"Here." He handed her a bunch of papers. It was an odd wedding gift, but he needed to show her that he had kept up his own part of the deal — plus, he’d do anything to scare off the sudden tension rising in the room.
She collected them, feeling confused and curious. Then, with one look, she understood exactly what he was showing her.
The tension in her escaped, and with a small sigh, she smiled at him. "Thank you."
“It's the least I can do," he said, before peeking through the door and catching sight of Miranda sprawled on the bed.
“We’re sharing a room for the meantime. This is all new to both of us and I want to make sure she’s near me at all times,” Trinity said, following his gaze. “All the excitement got to her and she finally collapsed.”
"Is she okay?"
She bit her lips with a thoughtful look. A few seconds later, understanding glinted in her eyes — it was such a gratifying process, watching her small smile come to life. Never mind that; he was all too focused on the lips he had kissed earlier.
"She's just overexcited and stayed up too late, and she finally fell asleep."
"Alright then. I will be leaving for a business conference soon, and I just wanted to make sure everything is in order before I go." He gestured to the papers in her hand before adding, "Tomorrow we'll go and register her at the Hamilton Academy."
Trinity gasped, eyes straying to her little child. Her smile dimmed. "I don't think that will be necessary."
“Why not?"
"Look,” she started, taking a deep breath before trying again. "We'll only be here for a year, and I don't want to have to pull her out of yet another school when the time is up."
"I can pay the tuition for two or three straight years, whichever you decide. Oh, and one last thing," he added, holding his finger up.
"What it is it?" She straightened her tense shoulders.
"You'll have to resign from your job." There was no other way to say this so he plowed on. "I know you're an independent working woman, and I respect that, it's just that as my wife, being a janitor doesn’t look good."
She struggled with that one — he could literally see the shadows coasting through her brown eyes before she conceded with a small nod.
“Thank you," he whispered, truly grateful.
The silence returned, as did the blaze in her eyes. The tension he had tried to keep away returned, burning brighter than ever.
?TRINITY?
If she had thought being married was the one huge hurdle to cross before everything settled back to normal, the last week without Michael had taught her otherwise.
Celia had warned her that she would become a silent ornament, but it wasn’t until Miranda was gone for the day that she truly realized she was.
She couldn’t exactly oversee the servants — not only did she not know what she was doing, but it was clearly Celia’s domain.
She couldn’t even dream of doing a chore in her own room; she had tried to take Miranda’s clothes to the huge laundry room to do it herself, but a servant quickly collected them with a disapproving air. It wasn’t until later when she realized she was taking work out of a person’s hand.
Though she had entertained the idea of going back to the nursing home for a while, she knew she couldn’t. Even though her wedding was private, and the press had no idea who she was, the privacy didn’t last as long as she thought.
One call was all it took to crash that dream.
Janaye had called her and asked her point-blank if the rumors were true. Without waiting for an answer, she asked for a little cash. In her words, “Just a little something for all those times I helped you out.”
Trinity had switched off the phone before she lost her temper. Their relationship had been warm once upon a time, but after she moved in with Janaye, Janaye changed. Janaye had given her a place to stay, but Trinity had already paid for it in even more than cash — not to mention the near death experience.
Trying to get the conversation off her mind, she logged in online to search for education programs — anything to keep her busy and give her something to fall on after these twelve months were over. Only winter courses were available this late in the year.
Still, she found a few and decided to apply for the winter semester. For a moment, she wondered if she could do so, and decided she would.
A few hours later, she was racing to bring her daughter home. The anger from the conversation with Janaye was still lingering, but she tried her best to push it all aside. The chauffeur back at home had looked at her with reproach when she told him she would be driving herself, but she was done feeling useless.
