Chapter 197
Claire’s POV
The picture haunted me down to my bones, but it wasn’t the only thing in the box. While I gawked at it, Gideon peered through the rest. He pulled out a small softcover notebook. Written across the front was the word, Diary.
It could have belonged to my uncle, though he didn’t seem the journaling type. Even if he was, I doubted he would pick a notebook that was covered in pictures of soft lavender flowers.
In my gut, before even having any other confirmation, I was certain this diary belonged to my mother.
Gideon opened it, read the first page, then looked at me.
At once, the picture I held was mostly forgotten, and I needed that diary instead. Gideon saw the urgency in my eyes, he traded the diary with me for the picture and then placed the picture back in the box.
Holding the diary in both of my hands, I felt a strange sort of melancholy. How many times had my mother held this book in this exact same way? It was the smallest kind of connection to share with Lena, and yet I was still sharing it. That meant something.
It meant something to me.
As helpful and friendly as the regulars in this bar had been, this connection felt like a private thing. I didn’t want to read my mother’s writing with the hint of cigarette smoke tickling my throat with some of the bar patrons peering over my shoulder.
They knew Daniel, not Lena.
I wanted whatever was in here to be read by my eyes only.
“Thank you,” I said to Eric, who had held onto these items out of his friendship with Daniel, to give to me know. “Thank you so much.”
He seemed relieved now that his task was done. As he nodded, there was a smile on his face. “I’m glad to have helped him in the end. Moon Goddess watch over you and your family.”
“And you,” I said.
Gideon shook Eric’s hand, and then we walked out.
Outside, Gideon placed his hand on the small of my back leaned into the gentle pressure, depending on it in a way that I wasn’t thinking about in this moment.
“Where should we go?” he asked.
“Back to the hotel. I want to read this in private.”
He watched me. “With me there? Or…”
“I’m sorry,” I said. “This is something between me and my mom…”
I worried for a moment that he wouldn’t und d
That was unnecessary.
“I want to be here for you,” he said. “But I will give you space.”
“I know you will be there if I need you,” I said.
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Chapter 197
“Just down the hall,” he promised. Worry darkened his eyes, but I could see that he was trying to respect my wishes, and that meant so much. Unlike other Alphas, he wasn’t trying to steamroll my feelings to get his own way.
Instead, he was giving me all that I asked for while still making sure I knew he cared.
My heart ached for him and the mating bond thrummed. I tried to ignore it.
Right now, I needed to read this book, to grow closer to my mother, and maybe to find out what had happened at the end of her life from her own eyes.
At the door to my hotel room, Gideon leaned in and kissed me softly on the cheek. He didn’t say a word but he didn’t need to. He’d already promised. I knew where he would be.
I took his hand and squeezed it, wordlessly giving my thanks. Then I let him go and entered the room, closing the door behind me. Gideon held my gaze until the door separated us. I locked it, then went to sit on the edge of my bed.
After a deep breath to steady myself, I opened the diary.
My mother wrote in cursive with large loop and flowing letters.
I started reading.
Lena’s POV
June 25
I can’t believe my luck! The best thing ever happened to me, and I can scarcely believe it even now. I met the man of my dreams, an Alpha no less!
I had been ready to be miserable during the ball. I was certain my family had only been invited out of pity, as many times as my mother tried to convince me it was some kind of honor for our family, because my father had done well in the war.
Father, was gone now. Mother, Daniel, and I were all that were left. None of us had anything to wear to such an occasion, and hardly knew how to act at one.
To my great mortification, the ball started as I suspected, with all the lords and ladies whispering about us to each other.
didn’t
They gave us all snide glances that made us feel like belong.
But then he appeared.
George.
He took my hand and danced with me all night. I swear he stole my heart in those moments, and after, when I said, “Thank you. By dancing with me, you saved my family from mockery.”
“While I am pleased to have defended you, I must confe
“It isn’t?”
that isn’t the only reason I did so.”
He lifted my hand to his lips and kissed my knuckles. “You are the most beautiful woman I have ever laid eyes on. I must know everything about you.”
We talked all night and I told him everything. Then he kissed me.
I don’t think my life will ever be the same.
July 3
I have seen George every day since our dance and I have only fallen more and more in love. Maybe this is a whirlwind that
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