“But.”
He looked up.
“I don’t want you out of my life.”
His eyes filled.
“What are you saying?”
“I’m saying I don’t know what we are.”
A sad smile.
“Fair.”“But I know I love you.”
Claire began crying harder.
“Oh, for God’s sake.”
Daniel handed her a tissue.
I looked at Russell.
“Not because of the house.”
He smiled.
“I know.”
“Not because of the money.”
“I know.”
“And not because I need saving anymore.”
That smile disappeared.
Something deeper replaced it.
Pride.
“Good.”
I took his hand.
I want to know who we are when neither of us needs anything from the other.”
Russell squeezed my fingers.
“I’d like that.”
—
# PART 8 — **EXACTLY WHAT I DESERVED**
One year later, Bellweather House reopened.
Not as a mansion.
Not as a museum.
Not as a monument to Russell Langford.
As a refuge.
The sign outside simply read:
