Chapter 16 - The Kiss They Had Avoided
After Lily returned to bed, Ethan and Rosa remained in the east parlor.
Neither wanted to admit they were afraid to sleep.
The house was quiet.
Ethan sat on the piano bench.
Rosa stood by the window.
“You scared me tonight.”
Ethan looked at her.
“Me?”
“The way you looked when we couldn’t find her.”
He nodded.
“I thought someone had taken her.”
“So did I.”
“I kept thinking about all the years I didn’t know she existed.”
Rosa closed her eyes.
“And then I thought I might lose her before I really knew her.”
“You didn’t.”
“I know.”
Rosa turned.
“You love her.”
It was not a question.
Ethan looked toward the hallway.
“More than I knew I could love anything.”
Rosa smiled faintly.
“She does that.”
Silence returned.
Then Ethan said,
“I never stopped wondering about you.”
Rosa’s smile disappeared.
“Don’t.”
“I need to say it.”
“Why?”
“Because pretending otherwise feels dishonest.”
Rosa looked away.
Ethan continued.
“When I came back from London, I searched for you.”
She turned quickly.
“What?”
“I went to your apartment.”
“You were gone.”
“I called Columbia.”
“They told me you had withdrawn.”
“I thought you chose to disappear.”
Rosa stared at him.
“I thought you chose to disappear.”
“I know.”
They stood inside the tragedy of two people separated by a lie neither had created.
Ethan approached slowly.
“I was angry at you for years.”
“I was angry at you too.”
“I told myself you had used me.”
“I told myself I had imagined everything.”
Ethan stopped a few feet away.
“Did you?”
“No.”
Neither moved.
Rosa whispered,
“This is dangerous.”
“What is?”
“You.”
He smiled sadly.
“I think you’ve survived worse.”
“I’m serious.”
“So am I.”
Rosa shook her head.
“You canceled a wedding.”
“You discovered a daughter.”
“You uncovered what your father did.”
“You don’t know which emotions are real right now.”
Ethan accepted that.
“You’re right.”
Rosa looked surprised.
“So I’m not asking you for anything.”
He stepped backward.
“I just wanted you to know.”
Rosa stared at him.
Then she did something neither expected.
She crossed the space between them.
She kissed him.
It lasted only seconds.
Then she pulled away.
Both looked stunned.
Rosa touched her mouth.
“That was a mistake.”
“Probably.”
“Don’t smile.”
“I’m not.”
“You are.”
“I’m trying not to.”
She pointed at him.
“This changes nothing.”
“Absolutely nothing.”
“Ethan.”
“Nothing.”
She walked away.
At the doorway, she stopped.
Without turning, she said,
“I never stopped wondering either.”
Then she disappeared upstairs.
Ethan remained beside the piano.
For the first time since everything began, the future did not feel frightening.
It felt possible.
He had no idea that the following morning would bring the one person capable of tearing that possibility apart.
Victoria’s father.
May you like
Richard Haynes.
And he was carrying proof that Ethan’s father had not been the only Caldwell involved in destroying Rosa’s life.
