The Don's Wife Never Looks Back novel · Chapter 11 of 32
Chapter 11: St. Agnes
The dormitory at St. Agnes was empty except for the iron bed frames.
The mattresses were gone.
The radiator under the window still knocked, the same slow knock I'd fallen asleep to at seven.
The old sister stood beside me in a gray cardigan and sensible shoes.
She was seventy-nine, small and straight, with a cane she didn't seem to need.
Nathaniel waited by the door with his hands in his coat pockets.
He'd driven me down at eight without being asked.
"This was yours," the sister said, and touched the third bed from the window with her cane.
I put my hand on the cold iron.
"And this one?" I touched the fourth bed, nearer the window.
"That was Livia's."
I'd known it at the grave.
Hearing it still went through me.
"She came back to us at nine," the sister said. "She'd been adopted as a newborn by a family on the Northwest Side. When she was nine the mother died, and the father brought her back here with one suitcase and drove away."
"Brought her back," Nathaniel said quietly from the door.
"It happens. More than you'd think." The sister's mouth went thin. "She was a fierce little girl. Very clever. She did the younger ones' braids. She held their hands when they cried."
"She held mine," I said. "The night before Mama came."
"I know. I saw her do it."
The sister walked to the window.
The yard below was full of dead leaves and a rusted swing set.
"Your mother came on a Saturday. She sat with you in the parlor for two hours. You showed her every drawing you'd ever made." She almost smiled. "Houses. Always houses."
"I remember the parlor."
"When she was leaving, Livia came down the stairs in her good dress. She'd put it on herself. She walked right up to your mother in the front hall and said, 'Pick me. I'm older. I can cook. I won't be any trouble.'"
Keep reading free with an account. Start The Don's Wife Never Looks Back from Chapter 1, then sign up free to read the rest of this chapter.
← Chapter 10 · All chapters · Chapter 12 →
Want to keep talking to characters like these? Chat with AI romance characters: AI Boyfriend · AI Girlfriend · Dark Romance · Fantasy Romance · BL (Boys’ Love) · Billionaire Boyfriend · Mafia Boyfriend · Possessive Boyfriend · Hockey Boyfriend · Older Boyfriend · K-Drama Boyfriend · Anime Boyfriend · Vampire Boyfriend · Werewolf Boyfriend · Demon Boyfriend · Fae Romance · GL (Girls’ Love) · Anime Girlfriend · Goth & Alt Girlfriend · Gamer Girlfriend · Tsundere Girlfriend · Fantasy Girlfriend