He Hid Me for Twelve Years, Now the City Knows My Name novel · Chapter 13 of 24

Chapter 13: The Tin of Cards

The kitchen at the lake house had a long pine table, and Sylvia made me sit at the end of it with a cup of tea I hadn't asked for.

The housekeeper set a plate of shortbread beside it and went out without a word.

Sylvia lowered herself into the chair across from me and hooked her cane over the table edge.

Harrison stayed standing by the stove.

"Sit down, Harrison," Sylvia said.

"I'm fine."

"You're looming. Sit."

He sat, one chair away from me.

Sylvia pulled a flat tin from the sideboard, the kind that holds cookies at Christmas, and pushed it across the wood.

"Open it," she said.

Inside were twelve cards, each in its own cream envelope, each addressed in blue ink to Miss Kate, with a Chicago address I didn't recognize.

"That's Lorna's office," Sylvia said. "She told me you were so shy you'd rather the mail went through her. She said you'd answer when you were ready."

I opened the first one.

Come to supper on Christmas Eve, it said. There's a chair for you and nobody will make a fuss. Sylvia.

Clipped behind it was a typed reply on Ashdown letterhead.

Kate is so grateful, but she isn't ready to be seen. Please give her time. She sends her love.

"I didn't send my love," I said.

"I didn't think you had," said Sylvia. "You'd never have said it to a woman you hadn't met."

← Chapter 12 · All chapters · Chapter 14 →

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