Limited Love novel · Chapter 22 of 24

Chapter 22: A Full Plate

He opened the study door before my knuckles touched it the second time.

He was in an undershirt with his hair on end and a hand pressed flat to his stomach.

I held out a mug.

"Ginger tea," I said. "With honey. Drink it all."

He looked at the mug, and at me.

"Eileen, you said..."

"Thirty days. I haven't forgotten."

I put the mug in his hand and turned around.

"Goodnight."

I did not look back, but I heard him standing in the doorway until I closed my own door.

On Sunday, the Higginson estate set the long table in the dining room for eight.

Eleanor had ordered a roast, which she called a peace offering, and she had been giving orders since noon.

My mother brought a pie and held it in front of her.

Maisie came last, in a green dress, with a bouquet of white tulips big enough to hide behind.

"I'm only here for the food," she announced to the hall. "And to watch him eat in front of your father."

"Maisie."

"It's a hobby."

My father arrived in his good jacket, the one from my wedding, and he stood in the middle of the marble hall and looked up at the ceiling.

"Chester," Chadwick said, from the foot of the stairs. "Could I have a word? In the study."

"Alone?"

"If you'd like."

My father was quiet a moment.

"I would," he said.

They went down the east corridor, side by side, and the door of the old study closed.

I waited a moment.

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