Chapter 16
Sixteen
Sabine
Coffee in hand, I knock on the door next to the guest bedroom.
“Come in,” Astor yells from the other side.
The room is no larger than a walk-in closet. Cillian is sitting behind a built-in desk that lines one side of the room, and Astor is sitting on a bench seat under a window, balancing a laptop on his lap. The scent of fresh paint lingers in the air and I assume they’d recently renovated the space into a temporary office.
Cillian’s over-six-foot frame dwarfs the desk. He looks both comical and uncomfortable.
“Excuse me,” Astor says to Cillian as he rises from the bench. He grabs my hand and kisses me on the forehead. “Good morning, beautiful.”
I blush, while secretly loving the display of affection in front of Cillian.
He motions me outside the room and closes the door behind us.
“How are you? Is everything okay?”
“Yes. Just wanted to say hi.”
“How did you sleep?”
“Well, actually.”
We step outside onto a small patio and follow the cobblestone pathway to the cliff, and away from prying eyes.
The sun dances on the ocean below us and there’s a light breeze in the air. Back in Louisiana it’s probably already eighty degrees. Here it’s barely seventy.
We both drag in a deep inhale, clearing our lungs of the darkness in the house behind us.
“I have news,” he says, turning to me.
“Good or bad?”
“Good. I spoke with my attorney today. We’re going to begin the process of untangling everything in preparation for a divorce. He’s putting together a whole team to deal with it all. I have a conference call with everyone next week.”
I can’t hide my surprise.
“How do you feel about that?” He asks, eagerly with a hint of desperation in his voice.
Astor is doing everything he can to keep me happy and make me comfortable in this crazy situation we’ve found ourselves in.
“I feel good about it—very good.”
He smiles broadly and he brushes a strand of hair behind my ear. “Okay, good. But I do want to add—when Valerie was in the hospital, I made a promise to her that I would take care of her; that I would be there for her. It’s important to me to honor that, but I can do it without being legally married. She’ll have me and a medical team at all times.”
“I understand, and I’m okay with that.”
He sighs, his eyes trailing my face as if he never wants to forget a line of it. “God, I love you. I know this is hard, and it’s going to be a long process, but we took a big step today.”
I smile. “One at a time, right?”
“Exactly. Oh. And Cillian and I walked the grounds today and there’s a spot we could build a little house in the interim for you to live in if it gets that bad.”
“Are we going to be here that long?”
“I don’t know. I’m just trying to think of anything I can do to make you more comfortable. I just . . .” his expression falls, “I don’t want you to leave again.”
“I’m not going anywhere. I promise.” I chew on my lip. “So. Are you going to tell her? About us?”
“Not until she’s more stable.”
I nod. After seeing Valerie rocking back and forth in the dirt last night, I understand.
“Oh,” he says, “and, before I forget, there’s a new nurse coming today. She’s going to stay overnight to help with Valerie, and Jackie will come by daily.”
“I just met Jackie.”
Astor smiles warmly. “Thoughts?”
“I’m not sure yet?”
“She can seem abrasive at first, but she’s competent and knows Valerie’s situation well.”
“Then it sounds like she’s a good woman to have on your side.” I look around the gardens. “I was thinking. Since I’m technically the housekeeper,” I roll my eyes with a smirk, “I wouldn’t mind pulling my weight and doing things outside the house, like working in the garden. I don’t like being inside.”
“Hell, me either. I’ve spent many hours working from the back patio. I think that’s a great idea.” He glances at his watch. “I have meetings this morning and this afternoon, then I thought we could take a drive down the shore, have early drinks and dinner on a patio somewhere.”
It takes everything I have not to jump up and down with delight.
“Like a date?” I smile.
“Yes.” He runs his fingers through my hair.
“As long as this one doesn’t end with you beating a man to a bloody pulp because he flirted with me, I accept.”
Astor winces. “I promise that won’t happen again. I’m working on myself so that I can be the man you need me to be. I’m determined to be better, and also determined to never lose you again.”
Leo appears in our peripheral vision. He strides down the side of the house, then disappears down the stairs that lead to the shoreline.
“He’s so serious.”
“He’s focused. Exactly what you want in a security detail.”
“Okay, go manage your billions, Daddy Warbucks. I’m going to go play make-believe.”
“Make-believe housekeeper?”
“Exactly.”
He leans, a spark of heat in his eye. “You know, I was thinking we could get you a uniform and one of those feather dusters?—”
“It’s already in my Amazon cart—have you met me?”
He throws his head back with a laugh. “I love you.”
“Me too. Go.”
An hour later, I’m on my hands and knees in the garden, pulling weeds and clipping dead leaves. I’ve been enjoying the sunshine and fresh air so much that I’ve almost forgotten where I was. Until suddenly, I get the feeling someone’s watching me.
I sit back on my haunches and look over my shoulder.
Valerie, in her white nightgown, ghostly pale skin, and ice-white hair, is standing in front of the window. Though her silhouette is blurred from the reflection of the sun, there’s no question it’s her, and she’s looking right at me.
My gaze flickers toward the direction of Astor’s office. When I look back at the window, she’s gone.
I blink. Another silhouette appears in the window. The nurse, Jackie, squints into the sun, before finding me in the garden. Then, she yanks the curtains closed.
I frown at the window wondering if I imagined it. Just like if I imagined seeing a shadow pass by the bedroom last night while Astor and I were having sex.
A tingle of awareness sends a chill up my spine and, somewhere in the back of my mind, I get the sick feeling that Valerie is far more lucid than she’s led Astor to believe.