Chapter 8 - CLARA RESIGNED
Eight months after the fire, Costello Manor reopened.
Not the same.
The nursery wing rebuilt.
Fire suppression upgraded.
Security reorganized under independent review.
Mercer’s people gone.
Victoria awaiting trial.
The twins thriving.
Oliver louder.
Owen still quieter.
Both crawling.
Both obsessed with Clara.
That became a problem when Clara handed Damian her resignation.
“No.”
She stared.
Damian closed his eyes.
Old habit.
“Why?”
“Better.”
He looked at the paper again.
Her mother’s treatment had stabilized.
Clara had saved enough.
She had been accepted into a pediatric nursing program she abandoned six years earlier.
“I want to finish.”
“You can study while working here.”
“No.”
“I can change your schedule.”
“No.”
“Tuition—”
“Damian.”
He stopped.
She smiled faintly.
“Congratulations.”
He looked miserable.
“Congratulations.”
“Thank you.”
Then his eyes moved toward the nursery.
“The boys.”
“They have you.”
“They have nannies.”
“They have people who love them.”
“They love you.”
Clara’s chest tightened.
“I love them too.”
“Then stay.”
There it was.
Not command.
Almost plea.
Clara sat.
“Do you want me here because they need me?”
“Yes.”
“Or because you do?”
Damian went still.
Honest question.
Dangerous.
“Both.”
She looked down.
“That’s why I need to leave.”
He flinched.
Not rejection.
Boundary.
“I have worked in your house.”
“Yes.”
“Lived on your land.”
“Yes.”
“Depended on your paycheck.”
“Yes.”
“If anything happens between us while all that is true, I will never know how free my answer was.”
Damian understood.
Slowly.
Painfully.
He nodded.
“Then leave.”
Clara looked up.
He added:
“I hate saying that.”
She smiled.
“I know.”
“The cottage remains available until your new apartment is ready.”
“Thirty days.”
“Ninety.”
“Forty-five.”
He sighed.
“Sixty.”
“Deal.”
She held out her hand.
Damian stared.
Then shook it.
On her final day, Oliver cried.
Owen cried because Oliver did.
Damian looked close to joining them.
Clara kissed both babies.
Then stood before Damian.
“Call if there is an emergency.”
“What qualifies?”
“Fever above what the pediatrician says.”
He looked offended.
“Nothing emotional?”
She smiled.
“You’ll survive.”
Then she walked out.
May you like
Damian let her.
That was one of the hardest things he had ever done.
