Charlotte watched the transformation in Edward as he listened—grief still there, yes, but threaded now with warmth instead of iron restraint.
“She had a way of … altering a room,” Edward said quietly. “You would think nothing had changed. And yet it had.”
Charlotte’s gaze lifted—and found his already on her.
The look he gave her was not polite. Not distant.
It was unbearably gentle. Too gentle.
Her breath caught. Heat rose to her cheeks before she could prevent it. She remembered the forest—his hand at her waist, the steady strength of him holding her upright, the way his thumb had flexed once before he released her.
Julian clapped his hands suddenly. “We must play!”
Charlotte startled. “Now?”
“Yes. Before Papa pretends to have work again.”
Edward arched a brow. “I do not pretend to have work.”
Julian was already halfway from his chair when his sleeve caught on the edge of a small side table. A delicate porcelain figurine toppled—Eleanor’s porcelain swan, Charlotte remembered, placed there earlier that afternoon.
It struck the floor.
The sound was small. The crack was not.
Julian froze.
Edward was on his feet in an instant.
“What were you thinking?” The words came sharper than intended. “You must watch where you—”
Julian’s lip trembled. “I didn’t mean to—”
Edward stopped.
He saw it then—not just the broken swan, but the way Julian had gone pale, the way his shoulders had drawn inward.
And beneath that, something far more fragile.
Life had shattered once in this house already.
He closed his eyes briefly. When he spoke again, his voice was different.
“Porcelain breaks,” he said, crouching to gather the pieces. “It is what it does.”
Julian sniffed. “Mama liked that one.”
Edward’s hand stilled over a shard. He swallowed once. “Yes. She did.”
He set the pieces carefully aside.
“But porcelain is not the only thing that matters,” he continued quietly. “And it is not the most important.”
Julian looked at him uncertainly.
Edward reached out and drew him close—fierce, unguarded. “You are,” he said simply. “Do you understand me?”
Julian nodded into his father’s coat.
