Page 17 of Keep This Promise
When we pull up the drive and park, her eyes meet mine, and they’re filled with—resignation and sadness.
“I’m not sure what to say,” I confess.
“I’m not either.” She turns to look at Eden, who is asleep in the back seat, bundled up in a blanket and winter coat. “I feel as though I lost everything in one moment, and I know for you, it must be a different set of emotions.”
Her loss is my gain, and even though I don’t want to feel that way, I do. I have a daughter, who I never knew existed, and now she’s here.
I’m not happy that Sophie has had to go through any of this, and I wish it could’ve come around differently, but I can’t stop thinking about the fact that there’s a little girl who I get to know because of it.
“I think we’re both overwhelmed and need a little time to figure things out.”
She laughs once. “I don’t know that time will change anything, Holden. We have a child together, I am homeless, without much money, and I’m questioning everything I thought I knew about myself.”
“What does that mean?”
Sophie turns away, wiping her cheek. “I don’t know who I am anymore. The life I’d built, the woman I was, is all gone in one moment. I am no longer married, and I was instructed that I can never return to anywhere I’ve been before. Not back to England or even France, where I spent only a few months after university. I cannot see family or friends. My life must be erased, or we could be killed. And why? I don’t know. Theo was a good man. He didn’t do anything but help people invest their money and get rich. So, why must my whole life change? Who am I if I can’t be that girl? How is it that our lives are in danger because of his choices?”
I let all of that sink in before offering, “Your husband must’ve known something about someone powerful.”
“I’m sure he did, butIdon’t. The only thing he ever asked of me was to attend parties and galas with him. That was the most I was involved. I had my own career, which is gone now as well.”
“What did you do?”
She shakes her head. “I was a painter.”
“Why can’t you paint now?”
“I will always paint. I will never be able to ignore the lure of a brush, but I can never sell it again—not as myself, at least.”
“Because?”
Sophie’s gaze turns to the maple tree on the right. “Because that girl has disappeared.”
ChapterSix
SOPHIE
Holden’s home is small but clean. It’s nothing like my flat in London. It was open and airy with white walls and modern appliances. Everything was maintained by our butler and housekeeper. The nanny came each morning to help with Eden while I went into my posh studio.
I loved our home. I loved that Theo ensured our every need was met, and I hate that it’s all gone.
It isn’t as if I believe I should have it all, I just never thought much of a life without it. Holden hauls our last suitcase into the spare bedroom, and I follow him in.
The room is adorable. It’s painted a lovely shade of light blue, and white curtains frame the windows. On the wall to the left is a queen-size bed, there is a dresser on the wall to the right of it, and the small planks of oak covering the floor look as if they’re the original hardwood.
It’s pretty, but not my home.
He scratches his neck and sighs. “I’ll get the back bedroom cleaned out in the next day or so. You can both stay here, or if you want to take my room, I’ll sleep on the couch.”
“There’s no need for that. Eden and I can stay here together. Thank you,” I say, truly appreciative for his kindness.
It’s quite unnerving to have a child with someone and not know them. If I were to pass him on the street, I might look twice because he’s attractive, but then I’d go on my way.
That thought makes me stop. I find him attractive.
After all the years of thinking that part of me had been erased, being near Holden has awoken it a little.
Well, I am not going to think about that because, as of now, we are staying in the same house together because my husband willed it so.
