Chatper 144


    Chapter 144


    Once upon a time. Natalie recalled being just like Nate, stubbornly waiting for Brian who hadn’te


    home on time. No matter how much Sadie tried to convince Natalie, Natalie would insist on waiting just


    a bit longer for him to join us for dinner, toe to bed and rest together.


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    Back then, Brian was always busy.


    Perhaps it was more urate to say he was perpetually caught up in a whirlwind of work.


    But in those days, even if Brian exchanged just a few words with Natalie at the dinner table, or said


    “Goodnight” and told her not to stay up toote with her book, she’d secretly be thrilled for hours.


    Looking back, it was like searching for sugar in a pile of shattered ss.


    A cool breeze wafted in, carrying the faint scent of wilting roses and the robust aroma of the gardenias,


    a surprisingly pleasant yet piercing fragrance.


    “Nate, are you cold?” Natalie asked, breaking the silence.


    Nate


    e sprang up from the ground, dashed over to where Natalle was, and snuggled into her embrace, his


    little hands chilly to the touch.


    “Shall we go inside? There’s pineapple shrimp on the menu tonight,” Natalie coaxed, a blend of fibs


    and enticement that finally got Nate to head back inside with me.


    Nearing eight o’clock, Brian and Reid still hadn’t called.


    Sadie had wanted to surprise them, so she refrained from calling to check in, but now it seemed they


    wouldn’t being home tonight.


    “Let’s eat. Nate is starving.” Natalie said to Sadie after a long silence.


    “But I prepared so much food…” Sadle hesitated.


    “We’ll enjoy it together, it’s all the same.” Natalie cut in before she could finish. “He must be busy. Let’s


    not wait up or disturb him.”


    Nate looked a bit downcast. Without both Mom and Dad, it just didn’t feelplete But thankfully, this


    was the first birthday he was spending with Natalie.


    By the time they finished dinner, it waste. Natalie took Nate straight upstairs to rest.


    Until just before sleep, Nate was still asking, “Is Daddy back yet?”


    “Nate, by the time you wake up in the morning, he’ll be back,” Natalie soothed tenderly.


    Madelyn awoke to see Brian on the balcony, staring at hisptop screen with a furrowed brow.


    Brian had always had that irritable demeanor and grumpy face. Strangely enough, she didn’t


    Chapter 144


    know why she had fallen for him when Robert was nothing but sweetness and attentiveness.


    Feelings were strange. No one could really say what was right or wrong. When you liked someone, you


    just did.


    Since Madelyn was five or six, she had liked Brian, dreaming that one day she could marry him and


    be his wife. Now at twenty–eight, that belief hadn’t changed. Madelyn still wanted to marry him.


    If Natalie hadn’t appeared so suddenly, maybe she’d be Brian’s wife by now.


    Madelyn could never forget her graduation day from the Institute for Film and Media Studies. Brian and


    Robert were supposed to pick her up and give her an unforgettable celebration.


    But that day, Brian didn’t show, only Robert did.


    Madelyn ran to the Howard family, determined to confront Brian about breaking his promise, only to


    witness a scene she’d never forget.


    “Does it hurt?” Brian sat on the steps of the Howard family’s ancestral home, with Natalie. nestled in his


    arms.


    He took the antiseptic and bandages from the butler and personally tended to the scrapes on Natalie’s


    thigh and knee.


    Natalie, in pain, involuntarily tried to retract her leg, but Brian held her in ce, not letting her ΠΟΥΑ


    Tears rolled down Natalie’s cheeks from the pain. Brian leaned down, kissed away the tears, and


    cooed, “Honey, it’ll be all better once it’s clean.”