“Are you sure about this? Having him there?”
Her response was clear and firm. “Yes. Jake stays.”
Something warm unfolded in my chest at her words, a feeling I hadn’t experienced in years. Trust. She trusted me with this most vulnerable moment, with her daughter’s heart. It was a gift I didn’t take lightly.
A few minutes later, we gathered in my study—a room I rarely used, with its wall of bookshelves and the old leather chair that had been my grandfather’s. Nora sat between Ella and Mikhail on the small sofa, her hands wrapped around a mug of hot chocolate, while I took the chair opposite them.
“Am I in trouble?” Nora asked, looking between us with a mixture of curiosity and apprehension.
“No, sweetheart,” Ella assured her, smoothing a hand over her daughter’s hair. “You haven’t done anything wrong. This is about something else. Something I should have told you a long time ago.”
Nora’s gaze shifted to Mikhail, then back to her mother. “Is it about Mr. Mikhail?”
Ella took a deep breath, her eyes meeting mine briefly before she nodded. “Yes. It’s about him and your father.”
Nora set her mug down carefully on the side table, suddenly serious. “The one who died before Iwas born?”
“That’s what I told you,” Ella said gently. “But it wasn’t exactly true.”
Confusion crossed Nora’s face. “You lied?”
“I thought I was telling the truth,” Ella explained, her voice steady despite the emotion I could see building behind her eyes. “I believed your father had died. But I was wrong.”
Nora looked at Mikhail, really looked at him, her intelligent eyes taking in his features. I saw the moment understanding dawned—the slight widening of her eyes, the catch in her breath.
“Are you my dad?” she asked directly, her voice small but clear.
Chapter 19
Ella
Mikhail’s face softened as he leaned toward Nora. “Yes,” he said quietly. “I am your father.”
Nora stared at him, her eyes—so much like his—wide with wonder and confusion. “But Mom said you were in heaven.”
“I had to go away for a very long time,” Mikhail explained gently. “To keep you and your mother safe. I couldn’t tell anyone I was alive, not even the people I loved most.”
“Like a secret agent?” she asked, her imagination clearly working to make sense of this surprise.
Mikhail smiled. “Something like that.”
“Are you back forever now?” Nora’s question hung in the air, loaded with implications that she couldn’t possibly understand.
I felt my chest tighten as I looked between them—their first meeting as father and daughter. Jakecaught my eye from across the room, his expression carefully neutral but his eyes full of understanding.
“Will you be living with us?” Nora asked, her voice small but direct.
“Yes,” Mikhail answered immediately, reaching for her hand.
“No,” I said firmly, the word cutting through the room like a blade.
Three pairs of eyes turned to me—Nora’s confused, Mikhail’s surprised, and Jake’s watchful.
“Nora, sweetheart,” I said, keeping my voice gentle despite the anger building inside me. “Why don’t you take your hot chocolate to the kitchen? Kori mentioned something about cookies earlier. I need to talk to... your father... for a minute.”
She looked between us, sensing the tension. “Are you mad, Mom?”
“Not at you, baby. Never at you.” I smoothed her hair. “This is just grown-up stuff, okay?”
