The Rose He Killed novel Chapter 166

Chapter 152: Honeymoon-1

Caleb POV

The island had no name on any map I’d found.

Claim

That had been the point. The property manager – a compact, efficient woman named Ruth who had met us at the dock with two cold drinks and a brief orientation had described it as “private enough that the word private becomes redundant,” and she had not been exaggerating. Three acres of it, a low white house open on two sides to the sea, no staff on site after six in the evening. No photographers who knew where we were and no phones that needed answering.

Tom was with Diana and Maya in Silverton, in the house, under Lena’s oversight and the care of two people who had each, in their different ways, become essential.

Before we’d left he had clung to me for approximately thirty seconds at the door, then spotted Maya’s bag and asked if she’d brought the card game she’d promised, and released me completely. Bella had watched this from beside me with a small, fond expression that she’d tried to make neutral and failed.

“He’s fine,” I’d said.

“I know,” she’d said. “I’m fine too. I’m just ” She’d looked at the door. “I’ve never been away from him for

two weeks.”

“Do you want to stay back?”

“No,” she said, firmly, picking up her bag. “I want two weeks. I’ve earned two weeks.”

She had, in fact we both had.

We slept for the first twelve hours then we arrived late, ate the meal Ruth had left in the kitchen standing up at the counter because neither of us had the energy for a table, and fell asleep before eleven.

I woke to the full light and the sound of the sea. Bella was already on the terrace with her coffee, looking out at water so blue it looked fake. I lay there for a moment just watching her.

I got up and went to stand behind her. She leaned into me without turning, easy and automatic, and I put my arm around her and we looked at the water.

“What are you thinking?” she asked.

“That I want to stay here forever,” I said.

“We have fourteen days.”

“I’m aware.”

She smiled. “We could buy it.”

“Right now,” I said. “Say the word.”

She laughed and turned to look at me. “I don’t want to live on a private island.”

“We’d have Ruth.”

۴

Chapter 152-Honeymoon I

“Ruth leaves at six.”

“I don’t mind that.”

She kissed me, brief and warm, and pulled back with her coffee. “Feed me first,” she said. “Then we discuss islands.”

Clar

The days found their rhythm fast. Morning coffee on the terrace, swimming when the heat peaked, long dinners that went nowhere and didn’t need to. We talked more than I expected – small things we’d never gotten to tell each other, stories from before, the ordinary ways of each other’s lives. She told me about a street in London she’d walked every morning for months and never mentioned to anyone. I told her about a book I’d read six times and she went quiet and said, “Tread that too. Twice.”

On the third night she turned her wine glass in her hands and said quietly, “I want more children with you.”

I froze.

“Only if you are ready,” she said, looking at the water. “I just – I wanted to say it. I’m not holding things back anymore.”

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