Discarded Housewife, Chosen by Her Protector novel · Chapter 16 of 24

Chapter 16: Five Galas

Ronan lit the woodstove in the front room and did not sit down.

The twins were asleep upstairs with the Beta's wife on the landing outside their door.

I stood in front of the fire with my coat still on.

"Tell it," I said.

"The night I left Spokane, I didn't go home," he said. "I drove to Portland."

I stared at him.

"Ansel's address was in the Conclave book. I found your street at two in the morning, and I parked across it with the engine off."

"You sat outside my house."

"Until it was light." His mouth twisted. "I'm not proud of it. I told myself I only wanted to see where you lived."

"What did you see?"

"At six the kitchen light came on," he said.

"You came to the window in a bathrobe with a toddler on your hip."

"You were laughing, because the other one was throwing oatmeal. I could hear you through the glass."

I remembered that morning.

I remembered the oatmeal on the ceiling.

"You looked happy," Ronan said. "I'd have broken my own legs before I took that from you. So I started the truck and I drove home."

"That's what you did the night you left."

"That's the night," he said. "It isn't all of it."

He took a breath.

"Crestline's gala has a guest list, and a tenant farm that supplies their oats."

"I leased that farm on purpose. Every spring they invited the owner, and every spring I went."

"You came to the galas."

"Five of them." He almost smiled. "I'd stand at the coat check for ten minutes, close enough to catch your scent in the crowd. Then I'd leave before the toast."

"The girl at the coat check."

"Thought I was a thief," he said. "She watched me for five years."

I began to laugh, and the laugh broke in the middle.

"I thought you pitied me," I said.

"I thought a good man saw a woman thrown away, and felt sorry, and did his duty."

← Chapter 15 · All chapters · Chapter 17 →

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