Chapter 10 - The Unspoken Wall
They sat together on the porch steps as the sun began to dip below the horizon, casting long, golden light across the Pacific Ocean.
The wind rustled through the lavender bushes, bringing the clean, crisp smell of the sea into the warm afternoon air. There were no hidden corridors here. No copper listening horns. No secret ledgers buried in marble hearths.
"What will you do now?" Eva asked, sipping tea from an ordinary mug while the blue-ivy teacup sat safely on the small wooden table beside them.
"I bought forty acres of timberland five miles north," Roman said, looking out over the water. "I'm going to build a furniture workshop. My grandfather was a cabinetmaker before he came to this country and got lost in the dark. I think I'd like to try making things that last."
"Wood is honest," Eva murmured. "It tells you when it's going to warp. It shows its grain."
"It does," Roman agreed.
He turned his head to look at her. The space between them on the porch step was small, barely a few inches, and for the first time in six months, Roman reached out, resting his hand gently over hers.
His fingers were warm, broad, and strong—not the hand of a mafia Don holding a steel firearm, but the hand of a man ready to work, ready to live, ready to feel the sun on his skin.
"Would you come look at the timberland with me tomorrow?" Roman asked quietly. "I need someone who knows how to check the ground foundation."
Eva looked down at their joined hands, then up into his clear, peaceful gray eyes.
"I don't work as a maid anymore, Roman," she said, her hazel eyes twinkling with soft humor.
"I'm not hiring a maid, Eva," Roman whispered, leaning in slightly, his breath warm against her cheek. "I'm asking a friend."
Eva smiled, leaning her shoulder against his broad chest, feeling the steady, calm rhythm of his heart beneath the blue wool sweater.
"Then I'll bring the measuring tape," she said.
Far away in Grayhaven, the hill where Bellaro House had once stood was now empty earth, grass slowly growing over the dark soil, taking back the land that had been hidden for so long.
May you like
The walls were gone. The secrets were ash.
And in the quiet valley of Oakhaven, the only sound left in the evening air was the soft, steady rhythm of the tide coming home.
