I Was His Wife, Then His Widow, Then No One's But My Own novel Chapter 107

The door remained firmly shut, and the little girl's hostile voice sounded muffled against the heavy wood as it struck Nora's ears.

"You're an awful mom! I don't want you in here!"

Nora waited in the hallway for a moment. When no further sounds came from behind the door, she nodded slightly, as if confirming something to herself. "Alright, get some rest. I'm leaving." With that, she turned and headed downstairs.

Finnegan was standing in the living room, holding the bowl of oatmeal he had just brought out of the kitchen. The moment he saw Nora coming down the stairs, his brow furrowed in deep disapproval.

Nora already knew exactly what he was going to say. It would be a predictable lecture about how she couldn't abandon a sick child.

Sure enough, he spoke up immediately. "Where do you think you're going?"

Nora didn't break her stride. She glanced at him over her shoulder, her tone completely indifferent. "Cassie doesn't want to see me. I'll leave it to you to take care of her."

Finnegan opened his mouth to argue, but Nora raised a hand, effortlessly cutting him off. "My presence upsets her, Finnegan. Seeing me will only aggravate her condition, which won't help her recover. So, she's your responsibility now."

The flawless logic completely silenced him. She was weaponizing his exact reasoning—that leaving was for Cassie's own good. Wasn't that the same guilt-tripping logic he had used to force her to come back in the first place?

Now, she was handing his own words right back to him, leaving him without a single counterargument.

Seeing him utterly speechless, a faint, humorless smile touched Nora's lips. She turned, pushed open the heavy front door, and walked out into the night.

The latch had barely clicked shut when Cassie came sprinting down the stairs. Her bare feet slapped frantically against the hardwood steps in a hurried, desperate rhythm.

Finnegan froze. The spoon in his hand clinked softly against the edge of the ceramic bowl.

He remained silent for a moment before patting Cassie's head again, his tone warm but evasive. "She's just exhausted from work lately. Don't overthink it, sweetie. Your mom will always love you."

Cassie tilted her head, pondering his words. She decided her dad was right. In fact, if her mom stopped hovering over her, it might even be a good thing. Then she wouldn't have to be so secretive when Seraphina came to visit.

Her emotions were fickle, coming and going like the wind. With that new perspective, she easily comforted herself.

She climbed up onto the dining chair, took a huge gulp of the oatmeal, and announced with full cheeks, "Dad, is Seraphina feeling better? I'm feeling way better now, and I want to go see her."

She was genuinely worried about Seraphina and desperately wanted to check on her immediately. But her dad had warned her about cross-infection, so she had forced herself to wait.