Chapter 86: Would He Ever Come Back?
I walked through the garden for a few moments, looking around the bigger hedges and bushes, trying to find Ethan, but I didn‘t see him anywhere.
It was like he had vanished from my life again.
With a hand over my baby, I walked back home and went inside, closing the door behind me.
It seemed so lonely inside now. Not long ago, Soren and I had been sitting at the table eating dinner, laughing, and having a good conversation about our day. Now, the entire house seemed still and quiet.
“What was Ethan even doing here?” | asked myself aloud. I had no idea.
He said he‘d come there to see me, but why?
How did he even figure out where I was?
I wanted to talk to Ethan again. I wanted to find him and make him sit down and answer a thousand questions.
But that wasn‘t going to happen.
I lay backward on my bed and stared up at the ceiling, wondering if I‘d ever even see him again. There was a chance he would just go back home. Perhaps all he wanted was to see me, and now that he had, now that he knew that I was alive, he would just turn around and head right back to Madalynn‘s open arms.
Madalynn… and her ring.
I decided there was nothing more I could do, so I got ready for bed.
However, In my restless dreams, I kept seeing Ethan again but not being able to speak to him.
When I woke up, I couldn‘t stop thinking about him.
Seraphine was there to check my vitals, and Lola was tidying up the cottage. We were all friends, but I knew | couldn‘t talk to them about this. I couldn‘t risk them finding out the truth about my past.
Thad left that all behind.
Or at least, I thought I had.
“Ro?” Seraphine asked as she put her stethoscope back in her midwife bag. “Are you okay? I‘m done checking the baby, and you usually ask me a thousand questions. Today you‘re just staring off into space.”
“Oh. I‘m sorry.” I shook my head, smiling at her. “I guess I‘m just distracted this morning.”
right?” she asked me, and I knew from the twinkle in her eye that she was prying. “I know
her. “We‘re just friends,” I reminded her. I ran a hand over my
said. “It really
how that made me feel. Was I ready to
The fuzzy form of a
the experience would be very different based on who it was next to me. Soren would be so supportive. He‘d probably manage to make it fun. Ethan, on the other
down next to me. “I know giving birth is never easy, but you‘ll be just fine. I‘ll be there with you every step of the way. Do
few times, trying to get the images out of my mind. “Oh,
young and strong. I‘m sure this will be a perfectly
bag. I knew she had some other patients
and I needed
blanket that I needed to hurry and finish, or
that was what I told myself I
was looking for
How had he managed to reduce me to this state again? I had come
was like a teenage girl,
but he didn‘t answer. Sol cut some flowers
there. She smiled at me as I came
wonderful. Thank you,” I told her,
he even bothered to come here if he wasn‘t going to
as I took the vase
focused out the window as I went to set the vase on a table.
the floor, spilling
Lola also
and mop. Pregnancy can
hurried off to get the tools she needed to clean up my mess, and I backed away from the
returned, I reached for the
no,” she said, waving me off. “You could hurt yourself. I’ll
injure myself, though I felt awful that I’d created such a mess for her to have
wasn‘t thinking straight. I was a danger
as
I still
in the garden, looking for any sign of him while I pretended to prune the trees, but I didn‘t see any trace. No footprints, no lingering scent, no evidence that he‘d come
to think that perhaps he
up in my garden, I had decided I just needed to get on with my life. Whatever it was that had brought Ethan back into my life for
the baby‘s nursery, sewing the blanket, staring at nothing as Seraphine organized the drawers of clothing we‘d
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