Samantha rocked in place, her voice low. “She knows where she’s safe.”
He left without another word, but the air in the house felt sharper afterward.
The next morning, Mrs. Keaton noticed. “She only rests with you,” she murmured, almost to herself.
That night, they tried again—Mrs. Keaton first, then Charles. Grace screamed until her voice was hoarse. When Samantha appeared in the doorway, the child reached for her.
By the third night, Charles was outside the nursery, listening. No cries, only a faint humming. He knocked. Samantha stepped into the hall.
“I owe you an apology,” he said.
Samantha studied him. “Grace doesn’t care about the Prescott name. She just needs to feel warmth.”
“I know,” he admitted. “She doesn’t sleep unless she feels safe.”
“You’re not the only one who needs that,” she replied.
His gaze faltered. “I hope you’ll stay. For her.”
“For her,” Samantha repeated. She didn’t trust him—not yet—but Grace did. That was enough.
The following day, Samantha moved through the rooms with a quiet focus. She wasn’t here for Charles’s approval. She was here for Grace. Upstairs, the baby slept peacefully, one tiny fist above her head.
Samantha’s own childhood memories pressed in—the times she’d been told she was meant to serve, not to hold. But Grace clung to her as if she’d been waiting her whole life.
That afternoon, Charles appeared in the doorway, not in his tailored suit but in a soft sweater, holding a small knitted blanket.
“This was mine,” he said awkwardly. “Thought maybe she’d like it.”
Samantha took it and draped it over Grace. The baby stirred, opened her eyes. She didn’t cry. Instead, she watched her father quietly, as if weighing something.
Without thinking, Samantha guided his hand to rest lightly on the child’s back.
They stayed like that for a while—three people in a warm, still room, bound not by obligation or bloodline, but by the fragile beginnings of something that might one day be called trust.
And for the first time since Samantha had arrived, the Prescott house didn’t feel cold at all.
