A Second Chance at Forever novel (Eleanor and Bernard)

Sigrid Laurence was getting older, and her spinster status was giving Latonia a serious case of the jitters. Worried that Sigrid might miss the boat on motherhood, Latonia was on a mission, With Cedric's help, setting her up with different men.

But Sigrid wasn't having any of it. If she wasn't flat-out refusing, she'd politely decline during the dates themselves. After a string of such encounters, her patience wore thin, and she made a point to return to the family estate, telling Latonia to knock it off with the matchmaking.

Sigrid rarely visited home, and when she did, it was usually because her father, Quinlan Laurence, feigned illness to lure her back. Clearly, she still harbored a grudge over past grievances and wasn't about to forgive Latonia anytime soon.

Latonia, growing more regretful by the day, would shrink in Sigrid's presence, meek as a mouse, whispering, "Sigrid, you'll regret it if you end up alone and childless in your old age. Loneliness isn't a trifle, you know..."

Lounging on the couch, Sigrid scoffed, "Like parent, like child, they say. I'd rather not have kids than risk becoming a spiteful mother who can't help but tear her family apart. Better no kids than passing on that kind of legacy and cursing another generation."

reading between the lines. She knew she was at fault for

supportive when I was with Chase McCall, were you? You schemed behind my back to split us up, and

would come so swiftly and from her own flesh and blood. The emotional chokehold was tangible as she clutched

long pause, Latonia ventured again, "I heard... you might have developed feelings for

for life and never forgave her, Latonia wished for her to find someone to lean on, to give her peace,

slightly before she denied, "He's not

gaze icy, "This life, I'm doomed to love without being loved in return. Stop meddling

Sigrid stood up and strode out, leaving Latonia to sigh at the sight

opened up, and rain poured down. She braved the storm to her place, a solitary figure, and cooked herself

she once did with Chase, and confessed her feelings. But the memory was hazy now, though the chill of Jason's demeanor when he looked up from his book