” she said.

Nathaniel pleaded. “Lillian please—”

“No, Nathaniel.” Her voice was steady. “You do not get to divorce me one night and then show up the next morning asking for a fresh start. That is not how this works.”

“I know I have a lot to make up for.” He said.

“You told me you never loved me,” she said. Her voice stayed level, but her eyes held his firmly. “Those words don’t disappear because you had a bad night with Vanessa and woke up with regrets.”

He said nothing.

“I spent three years waiting for you,” she continued. “I gave up my studies twice. I sat alone in that house more nights than I can count. I followed you to events and smiled for photographs and pretended everything was fine.” She stopped and exhaled. “And every single time, you looked through me like I was not even there.”

Nathaniel’s expression broke slightly. “I know,” he said.

“So no,” she said again. “I am not signing your divorce papers today. But I am also not taking you back. Not like this.”

He frowned. “Then what are you saying?”

She met his gaze directly. “I am saying I need time. Away from you. Away from that house...” She paused. “Away from all of it.”

“Lillian, we can work through this together —”

“Nathaniel.” She stopped him gently but firmly. “Go home and get some rest. You look tired."

He stood there for another moment, searching her face like he was looking for some sign that she would change her mind if he pushed just a little harder. He did not find one.

“Okay,” he said finally. He stepped back. “I’ll go.”

He turned and walked toward his car. Lillian watched him from the porch, her arms still crossed.

He opened the car door and then paused with his hand on the roof. He looked back at her one more time.

“I meant what I said,” he told her. “I want you back.”

She held his gaze and said nothing while he got in the car.

Lillian watched until the taillights disappeared around the corner. Then she turned, walked back inside, and closed the door quietly behind her.

Her mother was standing in the hallway.

“Well?” Margaret asked.

Lillian walked past her toward the kitchen. “I need to call my lawyer, Mama.”

Margaret asked. “That’s it?”

“That’s it,” Lillian said simply.

But just as she reached for her phone, it started to ring in her hand.

An unknown number, different from Vanessa's, was calling her.

She frowned and picked it up. “Hello?”

A man’s voice came through the other end. “Miss Harper, my name is Attorney Gerald Haines. I represent Mr. William Brooks.”

Lillian went very still. William Brooks? Nathaniel’s father?

“Mr. William Brooks passed away this morning,” the attorney said. “And Miss Harper, you are named in his will.”