<b>Chapter 234 </b>
<b>Alexander </b>
<b>E’s </b>funeral <b>was </b>long <b>and </b>exhausting. And <b>yet</b><b>, </b><b>somehow</b><b>, </b><b>it </b>was all such <b>a </b><b>blur </b><b>that </b>it almost <b>seemed </b>to <b>go </b><b>by </b><b>too </b>quickly. <b>I </b><b>vaguely </b>recalled cing flowers on her <b>casket</b><b>, </b>watching as it got lowered into the ground, listening <b>to </b>the kind words spoken about her<b>… </b>
But if <b>anyone </b>were <b>to </b>ask me for specifics, I couldn’t tell them.
By the time I got home that night with Lucien still cradled in my arms, fussing now for milk, I felt <b>like </b><b>I</b><b>, </b>
too, had been lowered into that grave beside E.
Somehow, I managed to feed and change Lucien, then give him his medicine. He still had to be hooked up to an oxygen machine at night, so I carefully ced the tubes in his nostrils before settling in the rocking chair next to that beautiful crib I had built and rocked him to sleep.
Lucien didn’t like to sleep without being held. So I held him all night.
The following morning, I had slept on and off, but not more than a few minutes here and there. Lucien
was particrly fussy at night due to the strain on his lungs and the ufortable oxygen tubes, so I found myself pacing the nursery and gently bouncing him in my arms whenever he would start to cry.
I wasn’t expecting any visitors that day. Frankly, I was looking forward to that day–after–the–funeral
quiet when everyone would stop giving me their fake condolences and would move on with their lives while I was left to pick up the pieces.
That was how it always went, wasn’t it? Everyone cared during the funeral process, but afterwards, you <fncb78> The source of th?s content is f?ndnovel</fncb78>
were left to fend on your own.
Strangely, though, I needed that loneliness. I had Lucien to focus on, and besides, I didn’t need anyone’s false sympathies. I just wanted to be alone with my son for as long as possible until my Alpha King duties
ultimately forced me back into the spotlight.
But that peace didn’te. Because no sooner than six o’clock in the morning, I heard a knock on the
front door.
I didn’t answer, expecting it to be a newspaper delivery person or a final stragglering to bring me unnecessary food or a sympathy card.
And yet, a few minutester, Hunter walked into the nursery. “Sir, there’s a visitor for you.”
<b>“</b>Who is it?<b>” </b>I held back a yawn.
“It’s a woman. She says she wants to apply for the nanny position.”
My brows shot up at that. The applications were supposed to be submitted online, not in person. And who
in their right mind would show up at a widower’s house at six in the morning the day after his wife’s funeral to apply for a job?
Curiosity getting the better of me, I made my way downstairs with Lucien still sleeping soundly in my arms. The woman was seated in the parlor when I entered, her back turned to me.
I recognized her immediately before she even turned around to reveal her face.
“What are you doing here?” I asked, frowning. “You shouldn’t havee back here<b>.” </b>
The woman stiffened for a moment before slowly turning. Indeed, <b>it </b>was the woman from yesterday; although she was cleaner now, bathed with her auburn hairbed and neatly pulled back into a bun <b>at </b>the nape of her neck. She wore a simple gray dress and a pair of low ck heels. Nothing <b>at </b>all like the oversized boots and overalls from yesterday.
“Alpha,” she said, curtsying–there was a look on her face as if she didn’t think I would recognize her, <b>“</b><b>I </b>wanted to apologize for my behavior yesterday. I… I knew E when we were children and I’m afraid her death came as such a shock that I forgot how to behave.”
I blinked, finding that hard to believe. E had never mentioned any childhood friends… But then again, I supposed there was a lot about E that I didn’t know. Both because I had never really asked and because she had kept a lot from me, such as her dealings with her father.