Chapter 10 - A Morning That Belonged to Them
Two months later, the first snow of winter blanketed the Long Island Sound in a clean, blinding white.
Inside the kitchen of the Alpine estate, the smell of pancakes, fresh coffee, and melted butter filled the air.
Clara stood at the stove wearing an oversized flannel shirt that belonged to Marcus, flipping a golden-brown pancake onto a ceramic plate.
A pair of strong arms wrapped around her waist from behind, and a heavy, warm chin rested comfortably on her shoulder.
“If you burn those, I’m calling the health inspector,” Marcus murmured against her neck, kissing the spot just below her ear.
“You’re executive chef today, Mr. Hail, so technically you’d be inspecting yourself,” Clara laughed, leaning back against his chest.
From the kitchen table, a small voice piped up.
“Cece! My pancake needs more blue babies!”
Clara turned in Marcus’s arms, smiling as she looked down at Lily, who was sitting in her booster seat with flour on her nose, holding a fork like a Viking spear.
“Coming right up, Princess,” Clara said.
Marcus reached down, scooping a handful of fresh blueberries from the bowl and dropping them onto Lily’s plate, before looking back up at Clara with a look so entirely devoid of the cold billionaire armor he used to wear that it still made her breath catch.
Seventeen dollars and eighty-six cents in her checking account felt like a lifetime ago.
She didn't need seventeen dollars anymore. She had a house that echoed with laughter, a niece who called her name before the sun came up, and a man who looked at her as if she were the only treasure in a world made of stone.
Marcus kissed her softly on the lips, right there in the sunny kitchen, while Lily banged her fork against the table and cheered.
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Some fairy tales don't start with glass slippers or royal balls.
Some of them start when a woman with empty pockets stands up to a billionaire, refuses to let a child take the blame for someone else's shame, and ends up owning the only thing that ever truly mattered: his heart.
