Chapter 19 - SABRINA RETURNS THE ROBE
Seven months after the day Claire came home early, Sabrina returned to Whitmore House.
She was visibly pregnant.
She carried a white garment box.
Claire knew before opening it.
The silk robe.
Cleaned.
Pressed.
Folded around tissue paper.
“I should have returned it sooner.”
“Yes.”
“I kept avoiding this house.”
“Reasonable.”
Sabrina looked toward the staircase.
“The sofa was hideous.”
Claire laughed despite herself.
“It was.”
“I picked it because you hated velvet.”
“I know.”
“That was petty.”
“Extremely.”
They stood in the hall where Eleanor’s portrait had once lain broken.
Sabrina touched the edge of the console table.
“I don’t expect us to be friends again.”
“Good.”
Sabrina nodded.
The answer hurt.
Claire did not soften it.
Forgiveness was not restoration.
“I don’t hate you,” Claire said.
Sabrina looked up.
“That’s more than I deserve.”
“Don’t decide what you deserve for me.”
A small smile.
“Still bossy.”
“Still trespassing.”
“I was invited.”
“Technicality.”
Before leaving, Sabrina stopped.
“Daniel asked me to marry him.”
Claire’s chest tightened unexpectedly.
“What did you say?”
“No.”
“Why?”
“Because I finally figured out wanting someone and trusting them are different things.”
Claire looked at her old friend.
“That took you a while.”
“You too.”
Fair.
Sabrina left.
Claire carried the robe upstairs.
She did not put it back in her closet.
She placed it in a donation box.
Some things could be beautiful and still belong to a life that was over.
That night, Daniel sent one final message.
I’m sorry I made you the villain so I could live with what I was doing.
Claire read it twice.
Then deleted it.
Not because it meant nothing.
May you like
Because it was no longer a question she needed to answer.
