The Hour He Never Gave Chapter 14
After Harry and Kate warned him off, Pierce stopped showing up at my gate.
To thank them, I cooked a huge meal and invited them over.
I even packed up a bunch of vegetables for them to take home.
Before leaving, Kate hesitated for a second, then looked at me.
“Lucia, guys like him don’t give up that easily. Since he couldn’t get to you, I’m worried he’ll go straight to Ellie. Just be careful.”
I instantly went on alert.
After thinking about it all night, I took time off work and started driving Ellie to and from school myself.
I didn’t dare let her out of my sight.
One night, while I was blow-drying her hair, she suddenly looked up at me.
“Mommy, why does Jared’s dad keep showing up near my school? Doesn’t he want Jared anymore?”
Every alarm bell in my head went off.
I immediately turned off the hair dryer. “He didn’t go near you, right? Did he say anything weird?”
Ellie quickly shook her head. “The teachers know he’s not my dad. Every time he shows up, they chase him away. But today, before he left, he put a doll by the gate. The kind with curly hair that blinks.”
My chest tightened.
It was the same doll Pierce once gave Ellie.
I asked carefully, “Did you bring it home?”
Back then, she’d refused to sell that doll to cover the so-called “rent,” and Jared ended up smashing it.
I was scared it would bring everything back.
Ellie just looked confused. “Why would I bring it home? I’m not a little kid anymore. I don’t even like dolls now. I just think it’s weird. Why is Jared’s dad trying to suck up to me? Doesn’t he want Jared anymore?”
I set the hair dryer down and looked at her. “If he brought you something you really liked, would you want to get close to him?”
She puffed out her cheeks and burrowed into my arms. “Why are you asking me weird stuff like that? Do you seriously think I’m that easy to bribe? He’s not my dad. I don’t want anything to do with him.”
I finally relaxed.
After that, Ellie said she never saw Pierce again.
The school had apparently called the cops. Pierce got deported back to Floravia and was banned from coming back.
Life finally went back to normal.
Our days settled into a steady rhythm.
I went to work every day. At night, I cooked Ellie’s favorite meals and packed her lunch for the next morning.
When I had free time, I worked in the yard, taking care of the flowers and vegetables.
My days felt full again..
After everything that happened, we got a lot closer to Harry and Kate.
They introduced Ellie and me to Lakevale’s small Floravian community.
Whenever there was a holiday, everyone got together and threw little parties.
That was where I met Sean Spencer, a florist.
He was Floravian too, two years older than me, and still single.
Unlike me, though, he’d grown up in Lakevale.
He was born in Floravia, but his biological parents dumped him because of a congenital heart condition. Real classy people.
While traveling there, his adoptive parents found him barely breathing beside a trash can..
They rushed him to the hospital, stayed with him through recovery, then adopted him and brought him back to Northern Europe.
There weren’t many Floravians in Lakevale, so his Floravian was pretty rough.
After we got to know each other, he started stopping by with fresh flowers.
He taught me how to grow them and arrange them properly. I taught him Floravian in return.
With Sean around, the flowers in my front yard somehow bloomed even brighter.
