Chapter 14: 14

Avaline stood before the grand wooden doors of the Ashford estate, her palms slightly damp despite the calm she’d managed to steady within herself. Reuniting with her parents had filled a part of her she thought was long dead but stepping into the home of the family she’d once been betrothed to felt like stepping into a life she’d never expected to reclaim. Mrs. Green her mother gave her hand a gentle squeeze. “You don’t have to accept anything,” she murmured. “We only want...