Elodie could sense Octavia''s awkwardness, but she wasn''t about to bring it up herself. After all, Octavia was an adult now, no longer a child; some lessons had to be learned through personal responsibility and mistakes. Life itself was a long, winding ss, and there were still so many values and perspectives yet to be understood.


    After dinner, the family matriarch arranged everyone''s rooms. Elodie didn''t want to be apart from Nadia for even a second, so she carried her already-sleeping daughter upstairs. She had just finished settling Nadia in when someone knocked at the door.


    Assuming it was Jarrod, Elodie called out, "It''s your house. Why bother knocking?"


    There was a brief pause on the other side, and then the door opened. To her surprise, it wasn''t Jarrod, but Lucinda.


    Lucinda didn''t step into the room. She lingered just inside the doorway, her gaze drifting to Nadia, who slept soundly in the bed. Then, her eyes met Elodie''s. The formidable, coolly elegant matriarch of the Silverstein family-so often sharp and distant-wore an unusuallyplex expression, but itsted only a heartbeat.


    She drew a slow breath, then faced Elodie squarely. "I''ve seen how Jarrod feels about you. And I remember when you were sick, barely holding yourself together, yet you still went to Silverstein Enterprises to help him bring order to the chaos. That day, my view of you changed. Honestly, I admired you. I was surprised, too— considering how Jarrod, and frankly, the rest of us treated you before. You didn''t owe us anything, but you helped anyway. Jarrod should be grateful, and as his mother, so should I. So, thank you."


    Elodie was taken aback. Lucinda, who always seemed to stand above everyone else, her sights set only on power and advantage, had never been one to lower herself for personal matters. People in her position rarely apologized, especially for things brushed aside as family politics.


    Change, Elodie knew, was never easy.<fn0353> Th? link to the orig?n of this information r?sts ?n f?ndnovel</fn0353>


    But Lucinda didn''t wait for the polite, automatic "You''re wee." Her cool,posed voice cut through the moment again. "And for how I treated you before I neglected you. I''m not asking for forgiveness. You don''t owe me that. All you need is to have no barriers with Jarrod. Everything else is your own business."


    With that, she turned and left, not expecting Elodie to smooth things over with meaningless words. Lucinda had never cared for empty gestures. Now that Jarrod and Elodie wère mseparable, witha child between them, Lucinda would inévitably be part of their lives. A gesture like this might ease the tension, making things a little less awkward in the future. Beyond that, she wouldn''t interfere.  s


    Elodie was still stunned, watching as Lucinda quietly closed the door. The thanks alone had been unexpected enough, but the apology-however understated-made Elodie realize something. Lucinda, for all her privileged background, wasn''t the type to be trapped by the em rituals of high society. Once she made up her mind, she was more open-minded than most.  s


    Elodie stood there for a while before allowing herself a small, silent smile. She knew Lucinda hadn''t needed to say any of this. As the Silverstein matriarch and the family elder, she could have glossed over everything, pretending nothing had


    happened just as so many elders did, sweeping old hurts under the rug in the name of family harmony.  s


    Taking that step was harder than most people realized.


    Elodie turned back to her own tasks, not letting the encounter weigh too heavily on her mind. However things yed out in the future, she refused to let a single apology dictate her expectations.


    Jarrod finished settling Rosemary and Emile into their rooms and returned quietly. He slipped into the bedroom, careful not to wake Nadia.


    Elodie had juste out of the shower, toweling her hair, when she spotted Jarrod leaning casually against the wall, one hand in his pocket, watching her with thatzy, familiar smile.


    She shot him a quick nce and adjusted her towel, then rummaged through her bag for her skincare. "Is Grandma asleep?"