Chapter 14 - FIVE YEARSFive years after Clara stood at the gate, Jonah and Blythe returned to the estate.
Not Mercer fortress.
It had been sold.
Part of it became a pediatric respite center funded through legitimate assets Lawson retained and outside donations.
Clara hated the name proposed:
Mercer-Vance Children’s Center.
“No.”
Lawson frowned.
“Why?”
“Children don't need our romance on the wall.”
They chose:
The Lantern House.
A place for families facing serious illness.
Comfort.
Medical coordination.
Respite care.
Not false cures.
Not miracle claims.
Clara insisted on that language.
Jonah, now eleven, ran through the hallway.
Blythe followed.
Lawson watched.
Alive.
Growing.
Not promised forever.
Nobody was.
Clara stood beside him.
“You’re doing the face.”
“What face?”
“The terrified father face.”
“I have one?”
“Several.”
He smiled.
Then handed her a small box.
She stared.
“No.”
“You haven't opened it.”
“I know what boxes mean.”
“Could be earrings.”
“You hate earrings.”
“True.”
He opened it.
Ring.
Simple.
No enormous diamond.
Clara looked at him.
“Are you asking?”
“Yes.”
“No command?”
“No.”
“No ‘you’re never leaving this house’?”
He winced.
“I was emotionally unwell.”
“You were terrifying.”
“Also true.”
She smiled.
“Yes.”
Lawson stopped breathing.
“Yes?”
“Yes.”
Blythe screamed from across the room:
“FINALLY!”
Clara turned.
“You were listening?”
Jonah appeared.
“Everyone was.”
Prescott stepped from behind a column.
Clara stared.
“You too?”
“Security.”
“You are no longer security here.”
“Habit.”
Everyone laughed.
Lawson looked around.
Once this house had echoed with monitors.
Orders.
Gunfire.
Fear.
May you like
Now children were laughing at him.
He had never felt safer.
