He Hid His Secret Wife So I Stole His Sister's Boyfriend novel · Chapter 21 of 24

Chapter 21: The Floor

Jerome's POV

I slept on Dot's kitchen floor that night, and I didn't ask for anything else.

Linnea had the couch.

The nurse had the spare room, and Willa had her own bed upstairs.

At two in the morning the stairs creaked.

I lay with my eyes shut and heard her come down slowly, one hand on the rail, the way she'd come down every night since the fifth month.

She stopped at the bottom.

I heard her breathing for a long while.

Then something soft landed on my chest, and I opened my eyes.

It was the oatmeal-colored quilt from her bed.

Willa stood over me in her sleep shirt with her hair in her face.

"The floor's cold," she said.

"I've slept on worse."

"I know. I heard about the bench."

She stood there.

I wanted to say something.

I knew exactly what I wanted: stay here, come to bed, let me hold you.

But she had said my call, and she had meant it as a rule for me.

"Goodnight, Willa," I said.

She nodded and went upstairs, and I lay under the quilt with my chest tight and my face wet.

On Monday morning Tate's lawyer stood up in front of the same judge and withdrew the custody petition in nine words.

Nobody had to explain why.

The old man's friends on the bench had read the papers.

Margo's lawyer sent a letter that afternoon. Margo had resigned, left the state, and agreed to a court order to stay a hundred yards from Willa, Linnea and both babies, signed in her own hand.

Willa read it twice and put it in Dot's file.

"She'll honor it?" I said.

"She's a Winfield," Dot said. "She honors paper."

← Chapter 20 · All chapters · Chapter 22 →

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