Chapter 4 - Daddy Doesn’t Know the Rules
Ethan canceled every meeting the following morning.
At breakfast, Avery stared at him suspiciously.
“Why are you here?”
Ethan lowered his coffee.
“I live here.”
“You usually leave.”
Clara nearly dropped the plate she was carrying.
Ethan looked at his daughter.
“That’s fair.”
Sophie pushed strawberries around her plate.
“Are you sick?”
“No.”
“Did your work close?”
“No.”
Avery leaned toward Sophie.
“Maybe he got fired.”
Ethan almost smiled.
“I own the company.”
“So?”
Clara turned away to hide her laugh.
Ethan noticed.
“Something funny, Miss Bennett?”
“Absolutely not, Mr. Whitaker.”
“Clara thinks you got fired too,” Avery announced.
“Traitor,” Clara whispered.
For the first time in months, breakfast felt normal.
Then thunder rolled outside.
Sophie froze.
Her fork fell.
Ethan immediately stood.
“It’s only thunder.”
Clara closed her eyes.
Ethan realized his mistake.
Sophie’s breathing accelerated.
He crouched beside her.
He remembered Clara’s words.
Don’t explain.
Stay.
“I’m right here.”
Sophie looked at him.
Another thunderclap shook the windows.
She reached for Clara.
Then stopped.
Slowly, she reached for Ethan instead.
He took her hand.
“Do you have to go to work?” she whispered.
“Not today.”
“Tomorrow?”
Ethan glanced at Clara.
“Maybe for a little while.”
Sophie nodded.
“But you come back?”
“Every time.”
Avery spoke from across the table.
“Mommy didn’t.”
The room became silent.
Ethan’s throat tightened.
For two years, he had avoided conversations exactly like this.
Not today.
He sat beside Avery.
“No.”
Her eyes filled.
“She didn’t.”
“Did she want to?”
“More than anything.”
“Then why didn’t she?”
“Because something happened that she couldn’t control.”
Avery looked down.
“Was it because I was bad that morning?”
Ethan stopped breathing.
“What?”
“I didn’t hug her goodbye.”
Clara covered her mouth.
Avery whispered, “I was mad.”
Ethan moved immediately.
He knelt in front of his daughter.
“Look at me.”
She wouldn’t.
“Avery.”
Slowly, she raised her eyes.
“Your mother’s accident had nothing to do with you.”
“But—”
“Nothing.”
His voice cracked.
“You could have screamed at her that morning. You could have refused breakfast. You could have been the most difficult little girl in Texas.”
Avery sniffed.
“I’m probably already that.”
Ethan laughed despite the tears burning his eyes.
“You’re close.”
She smiled weakly.
He pulled her against him.
“You didn’t make Mommy leave.”
Sophie climbed down and joined them.
Clara quietly walked toward the doorway.
Ethan looked up.
“Clara.”
She stopped.
“Stay.”
Clara hesitated.
Then she sat on the floor with them.
Four people beneath a kitchen table during a Texas thunderstorm.
For Ethan Whitaker, it was the most important meeting he had attended in years.
But across Houston, Patricia Hale was not finished.
May you like
And Ethan’s enemies had begun asking why the woman who had enjoyed unrestricted access to his estate had suddenly been thrown out.
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