Chapter 183

Cara’s POV

Two months later, I opened my front door to the sound of a knock, only to find a familiar florist holding up another bouquet of flowers.

“I thought you might be tired of all the roses,” she said. “So I switched it up with our spring flower special.”

The bouquet was filled with flowers of all shapes and sizes, though all united in their soft pastel colors.

“It’s beautiful,” I told her, “And very thoughtful. Thank you.”

“You are very welcome,” the florist said, beaming at her decision being well received.

After accepting the flowers, we went our different ways, her walking back to her delivery van, with me turning into the foyer.

“More flowers?” Ethan asked with more exacerbation than surprise.

After receiving a dozen roses every day for two months, practically every surface of our house was covered with them.

“Different this time,” I said, showing him.

He snorted and turned away.

Mia however seemed more interested. “Those are pretty, Mom. Can I have them in my room?”

“Of course,” I told her and carried them up to her room. She made some space on her dresser, pushing aside a few stuffed animals. She already had some roses here too, but there was room now for these new ones.

After setting them, I snatched the card from among the bloom and headed out of Mia’s room. She stayed to admire the flowers, taking turns scenting each one.

In the hallway, I flipped open the note and read the writing inside.

Yours, Alaric.

The note was written in the florist’s handwriting, a message given over the phone. The same message accompanied every bouquet since the start, two months before.

It was a sweet gesture, even if the sheer number were somewhat of a nuisance now. Even so, I would never ask him to stop sending them. It was something to look forward to each day, as well as a reminder that Alaric still wanted to be in my life.

We hadn’t reconciled since I had asked him to leave two months ago. He still called often, mostly to speak with the children, and he had been up a few times to see them, while carefully avoiding me. The children had also been down to see him, coming to think of his main estate near the capital as their second home.

Truly, I missed him, but I had no way of conveying that to him, not without undoing all that I had done. Being cruel to him had hurt us both, but it had been a necessary evil. Because of this, he had decided to stay full time at DuskWood.

I watched the news. I could tell the pack was thriving.

Another knock on my door brought me back downstairs. This time, another expected guest, Ruby, here for my daily guided meditation.

“I just missed the florist,” she said. “Another bunch of roses?”

“The spring special, this time, though that was the florist’s choice, not Alaric’s.”

“She must be running out of roses by now,” Ruby joked.

“I don’t know, I think Alaric might be keeping her in business all on his own,” I said.

“Business is booming,” she said. “Or blooming.”

It was a bad joke so I groaned instead of laughed. She laughed though, mostly at my suffering.

I stepped back from the door allowing her to come inside.

“Have you talked to him lately?” she asked.

I shook my head. “What would I even say?”

“I love you and I miss you and I want to be yours forever?” Ruby offered.

“That’s not so easy to say over the phone.”

“So you don’t deny it?”

With a sigh, I told her, “Love was never really our problem.”

“Well, let’s see if we can call back Lucy today. Then there’d be no more reason to keep him at a distance.”

Ruby was ever the optimist about this. Day after day, I reached for Lucy with no answer, but rather than be discouraged, Ruby would only say, “Tomorrow will be the day.”

At this point, I had built up so many tomorrows, I didn’t know how many could possibly be left. There was always room for one more, I supposed.

I guessed I wasn’t ready to give up hope either.

“Today’s the day,” Ruby said. “I can feel it.”

She said that everyday too. “Maybe,” I replied and went with her into the living room to start the meditation.

Alaric’s POV

I missed Cara so much that I ached with it, but until she wanted to see me, I couldn’t do more than send my flowers and hope the meaning was conveyed even without words.

I loved her. I missed her. I was here for her whenever she wanted me.

It didn’t feel like enough, but for now, it was all that I had. All I was allowed to have.

If she called me this minute, I would drop everything and be there for her. Perhaps that was the very reason she hadn’t called.

I could only speculate.

My work in the DuskWood pack continued. Often now, I would go into the office and sit at my desk. People had begun to expect me. The media started reporting on everything that I did, and my popularity in the pack was back on the rise.

Even so…

I shook away thoughts of Cara for now, as my Beta John entered the office carrying what looked like a flyer. He laid it down on my desk.

“What’s this?” I asked, even as I read the title, Global Princess Competition. “We hadn’t had one of these in years.”

“Pack BloodyMoon is housing the event this year,” John said.

I knew right away what he was trying to tell me. That meant Cara was likely to compete.

As she was so desperate to prove herself capable, this would be the perfect opportunity. My hand went to my phone before I even realized I’d been moving it. I called Eamon at once.

After speaking with his assistant, I was immediately patched to his office.

“I’m assuming you saw the flyer,” Eamon said by way of a greeting.

“I want to help Cara however I can,” I said.

“So you call me?”

Eamon knew more or less that Cara and I weren’t presently talking – at least, not more than about the kids. He likely understood more about it than even I did, as Cara probably told him some of her reasoning.

For him to ask that question…

“You know I can’t talk to her about this,” I said. “She wouldn’t want me to help. That’s why I’m talking to you. Whatever she needs, I will provide. You can say you did it.”

“You don’t have to be selfless,” Eamon said. “You could just try talking to her yourself.”

“She doesn’t want to talk to me, and she doesn’t want my help. Please, Eamon. Don’t make this difficult.”

“I’m not the one making things difficult. It’s the two of you that can never seem to get your ducks in a row.”

“Will you help me help her or not?” I asked, tired of the games.

He paused a moment. “I’ll help. But I have to be honest with you, I haven’t approached Cara with this at all. She might not even feel like doing it.”

“She’ll want to do it,” I said with certainty. “You can count on it.”