Waylen ignores her and grabs a jar of sea salt. He begins to pour it into a pot of boiling water on the stove, and Leilani tries to snatch it from him. Her fingers brush the glass jar, and Waylen jerks his arm away. The jar tilts, and all of the salt spills into the water.
“Waylen, you may have many talents, but I don’t think cooking is one of them,” Leilani says. “Why don’t you let me do this before dinner is completely ruined?”
Waylen glares at the dishes. Then he sweeps everything—including the burnt pans—into the trash can. A servant runs over and hands him a fresh pan. Leilani wants to roll her eyes.
“This is really wasteful,” Leilani says. “Just let me do it.”
“I told you I’d cook us dinner, and I’m going to do it,” Waylen says with a sour expression. “If you want to stay in the kitchen and watch, that’s fine, but keep your opinions to yourself.”
Leilani pretends to zip her lips shut. She hops up on one of the counters and dangles her legs. Waylen grabs a cookbook and opens it to a noodle dish. He squints in concentration as he reads the instructions. Then he lifts a knife and begins to chop vegetables. The pieces are a little uneven and weirdly shaped, but it’s not bad for a beginner.
He continues to prepare the meal, stopping awkwardly every few minutes to check the instructions. Leilani presses her hand over her mouth to silence her laughter when he gets confused by the garlic press. Eventually, the kitchen fills with savory smelling steam.
“Okay, it’s finished,” Waylen says.
He scoops Leilani off the counter and carries her to the dining room. Robert follows, carrying the noodles on a tray. He looks worried—as if the noodles are too precious to drop. Waylen takes a plate and serves Leilani some noodles, making sure to give her lots of vegetables.
“How is it?” Waylen asks.
Leilani twirls some noodles on her fork and stabs a vegetable. Nervously she takes a bite. The vegetables are flavorful and crisp, and the noodles are cooked well. The sauce is smooth but not at all greasy.
“It’s pretty good,” Leilani says.
Waylen slides into the chair next to hers and serves himself some noodles. They eat in comfortable silence. Leilani slurps one of her noodles, and some sauce splashes on her lip. Before she can wipe it with a napkin, Waylen leans in and licks the sauce away.
“Do you want to go for a walk after dinner?” he asks.
Leilani shakes her head. She’s full and tired, and all she wants to do is lie on the sofa. Waylen walks with her to the study, and she lies down on the sofa. She thinks about all the strange things that have happened and suddenly remembers the recording pen.
“Please don’t forget to take the pen to Nanny,” Leilani reminds Robert.
She rubs her stomach and closes her eyes, humming happily to herself. She can’t believe that the baby is really in there. In the expectant parent class, the doctor said that the baby is about the size of a raspberry.
“Do you like the dinner your daddy made for you, little one?” she asks her stomach.
She looks around the room, and her eyes fall on a stack of books on the coffee table. She reaches for one curiously, but Robert grabs them away.
“I’m sorry, but these books belong to Mr. Bamford,” Robert says.
Before Leilani can complain, Robert rushes out into the hall with the stack of books. Leilani wonders why he’s so nervous—they’re just books, aren’t they? She gets up and pulls the envelope from Sophie out of her purse. She pulls the papers out and flips through them.
Most of the papers are sketches and jewelry designs, and most of them are only half-finished. Almost every single design shows a wedding ring. Some of the details vary, but the design is mostly the same. Though her mother made the drawings over ten years ago, the rings are timelessly elegant and beautiful.
Leilani traces a finger over the hand-drawn lines on one ring. She looks at the metal band and squints. Something seems to be written on the ring, but she can’t tell what it is. She rings the bell and asks Robert to bring a magnifying glass. When he arrives, she holds it up to the drawing and gasps. It’s a name: Bamford.
“What are you looking at?” Waylen asks.
“Oh, just looking at some designs,” Leilani says casually, quickly hiding the magnifying glass under a pillow on the sofa.
“I finished making the recording for Nanny,” Waylen says, passing her the pen. “Is it okay?”
Leilani takes the pen, but she pauses before hitting the playback button. What if Waylen has recorded some sort of threat? Knowing him, he might threaten Bryan’s career. Or maybe he’ll Nanny he’s forbidding Leilani from visiting until she wakes up. She chews her lip nervously, hoping that Waylen hasn’t recorded something awful.
“Go on,” Waylen says.
Leilani presses the button, and the pen beeps. She tries again, but the recording doesn’t play. The pen beeps again and asks her to enter a password.
“Why did you put a password on it?” Leilani asks. “How will the nurse play it for Nanny if there’s some secret password?”
“It’s a secret,” Waylen said, raising his eyebrows. “Besides, the password is only valid for seven days. In a week, the password will go away, and the recording will be accessible. Now, you haven’t forgotten your promise to beg me, right?”
A loud crash comes from across the room. Robert has knocked a vase off of a shelf, and the porcelain has shattered all over the floor. Two servants rush in and begin to sweep up the mess. Robert walks up to Waylen and shoots a nervous look at Leilani.
“Mr. Bamford, I have some sensitive news for you,” Robert says.
“Go ahead and tell me,” Waylen says, running his fingers through Leilani’s hair.
Robert presses his lips together and raises his eyebrows at Waylen. Leilani can tell he wants her to leave. She stands up and stretches her hands above her head.
“I’m feeling a bit tired—I think I’ll go back to my room,” she says.
Waylen watches Leilani leave and scowls at Robert. He was looking forward to a quiet night with Leilani, and now Robert has interrupted that.
“This better be good,” Waylen says.
“Sir, some fishermen claim they’ve seen Charles Meyer,” Robert says. “Do you want to go there in person?”
“Get everything ready at once,” Waylen says, standing up.
He rushes to Leilani’s room in the North Wing and finds her lying on one of the sofas, looking at the same drawings from before. She raises her head and looks at him. Concern and confusion fill her light eyes.
“Is everything okay?” she asks Waylen.
“Yes,” he says.
“When are you coming back?” she asks.
“As soon as possible,” he whispers.
He slides a finger under her chin and tilts her head up to him. Then he bends over and kisses her on the lips. She kisses back immediately, and the feel of her soft lips against his is overwhelming. He slips his tongue into her mouth and brushes it against hers. His body screams at him to continue, but he pulls away. He kisses her forehead, smiles slightly and leaves her in the parlor.
Jessica sits on the sofa and scrolls through pictures on Andrew’s phone. Andrew tries to ignore her, but she keeps making comments about the pictures. Finally, Jessica goes silent, but then she begins to laugh.
“Is this the woman you’re obsessed with?” Jessica asks, showing Andrew a picture of Leilani. “She’s pretty, I guess, but she has such a sour expression. Does she always looks like she’s smelled something bad, or was that just her reaction to you?”
Andrew snatches the phone away from her. He settles back down onto the sofa and crosses his legs. His heart rapidly beats as he looks at the pictures of Leilani. He scrolls through them one by one and then sets a close up picture of her face as his wallpaper.
“Excuse me, Mr. Bamford,” a bodyguard says, as he enters the room.
“Well, hello again,” Jessica says with a flirty smile.
She’s wearing a low-cut red tank top and jeans so tight they look like they’ve been painted on. The bodyguard sees her and blushes, and Andrew rolls his eyes. Ever since Jessica arrived, she’s been flirting with his men nonstop. Jessica seems to sense the guard’s embarrassment. She gets up and slides her hand up to his arm to his shoulder.
New Book: Back Home to Marry Off Myself
Loredana’s father left the family for his mistress, leaving them to fend for themselves abroad. When life was at its toughest, her father showed up with “good news” after 8 years of absence: To marry off Loredana to a paralyzed son of the wealthy Mendelsohn family.
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