think twice a

ription, he gave the housekeeper a few clip

Island with her, letting the sea air do what medicine couldn't. Between the island and Crestview, Naomi bare

d. If Naomi had simply explained herself properly instead of sto

or his grandfather's insistence on keeping the marriage intact, Etha

any of this was goi

r the night. It wasn't until she was pulling ba

r out into the night air again so she tucked her daughter in, h

t rang again. Naomi pick

ame through, war

o be believed. Grandfather's been asking about you every day since the results came back.

t quiet fo

he beneficiary of the Blackwood Foundation's scholarship fund. Whatever warmth sh

ough. That was blo

e'd be nothing left in Crest

hough he couldn't see her. "

t not immediately. There was a divorce to finalize first, a

nothing else, would nev

ng tangled up in that f

linching that she was in the middle

usiness in Crestview anyway I'll be staying in the ar

ened, just slightly. She hadn't

said, warmer now. "I'll se

es north, in Ash

was already leaning forward in his chair,

of them hadn't been buried under quarterly filings that wee

mile. "She agreed. She wants to f

his granddaughter had never gone missing twenty-six years ago, none of this the wrong

riefed on the finer details, looked startled. "Does

r heiress. Sebastian Cole was infamous for his indifference to women in over a decade, barely a handful had ever been photographe

ed families like the Coles before. And so what if she is? Our

his mind. His eyes cooled. "Doesn't matter. Whatever happens

ly, almost darin

heir none of it means a thi

che. "She'll be back from Europe any day now, and she doesn't know yet. Vivian and Naomi are both our si

this family makes Naomi feel unwelcome again. N

ment had just been quietly shelved

ad breakfast with Lily, and took he

ed. She didn't say anything. She just watched her mother

keep their hair long. Grandma Blackwood, especially, had never once allowed it. Na

any

l and the salon chair, that her daughter's

's growing pile of soft curls on the floor. "You should've had this y

corrected her wit

nig

tylist laug

mething in her chest finally unclenchin

to a soft, wind-tossed halo, Nao

rd she hadn't even met the Sinclairs in person yet, and Lily's sch

stop to make: Blackwood Enterprises,

-in-law with no résumé, Ethan had quietly pulled strings to get her

rprises than anyone in that building is expecti

ually asked of Mrs. Blackwood was

accomplished a single thing worth

rce anyway, better to close t

eement herself, planning to print it and hand it to Ethan directly no

ing their morning, the Blackwood h

or the day. But Julian had always been a picky eater the only porridge he'd touch was the fresh fish p

ried three different versions that

d, pushing the bowl away. "H

underneath the sourness was a flicker

t. Cooking and looking after us is the one thing she's a

st as Ethan walked in, searching the closet

bowl, the tension in the room, and frow

Blackwood makes, sir. It's more complicated than it looks I've tri

ened in Ethan's

added, almost as an afterthought, "And ask her where sh

without question, excellent at taking care of the people ar

g for the fish porridge, the one you make. Would you be able to come back and