think twice a
ription, he gave the housekeeper a few clip
Island with her, letting the sea air do what medicine couldn't. Between the island and Crestview, Naomi bare
d. If Naomi had simply explained herself properly instead of sto
or his grandfather's insistence on keeping the marriage intact, Etha
any of this was goi
r the night. It wasn't until she was pulling ba
r out into the night air again so she tucked her daughter in, h
t rang again. Naomi pick
ame through, war
o be believed. Grandfather's been asking about you every day since the results came back.
t quiet fo
he beneficiary of the Blackwood Foundation's scholarship fund. Whatever warmth sh
ough. That was blo
e'd be nothing left in Crest
hough he couldn't see her. "
t not immediately. There was a divorce to finalize first, a
nothing else, would nev
ng tangled up in that f
linching that she was in the middle
usiness in Crestview anyway I'll be staying in the ar
ened, just slightly. She hadn't
said, warmer now. "I'll se
es north, in Ash
was already leaning forward in his chair,
of them hadn't been buried under quarterly filings that wee
mile. "She agreed. She wants to f
his granddaughter had never gone missing twenty-six years ago, none of this the wrong
riefed on the finer details, looked startled. "Does
r heiress. Sebastian Cole was infamous for his indifference to women in over a decade, barely a handful had ever been photographe
ed families like the Coles before. And so what if she is? Our
his mind. His eyes cooled. "Doesn't matter. Whatever happens
ly, almost darin
heir none of it means a thi
che. "She'll be back from Europe any day now, and she doesn't know yet. Vivian and Naomi are both our si
this family makes Naomi feel unwelcome again. N
ment had just been quietly shelved
ad breakfast with Lily, and took he
ed. She didn't say anything. She just watched her mother
keep their hair long. Grandma Blackwood, especially, had never once allowed it. Na
any
l and the salon chair, that her daughter's
's growing pile of soft curls on the floor. "You should've had this y
corrected her wit
nig
tylist laug
mething in her chest finally unclenchin
to a soft, wind-tossed halo, Nao
rd she hadn't even met the Sinclairs in person yet, and Lily's sch
stop to make: Blackwood Enterprises,
-in-law with no résumé, Ethan had quietly pulled strings to get her
rprises than anyone in that building is expecti
ually asked of Mrs. Blackwood was
accomplished a single thing worth
rce anyway, better to close t
eement herself, planning to print it and hand it to Ethan directly no
ing their morning, the Blackwood h
or the day. But Julian had always been a picky eater the only porridge he'd touch was the fresh fish p
ried three different versions that
d, pushing the bowl away. "H
underneath the sourness was a flicker
t. Cooking and looking after us is the one thing she's a
st as Ethan walked in, searching the closet
bowl, the tension in the room, and frow
Blackwood makes, sir. It's more complicated than it looks I've tri
ened in Ethan's
added, almost as an afterthought, "And ask her where sh
without question, excellent at taking care of the people ar
g for the fish porridge, the one you make. Would you be able to come back and
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