Page 42 of Terror at the Gates

Esther was cooking.

My stomach growled.

Gabriel raised a brow. “You eat today?”

“I had lunch with my dad,” I said.

“So no,” he said. He knew my father always ordered for me and how much I hated what he chose.

I had never learned to cook. My mother said it was our job to manage, not to execute. She hired chefs and made menus, but she’d never touched a frying pan in her life. When I moved to Nineveh, it was the first time I was responsible for not only feeding myself but also cooking. I’d burned a lot of food, but Coco and I were figuring it out together. Needless to say, I was always grateful for a good, home-cooked meal, and Esther never failed to deliver.

“Oh, it looks wonderful,” she said. I turned to look at her. She was wiping her hands on her apron, which accentuated the swell of her belly even more. She looked so cute, it physically hurt. “Will you hang the letters too?”

She opened a dresser drawer and pulled out a set that spelled Liam.

“Only if you tell me exactly how you want them,” said Gabriel.

Esther raised a brow. “What are you saying?”

“He’s saying you are picky,” I said.

Gabriel’s head whipped toward me. “Whose side are you on?”

I shrugged. “She’s going to feed me.”

“I’msayingI know you have conjured some kind of vision in that beautiful brain of yours, and I want to get as close to it as possible.”

Esther tilted her head back to hold his gaze.

“Just center them over the crib,” she said.

They smiled at each other and then kissed. I looked away, feeling like I was intruding on a private moment. I rarely yearned for partnership. I didn’t like the idea of answering to someone or having to make decisionswithsomeone, but when I witnessed the gentleness between these two, I thought maybe, if it was like this, I wouldn’t mind.

I pushed the feeling away quickly. It was a pointless desire. There wasn’t a single man in Eden who thought loving me was worth the threat of my father. It was in these moments I realized no matter how far I traveled, no matter how deep the break, I would never escape my family.

So what was I even doing?

“You all right?” Gabriel asked, nudging my shoulder. “You look a little lost.”

I met his gaze, relieved when my stomach growled loudly again.

Gabriel chuckled. “Let’s get these letters up so you can eat,” he said.

We set to work hanging them. By we, I mean that Gabriel did everything while I stood aside with the letters in hand, until he was ready for them. Once they were up, the nursery felt a little more complete, and I realized that the next time I visited, there would probably be an actual baby in here, which was a little hard to imagine even with Esther being so pregnant.

“Thanks for the help, baby girl,” said Gabriel as we left Liam’s room. “Couldn’t have done it without you.”

“He means wouldn’t,” said Esther. She was still in the kitchen but had set the table, which was decorated with eucalyptus and a mix of slender taper and pillar candles, all lit and dripping white wax. The plates were already piled with steaming food—pepper steak, mashed potatoes, and peas and carrots.

“Sit! There is bread in the basket and gravy in the boat,” said Esther, approaching with two bottles. “Would you like some wine, Lily? I have white and red.”

“Red,” I said. “But let me open it.”

Esther had already done so much, I could pour my own wine.

She handed me the bottle and a corkscrew. Once my glass was poured, I offered it to Gabriel, but he was in the middle of making himself a Jack and Coke.

“To Lily,” said Esther, lifting her glass when he finished. “Congratulations on your new job.”

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