Chapter 7
1604 Words
Seraphine’s POV
The first sign of trouble arrived at nine twelve that morning.
His name was Emery Voss. My son. And he had decided the first day of school was the perfect time to adopt a stranger.
I looked up from helping one of my students wrestle with a stubborn word and spotted Emery sitting cross-legged on the classroom rug next to Evan Crane-Ashford. Caden and Isolde’s son.
The two boys were surrounded by plastic dinosaurs. Emery was talking nonstop while Evan listened with the kind of fierce concentration usually reserved for life-or-death situations.
“…and then the T-Rex ate him.”
“No it didn’t.”
“It did.”
“No. Because a Spinosaurus is bigger.”
“A T-Rex is bigger.”
“Spinosaurus.”
“T-Rex.”
The argument went back and forth, but neither of them looked upset. If anything, they both looked thrilled.
I watched them for a second, shook my head, and went back to work. Kids were strange. Four minutes together and they’d already formed an alliance.
Four years with Caden Ashford and look how that had turned out.
The thought slipped in before I could stop it. I almost laughed. Apparently my four-year-old had better judgment about Isolde’s family than I’d ever had about my own.
The first day of any new term was always chaos. Parents lingered too long, children cried, and teachers tried to keep order while answering a dozen questions at once. Eventually the classroom started to empty as parents said their goodbyes and headed for the gates.
Everyone except Caden.
I could feel him before I even looked up. That awareness still irritated me. There was something deeply unfair about spending years married to a man and still recognizing his presence the second he walked into a room. I did not like that.
I glanced toward the back. Sure enough, he was still standing there, watching.
Not interfering. Just… watching.
I walked over. I didn’t know if that was a good idea.
“Parents aren’t supposed to stay inside the classroom.” I tried to keep my voice as casual as possible.
His mouth twitched. “I noticed.”
“Then why are you still here?”
“I was observing,” he said, the picture of innocence.
“No.”
“No?”
I pointed at the door. “The observation area is outside.”
For a second he looked suspiciously amused. “I see.”
“Good.”
“Are you always this strict?”
“Only with people who refuse to follow instructions.”
Something warm flickered across his face, but it vanished almost as quickly as it appeared. He nodded once.
“Understood.”
And then he left.
I stared after him. Annoyingly obedient.
The rest of the day passed in a blur. By the time the final bell rang, I was exhausted. Children spilled out of classrooms, parents arrived in waves, and teachers started mentally bracing for tomorrow.
I was outside helping with dismissal when I spotted Isolde. She collected Evan with a smile that looked a little too perfect from a distance. Evan glanced back at Emery and Luna before following her. My kids waved. He waved back, then disappeared toward the parking lot.
Problem solved.
Or so I thought.
Ten minutes later, I realized Caden was still there. Most of the other parents had already left.
I sighed and walked over. “Did you lose something?”
He turned toward me. “What?”
“You’re still here.”
A pause. Then, “How long have you lived in Millhaven?”
The question caught me off guard. “Why?”
“How long?” he pressed.
I considered brushing him off, but it didn’t really matter. “Four years.”
Something shifted in his expression. It wasn’t dramatic but I could tell his brains was working 50 miles a minute.
“Four years,” he repeated quietly.
“Yeah.” I shrugged. “And this surprises you?”
His jaw tightened. “Sera—”
“No.” The word came out sharper than I meant it to. I took a breath. “You divorced me. You signed the papers before I even walked into the room. You chose another woman. You ended our marriage long before I left Ironmoor.”
I wasn’t angry. Really. I was just genuinely tired.
I adjusted the strap of my bag and stepped around him. “I hope Evan enjoys the program.”
This time, I didn’t look back.
Dani was already waiting for me at Kevin’s café. She took one look at my face and winced.
“Oh no.”
I groaned. “How do you keep doing that?”
“Doing what?”
“Knowing.”
She looked mock-offended. “I’m an artist.”
“You run a café.”
“Same thing.”
I sat down and she immediately slid a slice of cake toward me. Effective bribery, as always.
I told her everything. By the end, Dani looked ready to commit murder.
“He said what?”
I nodded.
Dani stared at me, then at the wall, then back at me. “I’m asking this sincerely: Are Alpha wolves born stupid, or do they have to study for it?”
I laughed despite myself.
“See?” she said, pointing at me. “That was funny.”
“It really wasn’t.”
“It absolutely was.” She shook her head. “I would’ve said way worse.”
“I know. And I’m grateful for your restraint.”
“You should be more grateful.”
I smiled into my coffee. Somehow Dani could make almost anything feel manageable.
Dinner that night was loud, mostly because Emery had spent the whole day collecting dinosaur facts and was determined to share every single one.
“Evan knows seventeen dinosaurs.”
“Seventeen?” I asked.
“Maybe eighteen.”
“That’s impressive.”
“I know,” Emery said proudly.
Luna rolled her eyes. “He only knows twelve.”
Emery looked betrayed. “You counted?”
“Obviously.”
I bit back a smile. “Did you have a good day, sweetheart?”
Luna was quieter than usual. She pushed her vegetables around her plate for a moment before saying, “Evan looked sad.”
The table went still.
“What do you mean?” I asked gently.
She shrugged—one of those small, Caden-like gestures that always annoyed me when I noticed it. “He kept looking at the door. Like he thought something bad was going to happen.”
“Maybe he was just nervous,” I offered.
Luna didn’t look convinced. “I sat with him at lunch.”
My chest warmed. “That was kind of you.”
She shrugged again. “He looked lonely.”
Across the table, Dani made a suspicious choking sound. Kevin silently handed her a napkin.
The next morning, Caden was waiting outside the school.
Of course he was.
I stopped short. He straightened immediately.
“We need to talk.”
I considered turning around and driving home. Instead I sighed. “You have five minutes.”
We started walking along the path beside the school grounds. For a long moment, neither of us spoke.
Then he said, “I genuinely didn’t know you were here.”
I kept my eyes straight ahead. “Okay.”
“Things might have been different if I had.”
That stopped me cold. I turned to face him. “No.”
His brow furrowed. “No?”
“You don’t get to do that,” I said, folding my arms. “You don’t get to rewrite history. You didn’t lose me. You let me go. There’s a difference.”
The breeze moved through the trees around us.
“You made a choice,” I continued, my voice softening. “You made it over and over again. The room. The illness. The divorce. Every single time. I need you to stop talking about what might have happened.”
His eyes dropped for a moment, then lifted again.
Quietly, almost too soft to hear, he said, “I live with that every day.”
Something twisted in my chest. Not because I wanted to comfort him, but because I believed him. And that was the worst part.
Why would I even want to believe him?
The bell rang in the distance.
“Are you happy?” he asked suddenly.
I thought about Luna and Emery. About Dani and Kevin. About lesson plans and noisy dinners and beach sunsets. About the life I’d built from nothing.
For the first time, I didn’t hesitate.
“Yes.”
The answer hit him. His face stayed mostly composed, but I saw the pain flicker through it. Then he gave me a small, sad, genuine smile.
“I’m glad.”
I didn’t know what to say to that, so I turned and walked away.
---
When I stepped into my classroom, Raven Cole was waiting near the door. He glanced out the window toward the school entrance, where Caden was still standing, then back at me.
“Everything alright?”
I set my bag down. “Yes.”
He studied me for another second, not pushing, just checking. “Do I need to know anything?”
I smiled. “No.”
Raven nodded, then paused in the doorway. “Good. Because whoever that man is… he looked at you like someone who finally understands the value of what he threw away.”
And with that, he walked out, leaving me with absolutely nothing to say.
- Writer
