Chapter 15 - A HOUSE WITH ROOM
Six months later, Bella gave birth to a boy and a girl.
The babies were healthy. William cried when the nurse placed them in his arms and cried again when Bella asked him to hand one back.
They named their daughter Rose, after Bella’s mother, and their son Daniel, after the father Bella wished could have met them.
William lost the estate and most of his fortune. The company went through a difficult change of ownership. Margaret helped protect employee pensions where she could, and William spent long days helping former staff find work. He came home tired, with takeout in his hands and two babies eager to keep him awake all night.
Bella liked their new house. The kitchen was small, the front steps needed paint, and Frank slept wherever someone might trip over him. It felt like a place where people lived.
Denise wrote twice. Bella answered the second letter. She told Denise the children were well and that she needed more time before they saw each other. It was the first boundary Denise had ever accepted without an argument.
Lilith rented the little house next door.
She claimed she preferred her own space. Still, she appeared most evenings with groceries, odd gifts for the twins, and fierce opinions about how much sleep William and Bella needed. Rose smiled whenever she heard Lilith’s voice. Daniel once refused to settle until Lilith held him and walked three laps around the kitchen.
One rainy night, William found her there with both babies asleep against her. Bella was dozing on the couch. Frank lay at Lilith’s feet.
“You can put them down,” William whispered.
“I know.”
He pulled up a chair and sat beside her. For a while they listened to the rain.
“Do you miss where you came from?” he asked.
Lilith glanced at Rose and Daniel. “Sometimes I remember it.”
Bella opened one eye. “You’re staying for breakfast, right?”
Lilith looked toward the window, then at the crowded little room.
May you like
“Yes,” she said. “I’m staying.”
William reached for Bella’s hand. The children slept. The rain kept falling. For the first time in a thousand years, no one in his family owed the darkness anything.
