bChapter /bb92 /b

    Amber’s POV

    After kicking Julian out of the office, I had every reason to suspect that he had reconnected with Olivia, especially after Ca told me the two of them got into Julian’s rental car together. I fully believed he and Olivia were going to drive off into the sunset together and today was thest I’d ever see or hear from either of them.

    I didn’t have a clue how to feel about that.

    On one hand, that would be something of a relief, knowing Alice would be safe and I could raise her how I wanted. On the other hand, it would mean that everything he had said about being genuine would have been a lie.

    If he was gone, then he didn’t really want Alice to be a part of his life, he just wanted an heir. Now that Olivia was pregnant, he didn’t want Alice anymore and discarded her, just like he had cast me to the side all those years ago.

    I didn’t want to believe that Julian could be so callous with the heart of a child, but perhaps being with Olivia had changed him to be even colder than he was when he’d been with me.

    Even with my own upset, my biggest problem now was figuring out how I was going to tell Alice about any of this. She’d already taken to Julian like a father. Losing that connection now felt too cruel.

    At the end of the day, I returned home feeling defeated.

    No sooner had I set my purse down than there was a knock on the door. When I opened the door, the first thing I saw was flowers, a beautiful wildflower bouquet nearly as wide as the doorframe.

    The florist peeked overtop of the flower pedals.

    “Amber?” he asked.

    “That’s me,” I said, a little bewildered.

    “These are for you,” he said and handed them over. Somewhere under the mountain of flowers and stems was a vase. I held onto it now as I hobbled back a step into the house, careful to bring the flowers through

    the door.

    “Who are they from?” I asked, though I already had a suspicion.

    “There’s a card there, ma’am,” the florist said. He tipped his hat then turned to leave.

    Needing both hands to manage this massive flower arrangement, I kicked the door closed behind me and then maneuvered the vase into the kitchen and down onto the kitchen table.

    The flowers were indeed beautiful, of varying colors though mostly purples and greens, especially when

    they had room to spread out and weren’t scrunched up in someone’s arms.

    I searched for a card and found it tucked in the bouquet, practically hidden in the bloom.

    Grabbing the card, I opened it.

    bIt /bread simply, Wait. And was signed by Julian.

    Wait? What did he mean by that?

    Did he mean wait to go on the trip for our project? With him gone, the project was set to fall apart. The Thorn pack was the head backer, after all, and I needed his extra set of hands to see the work aplished.

    Somewhat foolishly, I wondered if he meant wait… before I tell Alice. Or wait, don’t get the wrong idea.

    I was more confused than ever before.

    Yet when the school bus dropped off Alice a few minutester, I was presented with a choice.

    Tell her that Julian had left us without word or exnation, or… wait.

    “Woah! Those flowers are huge!” Alice said, skipping into the kitchen. Her eyes were huge with childlike

    wonder and excitement. “Are they from Dad?”

    “They are from Julian, yes,” I said.

    She giggled. “I knew he liked us!”

    I clenched the note from Julian tightly and hoped I was making the right choice.

    “What do you want for dinner tonight?” I asked her. “Mac and cheese?”

    Per Julian’s request, I could wait. But only for a little while.

    Julian’s POV

    When I received an alert that my flowers had been delivered, I at least felt some relief. Gods knew what Amber must have been thinking. Anyone could have seen me driving off with Olivia, and word could have gotten back to her. And then there was everything that Olivia had told her, about being pregnant….