Alpha's Regret: The Seventh Time was Forever novel Chapter 286

Chapter 286: Chapter 286 - Can you describe my daughter for me?

Jasmine’s smile arrived a half-second after it should have. "Yes." She smoothed the edge of her expression carefully. "We should."

The look she turned on Seraphine after was harder to categorize. She stood there for a moment, hands folded in front of her, working something through internally before she spoke. "Doctor Sera." Her voice was polite, measured. "What do you like to eat?"

Seraphine glanced at her. "Call me Sera." She reached for the spoon on the tray. "And I’m not picky. Anything is fine."

She scooped up the first spoonful and held it out toward Marigold. "It’s getting cold. Open up."

What happened next surprised everyone in the room, including Jasmine, who Seraphine suspected had been managing Marigold’s eating habits long enough to have lost some hope about them. Marigold ate.

Not reluctantly, not with the drawn-out negotiation of a child who treats every bite like a concession. She just ate. Opened her mouth, chewed, swallowed, opened again.

Seraphine kept the rhythm steady and unhurried, not making a production of it, just spooning and waiting, spooning and waiting like she used to do for Bryan.

The plate was empty before anyone said anything about it.

Seraphine looked at the clean bowl, then at Marigold. "There. Do you want more?"

Marigold nodded, solemn and certain. "I’ll eat more." Her eyes fixed on Seraphine with the quiet, unblinking focus of someone about to name their price. "If you come home with me."

Before Seraphine could figure out how to answer that, her phone buzzed in her pocket. She bent a little, pulled it out, and answered.

"Sera." Corvine’s voice was dry and unhurried. "Should I come upstairs?"

"No, no." Seraphine was already straightening up from the bed. "I’m coming down."

She lowered the phone and looked at Marigold and smiled. "I’m leaving now. But I promise you’ll see me soon, okay?"

The change that moved across Marigold’s face happened slowly. The brightness didn’t disappear all at once but dimmed the way a light dims when the power starts to go, still there but lesser. Her small hands settled in her lap. Her chin dropped slightly.

"I thought mommy would want me with her."

The words hit Seraphine somewhere low and unexpected, right below the sternum, sharp enough that she actually felt it physically. She opened her mouth —

"Don’t worry, Mari." Voren’s voice came from behind her, calm and unhurried, like this was already decided. "Sera will be moving in with us soon."

Seraphine turned her head and looked at him, he met her gaze without flinching. No apology, no qualification. The confidence in it was extraordinary, not arrogant exactly, just completely unbothered by the possibility that he might be wrong.

She held his gaze for a moment, one eyebrow lifting just slightly.

Marigold let out a sigh of relief, but the moment Seraphine was close to the door, she called out. "Mommy."

Seraphine turned to see Marigold’s arms were open. Both of them, stretched out as wide as her small frame allowed, the way children ask for things they want completely and without embarrassment, holding nothing back. 𝒇𝙧𝙚𝓮𝔀𝓮𝒃𝙣𝓸𝒗𝒆𝒍.𝙘𝒐𝒎

Something moved through Seraphine’s chest, warm and sudden and a little frightening in how strong it was. She walked back to the bed without deciding to, sat down, and pulled Marigold into her arms.