Chapter 10 - A Glimpse of the Family
Three days passed in an intoxicating blur of normalcy that none of us had ever experienced before.
I didn't return to the office. Marcus handled the deferred Wentworth acquisition via teleconference, and for the first time in corporate history, the CEO of Vance Capital attended a board briefing with a five-year-old child sitting quietly beside him, drawing superheroes on executive letterhead.
I moved Rosalind and the boys out of the hotel and into my private country home in Bucks County—a sweeping, sun-drenched stone estate surrounded by thirty acres of rolling hills, high security gates, and centuries-old oak trees. It was a fortress, but unlike the sterile high-rise penthouses of my youth, it was warm.
On Saturday afternoon, the winter sun broke through the gray clouds, melting the light dusting of snow across the back lawn.
I stood on the back terrace with a mug of coffee, watching Leo and Toby chase a golden retriever puppy I had adopted for them yesterday. The boys’ laughter carried across the frozen grass, bright and piercing. They were dressed in heavy, warm down jackets, thick wool beanies, and waterproof boots. They looked like two princes in exile finally returned to their kingdom.
Rosalind stepped out onto the terrace, wrapping a cashmere shawl around her shoulders. She leaned against the wooden railing beside me, smiling as Toby tumbled into the snow, the puppy immediately licking his cheek.
"He's never laughed like that," Rosalind said softly. "Neither of them have. They always had to be so quiet in the apartments. The landlords were always so quick to complain."
"They don't have to be quiet ever again," I said, shifting my coffee to my other hand so I could wrap my arm around her shoulder.
She leaned into my side naturally, resting her head against my collarbone. It felt as effortless as breathing, as if six years of pain had simply been a terrible nightmare we had finally woken up from.
"Christopher?" she murmured.
"Yeah?"
"What happens now?"
I looked down at her. "Now, we file the official acknowledgment of paternity on Monday. The lawyers have drawn up the paperwork. We enroll them in the best elementary academy in the state. And..." I hesitated, feeling my heart beat against my ribs with a nervous rhythm I hadn't felt since I was twenty-two. "And I hope, in time, you’ll let me take you on a proper first date."
Rosalind looked up, a soft, teasing smile playing on her lips. "A first date? We have two kids and a dog, Mr. Vance."
"Then we're doing it completely backwards," I chuckled. "Which means we have nothing left to lose."
She laughed—a sound so pure, so full of unburdened joy, that Toby and Leo stopped their game in the yard to look back at us, waving both hands over their heads. We waved back together, standing side by side as the sun dipped behind the tree line, painting the sky in strokes of gold and lavender.
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For a few fleeting hours, the world seemed entirely healed.
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