Chapter 3- Old Wounds
1285 Words
The morning sun filtered through gauzy curtains, spilling across the kitchen of Willow Lane farmhouse. Lily stirred a spoon through her coffee, though she hadn’t tasted a drop. The mug warmed her hands, but nothing soothed the tight knot in her chest.
Emily sat at the small table with a bowl of oatmeal, her curls bouncing as she sang softly to herself. At three, the girl could find music in anything the scrape of the spoon, the clink of the bowl, even the squeak of her chair on the wood floor.
“Mommy, after breakfast, can we go see the pond?” she asked between bites.
Lily managed a smile. “Of course, sweetheart. We’ll take some bread for the ducks.”
Emily clapped, delighted.
The doorbell rang.
Lily’s heart lurched. At this hour? Out here, neighbors didn’t usually stop by unannounced.
She rose slowly, wiping her palms on her jeans, and crossed to the door. Peeking through the curtain, she froze.
Ethan.
Tall, broad-shouldered, impossibly composed in his tailored navy shirt and dark trousers, he stood on the porch with his hand still poised from pressing the bell. The morning sun caught in his hair, highlighting the stubborn streak of silver at his temples.
For a moment, Lily couldn’t breathe. He looked like he belonged in a glossy magazine spread not on her porch, not on the edge of her fragile peace.
She cracked the door but didn’t open it wide. “What are you doing here?”
His gaze searched her face. “We need to talk.”
“Ethan—”
“Lily.” His voice was firm, almost desperate. “Please.”
Behind her, Emily called, “Mommy? Who is it?”
Ethan’s eyes flicked toward the sound, and Lily’s throat went dry. She stepped outside, closing the door firmly behind her before Emily could appear.
“You can’t just show up here,” she hissed.
“I had to.” His jaw clenched. “I saw her last night.”
Lily’s stomach dropped. “What?”
“Through the window,” he admitted. “I know I shouldn’t have been here, but I had to see for myself. And Lily…” His voice broke just slightly. “She looks like me.”
Lily’s hands curled into fists at her sides. “You have no right to”
“Don’t I?” His gray eyes burned into hers. “If she’s mine, then …”
“She’s not!” The words tore out before she could stop them. Too loud, too sharp.
The silence that followed was suffocating. Ethan’s expression hardened, but doubt flickered there too.
“You don’t sound sure,” he said quietly.
Lily wrapped her arms around herself. “Go back to your world, Ethan. The penthouses, the boardrooms, the endless deals. That’s who you are now. That’s where you belong. Not here. Not with us.”
“Us,” he repeated softly. “So you admit it”
“I admit nothing.” She tried to step back inside, but his hand pressed gently against the doorframe, stopping her. Not forceful. Just unyielding.
“Lily.” His voice was low, almost pleading. “I loved you once. Whatever went wrong between us, I need to understand. And if there’s even a chance that Emily is mine, I deserve to know the truth.”
Her throat ached. I loved you once too. Loved him so much it had nearly destroyed her.
But some truths had teeth. And if he knew, if he truly knew what would he do? Would he try to take Emily away? Would his powerful family sweep in, claiming rights Lily couldn’t fight?
“Go,” she whispered. “Please, Ethan. Just go.”
For a long moment, he didn’t move. Then his shoulders stiffened, and the tenderness in his gaze shuttered into something colder.
“All right,” he said, stepping back. “But I’m not leaving Cedar Grove. Not until I know the truth.”
He turned, striding down the porch steps toward the sleek black car parked by the fence. Lily’s chest rose and fell in jagged bursts as she watched him drive away.
Inside, Emily pressed her nose against the window. “Mommy, who was that man?”
Lily’s heart nearly broke.
That afternoon, Ethan paced the length of his hotel suite at The Cedar Inn, his mind a tangle of memories and questions.
Five years ago, Lily had walked away. No explanation. No goodbye. Just silence.
He had buried himself in work, expanding Langford Enterprises until it became a billion-dollar empire. But not a day had passed that he hadn’t wondered why she left. What he had done wrong.
Now, standing on the edge of revelation, he felt the ground shift beneath him.
If Emily was his, it meant Lily hadn’t just left him, she had left with his child.
A knock at the door jolted him from his thoughts. He yanked it open to find Marcus leaning casually against the frame.
“You look like hell,” Marcus observed.
“Thanks,” Ethan muttered.
Marcus stepped inside uninvited, dropping into an armchair. “So. You talked to her?”
Ethan pinched the bridge of his nose. “If you call slamming a door in my face talking.”
Marcus’s brows rose. “And the kid?”
Ethan sank onto the edge of the bed. “She has my dimple, Marcus. The same one my mother used to tease me about when I was a kid. She’s three years old. Do the math.”
Marcus whistled softly. “So she could be yours.”
“She is mine,” Ethan said fiercely. “I can feel it. I just don’t know why Lily’s keeping her from me.”
Marcus studied him carefully. “Are you sure you’re ready to dig into this? Secrets don’t stay buried in small towns. You stir up the past, you’d better be prepared for what comes out.”
Ethan met his gaze. “I’ve built an empire from nothing. I can handle the truth.”
Marcus leaned back, his expression unreadable. “Sometimes the truth isn’t about handling, Ethan. Sometimes it’s about surviving.”
That evening, Lily walked Emily down to the pond. The ducks clustered near the bank, quacking eagerly as Emily tossed pieces of bread into the water.
“Look, Mommy! That one’s greedy!” Emily giggled.
Lily smiled, though her chest felt tight. She crouched beside her daughter, watching the sunlight glint off the ripples.
“You know, baby girl,” she said softly, “sometimes people come back into our lives when we least expect them.”
Emily tilted her head. “Like the man this morning?”
Lily’s throat caught. “Yes. Like him.”
Emily tossed another piece of bread. “Is he nice?”
“He used to be.” Lily’s eyes clouded. “But sometimes, even nice people can hurt us.”
Emily considered this seriously, then reached up to pat her mother’s cheek. “I don’t want you to be sad.”
Tears burned behind Lily’s eyes. She kissed her daughter’s forehead. “I’ll do anything to keep you safe.”
As the sun dipped low, shadows stretched across the water. Lily gathered Emily’s hand, leading her back toward the farmhouse.
But when she glanced up the lane, her breath froze.
A black car was parked by the fence. Ethan stood beside it, arms crossed, watching them.
And this time, he wasn’t alone.
Beside him stood a woman in a sharp gray suit, her blond hair pulled back in a severe bun. She held a sleek briefcase and a clipboard.
Lily’s blood ran cold. A lawyer.
- Writer
