The Officer's Runaway Wife & Secret Son novel Chapter 285

Clara was in the middle of ordering some hydrangeas when her phone suddenly chimed with a notification.

It was from Emily, a short message of just a dozen or so words:

[Clara, it's getting cold. Make sure to take good care of yourself and Felix.]

It came entirely out of the blue and was completely baffling.

Clara glanced at the indoor thermometer, feeling a bit puzzled.

Heron Bay had been warming up; it was currently seventy-three degrees, and even the breeze felt warm. Besides, Emily and Daniel were flying over in just a couple of days for Felix's birthday party. Why would she send something like this?

She replied with a question mark, but it was like tossing a stone into the ocean—there was no response.

"Mommy, this marker is out of ink."

Clara snapped out of her thoughts, put her phone down, and grabbed a fresh watercolor marker from the holder. "Here, use this one."

The living room carpet was covered in dark blue cardstock.

Those were the birthday invitations Felix had picked out himself—an ocean theme, featuring silver whales stamped on a blue background.

The little guy sat on the rug, painstakingly writing names on the invitation cards stroke by stroke.

He didn't know how to spell many words yet, so when he encountered difficult names, he would spell them out phonetically. And if he couldn't manage that, he would simply draw a little picture in the name slot to represent the person.

Simon and Alex Thorne were sitting on the other side of the carpet, sifting through a pile of garish balloons and ribbons.

"This gold one won't work; let's use the mint green ones," Simon said, tossing a sequined balloon aside in disgust. "It's way too tacky."

Alex good-naturedly retrieved it. "It's supposed to be a golden beach. Doesn't that fit the ocean theme perfectly?"

"Golden beach, my ass. It looks like the gaudy gold tooth of some tacky nouveau riche."

As the two bickered back and forth, Clara ignored them and leaned in to check on Felix's progress.

"How many have you done?" she asked.

"Just two left," Felix replied without looking up, clutching the marker with intense concentration. "One for Jaxon, and one for Mira."

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