Chapter 1
“There is no ‘after we marry.’”
I closed Victoria’s fingers around the engagement ring and let go.
For several seconds she simply stared at her own fist.
Noah stood behind my leg with his face pressed against my jacket. Margaret had taken the remaining dessert plates from him, but his hands were still trembling as if he expected someone to put them back.
Around us, the garden had become silent.
Victoria finally whispered, “You’re ending our engagement over a chair?”
I looked at her.
“No.”
Then I glanced toward my son.
“I’m ending it because you already decided he would have no chair after you became my wife.”
Her expression changed.
There.
That sentence had landed too close to something real.
I crouched beside Noah.
“What did Victoria mean when she said Sophie comes first?”
He looked toward her and immediately lowered his voice.
“She says after wedding I don’t sleep upstairs.”
My entire body went still.
“What?”
Victoria interrupted.
“He’s confused.”
I raised one hand without looking at her.
Noah continued.
“She says Sophie gets my big room because she’s your new girl.”
Behind me, Margaret inhaled sharply.
I turned toward her.
“You knew?”
Her eyes filled.
“I knew Ms. Hale had been asking about his room. I didn’t know she had told him.”
Victoria snapped, “It’s a bedroom.”
“No.”
I stood.
“It is my son’s bedroom.”
Sophie had remained beside the children’s table throughout the confrontation. The nine-year-old looked less triumphant than frightened.
Then she spoke.
“Mom said Noah was going to live downstairs with Margaret.”
Victoria turned sharply.
“Sophie.”
The girl flinched.
I saw it.
So did Margaret.
I looked from Victoria to Sophie, then back to my son.
The chair had not been an impulsive act.
May you like
Victoria had been preparing both children for a new hierarchy.
And apparently she believed the wedding would give her the authority to make it permanent.
