I watched people come and go. Couples holding hands. Friends laughing over lattes. A mother helping her daughter choose a pastry from the display case.
Normal life. The kind I never thought I could have.
My phone buzzed. A text from Vance:How did it go?
I thought about how to answer.She didn't forgive me. But she heard me. I think that's all I could ask for.
Three dots appeared. Then:Are you okay?
Was I? The guilt wasn't gone—probably never would be. But something had shifted. I'd faced what I'd done. Heard the full weight of the pain I'd caused. And I was still standing.
Yeah,I typed.I'm okay. Coming home.
His reply was immediate:I'll be here.
Home.
The word settled into my chest. Warm. Certain.
On my way.
The last door had closed.
My family knew who I was. Elizabeth had closure. The tangled mess of my old life was finally, truly behind me.
When I walked back into Vance's apartment—our apartment—he was waiting in the kitchen.
"Hey," he said.
"Hey."
He crossed to me and pulled me into his arms.
"You okay?"
"Yeah." I pressed my face against his neck and breathed him in. "I'm okay."
For the first time in months, it was actually true.
Chapter 20
Vance
Several weeks after the wedding that wasn't.
I found Tobias in our apartment, surrounded by blueprints and site plans, his laptop open to what looked like 3D rendering software.
He had set up a workspace at the kitchen table, papers everywhere, coffee cups in various stages of cold. The focused intensity on his face reminded me of how he looked when he was cooking—completely absorbed, completely himself.
"Hey." He looked up when I came in, and his expression softened. "You're early."
"Slow day." I kissed the top of his head and glanced at the blueprints. "Is this the Grandview project?"
"The preliminary designs for the cottage renovation." He pulled up a rendering on his laptop. "Ronan wants to convert the old groundskeeper's cottage into a honeymoon suite. I'm trying to preserve the original stonework while modernizing the interior."
I studied the image. It looked good—elegant without being fussy, fitting the Grandview's aesthetic.
"Impressive."
