Reject Me, Alpha Tate のすべてのチャプター: チャプター 251 - チャプター 260

Nicole pov "You're smiling at the ceiling," Amber said, pushing open the door with her hip because both her hands were full of garment bags. "That's a good sign. Or you've lost your mind. Hard to say this early.""Maybe both," I said, sitting up as the cool morning air hit my shoulders. "I kept waiting for that tight, coiled knot in my stomach to wake me up, but it wasn't there. My chest just feels light."Amber laid the dress across the foot of the bed like she was unveiling something sacred. She turned to me and narrowed her eyes. "No overthinking today. I mean it. Today you get to just be a woman getting married, not Dr. Carter defending a dossier.""I make no promises," I said with a small laugh."Sit at the vanity," Amber ordered, waving a box of pins. "Let's get this hair started."I sat down, and Diana walked into the room twenty minutes later. She came straight behind my chair and took over the back half of my hair, her fingers steady and sure."Hold still," Diana murmured, t

Nicole's POVThe reception wound down slower than I expected, guests drifting off in twos and threes until it was just string lights and empty chairs and the faint smell of extinguished candles, and Amber shooing us both toward our rooms with the twins already asleep on her shoulder and Maple's ring pillow still clutched in his small fist."Go," she said, when I hesitated. "I've got them. I've had them a hundred nights before this one. Go be a married woman for five minutes before you remember you're also a scientist and a mother and start making lists again."I laughed, and let Tate steer me down the hall by the hand, both of us still faintly buzzing from champagne and adrenaline and the particular exhaustion of a day that had asked everything of us and given back twice as much.The strange feeling from the ceremony hadn't faded. If anything, it had grown—a low hum just under my skin, something between static and warmth, present in a way I couldn't quite place or dismiss."It's still

Nicole's POVThe package arrived on an ordinary Tuesday, wedged between a stack of journal proofs and a nursery newsletter about an upcoming field trip. I almost missed it entirely before the plain brown paper and the total lack of a return address caught my eye.Amber leaned against the edge of my desk, pointing a pen at it. "That is not from anyone on the approved courier list. Do you want me to have security run it first?""It is fine," I said. I picked it up, feeling the light weight of it in my hands."You turned it over twice," Amber noted, crossing her arms. "Your hands are shaking, Nicole.""Old habits die slow," I murmured.I peeled back the brown tape and pulled off the paper. Inside, wrapped in soft, yellowed tissue paper, was a single photograph. I lifted it out, and my fingers slipped against the frame.Amber reached across the desk and caught the edge before it hit the floor. "Nicole! Who is that?""My father," I said, my voice barely a whisper. I stared at the five youn

Nicole's POVThe car jolted as it crested the hill, and the tires crunched onto the gravel road leading to South River's main gate.Rosy pressed her nose against the cold side window, her breath fogging up the glass. "Look, look! There's a lot of trees!" She pointed a small, gloved finger toward the iron barrier ahead. "And a big wall! Mama, is that the bad castle?""It's not a castle, Rosy," I said, reaching over to rest my hand on her knee. "And it isn't bad anymore. We're going to make sure of that."Amber sat beside me, surrounded by bags. She reached across the seat and squeezed my wrist. "Your hands are freezing, Nicole.""I didn't think my heart would hit my ribs this hard," I said, looking out at the road."You're allowed to be nervous," Amber said softly. She looked out the windshield, then back at me. "Do you wish Tate was with you?""No," I said, shaking my head. "He needed to be standing at that gate to receive us. He isn't delivering us like cargo handed over from one own

Nicole's POVMonths laterMonths had passed, and the late afternoon sun cast a warm, golden light across the garden grass. Water splashed steadily from the stone fountain into the round pool below.Maple and Rosy ran in circles around the stone rim, their shoes crunching on the small pebbles, while I sat back against the fountain's edge, resting both hands over the distinct, rounded curve of my pregnant stomach."You can't catch me, dragon!" Rosy yelled, her pink ribbons fluttering behind her as she sprinted past the fountain."I'm not a dragon, I'm a monster truck carrying a baby dragon!" Maple shouted back, stomping his feet hard onto the gravel and carefully pointing a stick toward my bump.Maple missed his footing on the edge of the stone curb and stumbled forward. I flinched, my instinct to spring up slowed by the weight of my pregnancy, but he caught himself with both hands on the grass, laughed out loud, and popped right back up.I let out a slow breath, resting my palm against