All Chapters of Love's Healing Touch: Chapter 51 - Chapter 60

The morning after Adrian's sweet overture of honeyed words, sunlight seeped into the cottage, depositing a golden, warm glow on the wood floorboards. The fire had burned for hours earlier, but its heat lingered – in the quilt that kept them close, in the contours of Adrian's body pressed against Elara, and most of all, in the air between two people who had at last, fully selected each other.Elara woke, eyelids slitting over light. For what felt like forever, she listened only — to Adrian's quiet breathing beside her, to bird calls distant out there, to the quiet stillness of home. Her hand tightened reflexively, reaching for the ring still proudly on her finger, tangible proof that the previous night wasn't a fantasy.She turned over, her eyes on him.His sleeping face no longer creased with the pain and self-loathing she'd witnessed daily in his eyes. His face still carried a shadow of loss, perhaps always would — scars took more than a day to heal — but love had tempered him. He wa

The sun shone across the estate gardens, and the rose bushes threw long, dew-wet shadows. Adrian leaned against the weathered veranda railing, hands around it, staring out to sea in contemplation. The memories of last night still thawed his chest — not hurt, but a silent, whispered kind of peace. He had faced his past for the first time in years and lived.Behind him, the door creaked open and closed softly. Elara padded across the stone floor in her slippers, a shawl draped over her shoulders.“You’ve been out here a while,” she murmured.“I couldn’t sleep,” he admitted. “Too much in my head.”She stepped beside him. “Regrets?”He shook his head slowly. "Not regrets. Just... wondering how it might have been. If things had gone differently."Elara didn't respond immediately. She allowed her hand to fall into his, their fingers interlocking."Perhaps it was always going to be this way," she said. "So that you would understand who you're actually meant to be."Adrian stared at her. "And

Breeze blew through treetop foliage as Elara stood at the corner of the newly cleared pathway, holding onto the handle of a shovel sheathed in wood. Sunbeams filtered through the tops of leafy branches above, sunny on her back. Adrian approached her with spools of stakes and twine."Care to dig another one today?" he asked, a glint in his eye.She turned to him with a soft smile. "We’re getting close to where the trail splits toward the river."They labored in comfortable quiet, the only noises those of birds, the soft chop of tools into the earth, and their even breathing. Repairing the old trail had become more than a project—it was therapy. It gave them time to speak, or not. To remember, or simply be.They sat for a little while, leaning on a felled log beside the boughs of an ancient oak. Adrian mopped at his brow with his arm, looking at Elara with subdued wonder."You never get tired," he told her."I get tired," she said, holding out a water canteen to him. "I just happen to k

The Lancaster house, once an emblem of pride and sorrow, was now altered—cozier, more relaxed, lived-in. Adrian and Elara's presence had introduced staff to walk less stiffly, laughter that at times trickled through the corridors, and even the thick curtains had been opened to admit more sunlight.Elara had spent the morning in the garden, where late-autumn roses fought for life against the cold. She trimmed dead leaves away softly, not wanting to crush the last flower—deep red and curling over at the edges as if it too held on to love.Behind her, the crunch of footsteps on gravel in the distance announced Adrian's arrival."You'll bring them back again next spring," he exhaled, his arms wrapping around her from behind. "Everything you touch grows."She smiled, leaning back into him. "Not everything. Some things only needed the right season to heal."Adrian nuzzled his lips against her temple. "This house… it's changing because of you.""Because of us," she said softly. "You made the

The next morning, after the low-key proposal of Adrian, was surrounded by an atmosphere of quietness. Although nothing had been officially stated, there was something in how he grasped the hand of Elara as they walked into the breakfast area that caused everyone to stop. Clarisse was the first to notice, eyes darting from the flushed face of Elara to the gentle face of Adrian before a sly grin crept over her lips.Breakfast was unnaturally quiet. Nobody asked questions, yet everyone knew.Afterwards, while Elara had stepped outside to feed the birds in the rear gardens, Clarisse overcaught Adrian in the hallway."She said yes," he conceded before she could get a word in."I expected," Clarisse smiled tenderly. "She radiates.""So do I, I guess.""You do." Clarisse touched her fingertips to his shoulder and smiled. "You two deserve it."Adrian's tone was gentle. "I never thought I would again."Following breakfast, Elara strolled into the older section of the estate. Curiosity pulled a