Chapter 3\u00a0<\/p>\n
Chapter 3\u00a0<\/p>\n
My hand twitched, barely noticeable. I sniffled quietly, trying to push down the sting in my nose.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Everyone stood there watching, silent-but their eyes said it all.\u00a0<\/p>\n
They suggested taking Leah to the hospital and celebrating her birthday somewhere else.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Before leaving, some guy who\u2019d been chasing after Leah made sure to say loudly, \u201cThe only reason I even came to this dump was for Leah.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cShe\u2019s just jealous that Leah\u2019s more popular than her. An old hag starting drama with a kid-disgusting.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
Stellan froze for a second. But he didn\u2019t turn around. He just carried Leah out in silence.\u00a0<\/p>\n
The moment they left, I called a realtor to come list the house.\u00a0<\/p>\n
The agent was confused. \u201cThis is a great location. The value\u2019s only going up. You sure you don\u2019t want to wait?\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
I just smiled and shook my head.\u00a0<\/p>\n
After the agent left, I sat on the couch and whispered, \u201cGrandma, I\u2019m leaving. I couldn\u2019t keep the house. Please don\u2019t be mad at me.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
My phone buzzed. A message from Stellan.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cYou left your necklace at my place. When are you picking it up?\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
I opened the photo. It was the necklace he gave me for our tenth anniversary.\u00a0<\/p>\n
A custom Chaumet piece. The ruby at the center caught the light beautifully.\u00a0<\/p>\n
It was stunning. But I felt nothing.\u00a0<\/p>\n
I typed back: \u201cJust keep it for now. I\u2019ll get it later.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
I put my phone down and fell into a deep sleep.\u00a0<\/p>\n
When I woke up, Stellan was sitting on the edge of my bed.\u00a0<\/p>\n
His voice was hoarse. \u201cYou\u2019re awake. I came to check on you. Brought your necklace.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
I didn\u2019t sit up. I just took it from him and tossed it on the nightstand.\u00a0<\/p>\n
09:57\u00a0<\/p>\n
Hot Shower Cold Heart: How Water Temperature Fanse\u00a0<\/p>\n
Chapter 3\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cThanks. You didn\u2019t have to come all the way here this late.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
He shook his head. \u201cThis necklace is different.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen I look at it, I think about everything we\u2019ve been through together\u2026 We\u2019ve made it through so much. And now we\u2019re fighting over something so small. It\u2019s not worth it.\u201d\/\u00a0<\/p>\n
I thought about the past too.\u00a0<\/p>\n
The time I had a fever in the middle of the night, and he drove through a storm to bring me medicine-almost got into an accident.\u00a0<\/p>\n
The time we visited a fortune teller, and she told me I was cursed to live a lonely, bitter life.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Stellan drove to a church in the mountains and climbed the stone steps on his knees, bowing with every step, forehead swollen and bleeding, eyes closed in prayer: \u201cPlease let Ella live a safe, happy life.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
When I was diagnosed with uterine cancer and told I could never have children, he got a vasectomy and told his mother he\u2019d made his choice.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Back then, things were so good\u2026\u00a0<\/p>\n
I pulled my hand away. The bruises and needle marks on the back of my hand were still visible.\u00a0<\/p>\n
He ignored them.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cLeah\u2019s been staying at a hotel. She\u2019s miserable. Got food poisoning from takeout and ended up in the hospital. Can we go pick her up and bring her back home?\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
I asked flatly, \u201cBring her back where, Stellan? I told you-I\u2019m selling the house.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
He frowned. \u201cWhen did you say that? Why would you sell it?\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
I sighed. \u201cOn Leah\u2019s birthday. I told you I was moving out.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
His jaw tightened. He didn\u2019t say anything.\u00a0<\/p>\n
After a moment, he stood up. \u201cGet some rest. I\u2019m going to check on Leah. She\u2019s sick. She can\u2019t be alone right now.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
I heard the door close behind him.\u00a0<\/p>\n
I waited a few minutes, then got up and deleted his fingerprint from the lock.\u00a0<\/p>\n
I went back to bed and closed my eyes.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Chapter 3\u00a0<\/p>\n
I didn\u2019t sleep all night.\u00a0<\/p>\n
When I got up in the morning, I felt dizzy and bumped into the nightstand.\u00a0<\/p>\n
The necklace fell to the floor.\u00a0<\/p>\n
I didn\u2019t want to damage it, so I picked it up carefully to check for scratches.\u00a0<\/p>\n
That\u2019s when I saw the engraving on the inside:\u00a0<\/p>\n
**\u201dLOVE Leah\u201d**\u00a0<\/p>\n
It was obvious who this necklace was really for.\u00a0<\/p>\n
I walked over to the safe and opened it.\u00a0<\/p>\n
My necklace was sitting inside, untouched. The engraving read: **Ella**\u00a0<\/p>\n
I stared at it for a long time.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Then I laughed.\u00a0<\/p>\n
And as I laughed, my eyes filled with tears.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Our anniversary-mine and Stellan\u2019s-was also his anniversary with Leah.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u2661 (0)\u00a0<\/p>\n
(0)\u00a0<\/p>\n
Joseph King is an editor and storyteller who ensures every chapter is clear, polished, and engaging for readers.<\/p>\n
Hot Shower, Cold Heart by Mark Twain 22 Chapter 3\u00a0 Chapter 3\u00a0 My hand twitched, barely noticeable. I sniffled quietly, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"","ast-site-content-layout":"default","site-content-style":"default","site-sidebar-style":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-banner-title-visibility":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","ast-disable-related-posts":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","astra-migrate-meta-layouts":"default","ast-page-background-enabled":"default","ast-page-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"ast-content-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"footnotes":""},"categories":[46],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-22890","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-giving-my-husband-novel"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/kezpres.xyz\/novelreading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22890","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/kezpres.xyz\/novelreading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/kezpres.xyz\/novelreading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kezpres.xyz\/novelreading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kezpres.xyz\/novelreading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=22890"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/kezpres.xyz\/novelreading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22890\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/kezpres.xyz\/novelreading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=22890"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kezpres.xyz\/novelreading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=22890"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kezpres.xyz\/novelreading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=22890"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}