Still nothing.
No soft footstep. No rustle of dress fabric. No warning that Octavia is about to appear and make this whole room feel twice as dangerous. Just more waiting, more awareness of the quiet, more knowledge that every minute she stays upstairs is probably another minute spent trying to cover what I left behind last night.
Would Stephanie still be snapping pictures if she knew how long Octavia was taking because she was standing in front of a mirror trying to hide me?
The thought hits hard enough that I have to look away from the stairs and back to the watch just to stop myself from smiling at the wrong time.
Jacob notices that too.
His gaze follows mine to the staircase, then returns to me with that same unreadable calm that always makes it impossible to tell how much he knows and how much he’s simply choosing not to say.
“Nervous?” he asks.
The question sounds casual enough for Stephanie to hear only the surface of it. That is probably deliberate.
My thumb brushes the edge of the watch face once. “About chauffeuring three girls in heels?” I say. “Absolutely.”
Stephanie laughs. Jacob’s mouth shifts at one corner, just enough to suggest he finds me more amusing than he’s willing to admit in front of her.
The camera lifts again. Another flash. Another moment stolen before it has a chance to turn into something else.
The whole house feels suspended, polished into stillness while it waits for the night to begin. Upstairs, Octavia is still not coming down. Down here, her mother is smiling at me with no idea why her daughter is taking so long. Her father is watching me with the kind of patience that always feels half-earned. Outon the driveway, any minute now, two more girls are going to arrive and break the spell of all this waiting.
For now, though, it is just me in Jacob’s suit, standing at the foot of the staircase, trying not to look like every thought in my head is upstairs with her.
Stephanie drifts down the hallway still talking to herself about dead batteries, camera settings, and how nobody ever has the decency to stay in one place once they’re dressed properly. The second she disappears around the corner, the energy in the foyer changes.
Jacob steps closer.
Not enough to make it obvious. Not enough that, if Stephanie turned back too soon, she would immediately know something had shifted. But the space between us narrows just enough for it to become private.
Whatever he is about to say is meant only for me.
His expression loses some of its usual distance then. Not all of it. He is still Jacob. Still careful. Still the kind of man who seems to weigh every word before deciding it deserves to exist. But something softer comes through anyway, something quieter, but heavier than warning.
“Make her feel like a princess tonight,” he says. “She deserves it.”
The sentence lands with a force I don’t expect.
For a moment, all I can do is look at him.
Because that isn’t suspicion. It isn’t a threat. It isn’t even a loaded fatherly challenge disguised as kindness. It is trust, handed to me so simply that it almost feels more dangerous than if he had gotten in my face and told me not to screw this up.
Then he reaches out.
The handshake is brief and firm, the kind of clasp between men that says more than either one is willing to say aloud. Something small presses into my palm at the same time. A box.
Jacob lets go first. His face settles back into its usual composed shape immediately, as if the moment never happened, as if he didn’t just put something far more difficult than approval into my hand.
The realization comes slowly, but once it arrives it hits hard enough to leave me still.
He has accepted us.
Not everything, maybe. Not every detail of the past week, not every time I’ve touched his daughter like she was the only holy thing left in the world. But enough. Enough to have chosen silence. Enough to keep whatever he suspects to himself because, for reasons I still do not fully understand, he believes I am going to treat her right.
And the worst part is that he is right.
No matter how ugly the world gets around us, no matter what else comes for us, I will.
