Find me in your labyrinth (Stella and Jonathan) novel Chapter 2604

Sylvia reached the historic town around noon. A glance at the navigation showed that she was still over an hour away from the address Grace had sent, so she decided to stop for lunch.

In the spring, the town was enveloped in blossoming peach and plum trees, its whitewashed walls and dark-tiled roofs a picturesque scene at every turn. Tourists thronged the streets.

Sylvia found a clean restaurant and, finding the ground floor full, went upstairs.

From her seat by the window, she could see into the old building across the way, where people sat in small groups, sipping tea and listening to music. They didn’t look like tourists; they seemed to be locals.

A local C City folk song, with its gentle, restrained melody, drifted over like the sound of a babbling brook. It mingled with the distant beat of drums and the cheerful noise of the town. Closing her eyes, she was overcome by a feeling of serene contentment.

Familiar places naturally evoke powerful memories. The restaurant wasn't far from the alley with the bookstore she had visited before, but Sylvia only cast a distant glance over the rooftops, making no move to go there.

After lunch, she got back in her car and headed for the address Grace had sent.

...

Two hours earlier, at the Jarvis estate.

Old Mr. Jarvis finished a phone call and summoned Gabriel to his study. “Vivian’s back,” he said with a smile. “She just called me. She knows you’re in C City and would like you to visit.”

Gabriel was taken aback. “Grace?”

“Yes. It’s been many years since you’ve seen each other, hasn’t it?” Old Mr. Jarvis asked.

A flicker of nostalgia crossed Gabriel’s face. “It certainly has.”

After his parents died, Old Mr. Quintin had brought his daughter to stay at the Jarvis estate for a long time. Grace was only about twenty then—beautiful, vibrant, and gentle. She spent every day with him, trying to pull him out of the shadow of his parents’ deaths.

She told him stories, shared details of her own love life, and confided in the boy, who wasn't even ten, just how much she loved that man. They would climb the mountains together and sit at the summit, overlooking the ranges below. He would remain silent, and she wouldn’t speak either, the two of them often sitting like that for hours.

He carefully pressed his hand against it and felt something stir inside, a small kick against his palm that startled him.

“It’s moving,” he whispered in awe.

Grace’s face broke into a radiant smile. “Yes, she’s saying hello. It means she likes you.”

He was even more amazed.

“Last night, I dreamed of a little girl following me,” Grace continued happily. “So I know it’s a baby girl. When she’s born, you have to love her and protect her.”

He nodded, still a bit dazed. “I’ll protect her.”

Grace’s smile grew wider, erasing the faint trace of sorrow that always seemed to linger in her eyes. She spoke to her belly, “Did you hear that, my love? Gab is going to protect you.”