Semua Bab Just One Year With Mr. Billionaire: Bab 51 - Bab 58

_Author’s POV_The hospital moved fast when Evelyn spoke and informed them of Mrs Cross’s arrival.She handled the desk, the paperwork, the questions, all of it, while Danica stood beside her and breathed carefully and kept one hand pressed flat against her stomach.They were taken through quickly. Private room. Third floor. The room had a window and no roommate and a door that closed properly, which meant Evelyn had upgraded something without saying so. Mostly because of who Danica was now.A nurse came first, then a doctor. Young, calm, with the particular manner of someone who had learned to deliver uncertain information without letting their face give too much away. He asked questions. Danica answered them honestly and without drama. How long had she been under stress. How was her sleep. Had she eaten today.She told him about the half piece of toast and he wrote something down.They put the monitor on her. The strap around her middle, the cool pressure of it, and then the sound f

_Author’s POV_ Two extra days passed. Eden had been doing that thing where you keep moving so you don’t have to think. Back to back meetings, calls that ran into other calls, paperwork that didn’t actually need him but gave his hands something to do. It was working fine. Mostly. Except he kept seeing her face. Not all of it. Just that one specific moment. Danica turning toward the window, her shoulders shaking, both hands pressed over her mouth like she was trying to hold something in that had already decided it was coming out. He had stood there like an idiot and said her name twice and then left. He wasn’t calling it guilt. Guilt required stopping and he hadn’t stopped. His grandmother’s summons sat somewhere in the back of his head like a stone he kept stepping around. He was staring at a contract he had already read three times without retaining a single word when his office door opened at six thirty and Maxine walked in like he had a standing appointment. He didn’t.

_Author’s POV_Danica was ready by eleven forty-five.She wasn’t going to think about that. It meant nothing. Eden had said noon and she was ready before noon and that was just called being organised.She came downstairs with her bag and Eden was already in the hallway in a dark coat looking the way he always looked, which was annoyingly put together, and she was very tired of noticing that. He glanced at her. She glanced at him.Neither of them said anything about yesterday morning.Not his arm around her waist that she had woken up to and spent a full minute pretending she was still asleep through because she didn’t know what else to do with herself.They had a silent agreement. It had not been discussed. It simply existed.Evelyn stood at the door to see them off with the expression of a woman trying very hard not to look like she was sending two children to be told off. She squeezed Danica’s hand once. Said nothing. Watched them get into the car.The drive was an hour and a half.

_Author’s POV_Danica sketched in the living room while the light was still soft. Eden left early, his keys off the hook before seven, the front door closing behind him. They moved through the house like two people who had made a quiet agreement, not to crowd each other, not to ask for more than the day required. It was manageable. It was, in its way, almost peaceful.Evelyn had gone out for errands. The house was still. Danica had her legs tucked under her on the sofa, sketchbook in her lap, a cup of tea going cold on the table beside her.The doorbell rang. She didn’t look up.She heard the house helper open the door. Heard a voice, clear and unhurried, a kind of voice that expected to be listened to.Then she heard her name. Not called out. Just said. Announced, almost.She looked up.The woman who walked in was dressed like she had somewhere better to be and had chosen here anyway. Flowers in her hand, yellow, wrapped in brown paper, and the easy, settled confidence of someone w