Chapter 78\u00a0<\/p>\n
Cedar\u2019s POV\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cOliver, shouldn\u2019t you be in bed by now? I asked, unable to hide the smile forming on my lips as his face filled my laptop screen.\u00a0<\/p>\n
I miss you so much, Mommy!\u201d His cherubic face beamed back at me, those mischievous dark eyes sparkling with excitement.\u00a0<\/p>\n
My heart swelled with warmth. \u201cIs your daddy nearby?\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cOf course not! Guess where I am, Mommy?\u201d Oliver\u2019s voice dropped to a conspiratorial whisper, clearly delighted with his secret.\u00a0<\/p>\n
I studied the background behind him. Not artificial lighting, but natural daylight. It was evening in Chicago, which meant\u2026 \u201cAre you\u2026 in a different\u00a0<\/p>\n
country?\u2018\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cWow! You\u2019re so smart!\u201d He giggled, bouncing slightly. \u201cWe just got off the plane! I\u2019m going to see Grandma! It\u2019s almost her birthday, and I\u2019m going to bring her back for her big party. You have to come to Grandma\u2019s celebration, okay?\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
I hesitated, uncertain. Attend his grandmother\u2019s birthday celebration? Would that be appropriate? But looking at his hopeful little face, those expectant eyes,\u00a0<\/p>\n
I couldn\u2019t bring myself to refuse.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cAlright, if your grandmother wouldn\u2019t mind,\u201d I replied softly.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cAwesome! Grandma will like you too, Mommy,\u201d Oliver exclaimed, bouncing with excitement. \u201cOh, and Mommy, since I can\u2019t be with you for a while, I left you a special present to keep you company. You have to carry it with you all the time, okay? So whenever you look at it, you\u2019ll think of me. I hid it under my\u00a0<\/p>\n
pillow!\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
I was touched and a little ashamed that I hadn\u2019t thought to give him something to remember me by. \u201cThank you, Oliver. I promise I\u2019ll keep it with me always. And I\u2019ll think of you every day.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cMaster Oliver, the car is here,\u201d a familiar voice called from somewhere off\u2013screen.\u00a0<\/p>\n
I frowned slightly. That voice sounded remarkably like Hunter. Had they brought him along on an international trip? And did he just call him \u201cMaster\u00a0<\/p>\n
Oliver\u201c?\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cOops! Gotta go, Mommy! The car\u2019s here. Go to sleep soon, okay? Love you!\u201d Oliver blew a kiss before abruptly ending our call.\u00a0<\/p>\n
I waved goodbye. The restlessness that had plagued me all evening seemed to dissipate after talking to him. That\u2019s the magic of children, I suppose\u2013they have this extraordinary power to make you believe the world is still beautiful, even when everything feels overwhelming.\u00a0<\/p>\n
I walked to the bedroom and lifted Oliver\u2019s pillow. Sure enough, there was a small box hidden beneath. Opening it, I froze in astonishment. Inside was a platinum ring with a sparkling gemstone. This was clearly expensive\u2013very expensive. I hesitated, conflicted, but remembered my promise to Oliver. I slipped it onto my finger, making a mental note to prepare something equally special for when I saw him again.\u00a0<\/p>\n
The next morning at Nest Design, I found myself staring at the project proposal on my desk, hesitating. It wasn\u2019t a minor decision, but it wasn\u2019t exactly major either. All I had to do was sign this document, and we\u2019d be set.\u00a0<\/p>\n
But Elara\u2019s <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
The Sky Remembered the Touch of Our Unfinished Goodbyes by Lysa Orion Rehn 78 Chapter 78\u00a0 Cedar\u2019s POV\u00a0 \u201cOliver, shouldn\u2019t […]<\/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":[88],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-30477","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-zero-stars-for-daddy-novel"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/kezpres.xyz\/novelreading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/30477","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=30477"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/kezpres.xyz\/novelreading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/30477\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/kezpres.xyz\/novelreading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=30477"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kezpres.xyz\/novelreading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=30477"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kezpres.xyz\/novelreading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=30477"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}