Claimed by My Best Friend's Daddy

s's

e was already up, because Mirabel would complain if it wasn't, towered in the corner, lights twinkling in slow, programmed patterns. Boxes of ornaments sat open on the f

le living rooms, a kitchen big enough for staff and chaos-but for years it had mostly held echoes. Mine a

to prep. I could smell cinnamon and butter drifting

g. I made extra batches-your daugh

oom has fresh flowers. And please, tell someone to keep extr

eady done. And the library's stocked, with new

might have passed for a

e kitchen, and I continued d

ers in place, and leather armchairs arranged by the fireplace. The room smelled of aged p

ike, obsessively," she'd said. "She'll probably

ontemporary romance-Mirabel's doing, mostly. She'd started collecting them in high school, said they were

in a suit, and title written in gold foil: Claimed b

my pocket. I checke

ing tomorrow. Mark's company tried one last pushb

ep an eye on him. He's

et while it lasts. You said Mir

best friend

ou had more than gh

d, but di

ng the pergola, the garden dormant but still beautiful in its winter sleep. I could already picture Mirabel out there, draggi

ed something ti

the text arrived. Two weeks. No board meetings. No late-night calls from Asia

Elena's favorites. The spine was worn from her hands. I opened it gently, and traced the insc

udden, dull, familiar. I closed th

plained, never asked why I hadn't remarried. But I saw it sometimes-the way she watched me when she thought I wasn't

etrayal. That every woman who'd come after Elena had fe

ean break. A perfect, contained fantasy. N

full. The way Elena had always been excited to have me back home after a lon

and stepped away

I cautio

m myself: fresh linens, a small stack of towels, a vase of white lilies on the dresser. A basket of books on the nightstand-ne

he light and c

it to the study. The fire was already lit, so I sat

their arrival in my head