The Man in the Doorway
Chapter 02 - The Man in the Doorway
Adrian had imagined returning to Blackwood Manor a hundred different ways. He had pictured his mother greeting him with polished affection, the staff lining the hall, and the silence of his late father’s house settling around him like dust.
He had never imagined finding Emma on the floor.
For one suspended moment, no one moved. Emma’s face was pale, her eyes red from crying, and her black-and-white uniform made her look like a stranger wearing someone else’s life. The woman Adrian remembered had laughed in summer rain, argued with him about books, and refused every expensive gift he offered. She had dreamed of opening a community accounting center with her mother.
She had not belonged on her knees before anyone.
“Emma?” His voice cracked through the foyer.
Vivian rose too quickly. “Adrian, darling, you weren’t expected until next week.”
He ignored her. His gaze remained on Emma. “What are you doing here?”
Emma opened her mouth, but Vivian answered first. “She works here. Unfortunately, not very well.”
Adrian’s jaw tightened. He stepped forward, leaving the two cases beside the door. Every footfall sounded louder than the last.
“Stand up,” he told Emma.
Vivian gave a brittle laugh. “She hasn’t finished cleaning.”
Adrian stopped beside the stain. He looked at the red wine, the unbroken glass on the table, and the untouched cleaning cart several yards away. Then he looked at his mother.
“Did you make her do this?”
“I corrected an employee.”
“No,” he said. “You humiliated her.”
Emma wanted to disappear. Eighteen months earlier, Adrian had written that their relationship had been a mistake, that his family obligations mattered more than a temporary romance. She had read the letter so often the folds had nearly torn apart. She had promised herself that if she ever saw him again, he would not see her broken.
Yet here she was.
Adrian extended his hand.
The simple gesture struck her harder than any apology could have. His fingers were steady, but his eyes held questions, regret, and something that looked dangerously like hope.
Emma hesitated. Accepting his hand would not erase the letter. It would not restore her mother’s reputation or return the months she had spent believing she had been easy to abandon.
Vivian’s voice turned cold. “Adrian, don’t make a scene over a servant.”
He glanced back at her. “Her name is Emma.”
Then he faced Emma again and waited.
May you like
At last, she placed her hand in his.
The instant he pulled her to her feet, Vivian’s face lost its color. She was not shocked because Adrian recognized the maid. She was shocked because, despite everything she had done to separate them, he still looked at Emma as if she were the only person in the room.
