Chapter 16
William gave Emma a bedroom overlooking the garden.
The first night, she slept on the floor beside Noah’s crib.
Nobody understood why until Rachel explained.
“Beds feel temporary to her.”
William stood in the doorway.
Emma had built a nest from blankets.
Noah slept beside her.
William did not move them.
The next morning, the mattress remained untouched.
The next night too.
On the third night, William found Emma sitting on the edge of the bed.
Progress.
He said nothing.
She looked up.
“Can I keep bread in the drawer?”
His chest tightened.
“Yes.”
“Even if it gets old?”
“Yes.”
“Even if there’s breakfast?”
“Yes.”
She studied him.
“You’re not mad?”
“No.”
Emma nodded.
Then put two wrapped rolls into the drawer.
William walked away before she saw his face.
Later, Rachel joined him downstairs.
“You can take the bread out once she trusts food will still exist tomorrow.”
William shook his head.
“No.”
Rachel frowned.
“She’ll stop eventually.”
“I know.”
“Then why?”
“Because the drawer is hers.”
Rachel looked at him for a long moment.
Then smiled faintly.
“Elena would have liked that answer.”
William looked away.
That still hurt.
He had lost his sister twice.
Once when Vincent pushed her out.
Again when she actually died.
He could not fix either.
But that night, Emma ate dinner beside him and asked for seconds without looking around first.
No one mocked her.
No one counted.
No one told her children ate last.
Noah slept through most of it.
Rachel laughed once.
William looked around the table.
Small.
Messy.
Incomplete.
Nothing like the Parker dinners Vincent had built.
Better.
For the first time, William understood why Elena had chosen Laurent’s.
May you like
She never expected him to save the past.
She only wanted him to stop repeating it.
