AN: I'm purposely not responding to comments for a while, okay? Because I don't want to give anything away, and I'm really bad at that, esp when I respond to comments. You guys are flipping your shit and I want to answer you, but I don't want to spoil anything. All I will say is that you all know I'm an HEA writer, so you must have faith that, by the time I write "The End," all will be well, in one way or another. I'm not going to say anything else, okay? Okay. So! Rolling right along...

🌙💔🌙💔🌙💔🌙💔🌙💔🌙

Chiara let herself into the cottage and just stood for a minute, catching her breath. She nearly jumped out of her skin when she heard a knock, and she knew who it would be. She considered not answering, because she knew she was weak, and not in any shape to see anyone, but she wanted to see him, that was the thing. She didn't want to be alone.

Plus, it was rude.

She opened the door and let Ned in, pulling him in by his shirt and stepping into his arms, letting her breath all the way out as his arms closed around her. she laid her cheek against his shoulder and let the tears come, though she'd already cried plenty.

"Ah, there," she heard him say. "I'm so sorry, love, so so sorry. I don't know how he could've done it to you, not when he loves you as much as he does."

"He obviously doesn't love me as much as we thought he did," Chiara whispered against his chest.

"No, that's wrong," Ned said, releasing her and leading her to the couch. "I know him, and I know how having you in his life changed him, changed his heart." He put an arm around her and pulled her close. "Did you notice anything strange about him around the time it happened?"

Chiara shook her head. "No. We were so happy, Ned." She choked back a sob, holding the back of her hand to her mouth. She turned into his body. "She basically threw me out of the house, and he just stood there and let her! And I've been getting the rose garden ready for next spring, for our wedding, and now she's going to get married there instead, probably."

"Let me make you a nice cuppa, yeah?"

Chiara nodded, letting him rise and go to her cozy little kitchen and root around for tea bags and plug in the kettle while she waited. She didn't need tea, but she knew he needed to make it for her.

He returned with two mugs and set them down on the table to cool.

"Thanks," she murmured.

They sat in silence for a few minutes, after which Ned clicked the TV on and found a soccer match. Chiara didn't care, she just wanted the closeness. They drank their tea and watched soccer, though she wasn't really into soccer and didn't know what was going on.

"I think I want to go take a shower, okay?" she said after a while.

"Didn't you already take one earlier? Before we started watching the movie?"

She nodded. "But I need another one," she explained. "I feel like I need to wash what happened off me, you know?"

Ned looked at her and nodded. "Go on, then."

Chiara hesitated. "How long can you stay?" she asked.

"I'll stay tonight," he assured her. He patted the couch.

"No, you don't have to," Chiara explained. "I got sheets and stuff put on my dad's bed, you can sleep in there."

"Sounds perfect," Ned said.

So Chiara went and took her second shower of the day, tying up her hair and scrubbing at her face and body, trying to wash the past few hours away. The first few weeks of January kept playing in a loop in her brain, and she tried to think of when it could've happened, but she had no idea.

How many days had she slept at the cottage?

When had she gone to Manchester?

But hadn't LeeAnne been in London that whole time?

But couldn't he have driven to London to see her while she, Chiara, was gone?

While her sister was with her, though?

But could he have had sex with that woman while she was here in the cottage? So close to the big house? How close was the cottage to his bedroom? She could actually see his bedroom from where she slept. Just the thought of Drew with that girl lying under him, moaning her pleasure, made Chiara feel sick.

She turned off the water and got out, putting on fresh PJs and going back out to the lounge. Ned was still on the sofa, watching a movie now.

"You ready for bed, love, or you want to watch something for a bit?"

She popped some popcorn and sat next to him, finishing the movie, though she couldn't have told anyone what it was about when it was finally over.

"You think you can sleep now?"

She nodded. "I'm ready to try, anyway," she told him with a wan smile.

He walked her to her room and sat on the bed as she got settled.

"God, Ned, this is like a nightmare, you know?"

"I know, I know, and I'm sorry," he soothed, smoothing her hair away from her face.

"Good night, Chiara."

He began to rise.

"Ned?" She grasped at his hand.

"If I asked you to stay, would you?" Her voice was suddenly rusty and shy. "I'm not asking for--anything, you understand? I just don't want to be alone."

Ned bit his lips together and looked around the room, thinking. He looked at her face for a few seconds. "Just a minute, yeah?"

She nodded, and he left, returning in less than a minute with the duvet she'd recently spread on her father's bed.

He lay down on the other side of her bed, on top of the blankets she was under, pulling the duvet up to cover himself.

"This okay?" he asked.

She nodded. "And Ned?"

"Yeah?"

"Thanks."

"Night, love."

🌙⭐️🌙⭐️🌙⭐️🌙⭐️🌙⭐️🌙

From his room, Drew saw the light go out in Chiara's room and closed his eyes. He hoped Chiara was able to sleep. He would never forget the look on her face, not if he lived to be a hundred.

His door opened, and his heart leapt for a moment, until he heard LeeAnne's horrible, annoying, high pitched voice.

"I got Nicholle to keep the baby tonight so we could spend some time together," she said, and he could tell she was smiling before he turned around from the window.

He did, and she was. She was wearing a baby doll nightie and carrying a bottle of wine and two glasses.

Was she kidding?

"No," Drew said, shaking his head. "Look, I know what we agreed to and everything, but I'm so not up to this tonight, okay? You just do my head in, and I'm not up for it tonight."

LeeAnne pouted, hand with the glasses on her hip. "Oh, come on, am I so awful? We have so much to talk about, don't we?"

"Really?" Drew advanced on her, suddenly furious. "What would you like to talk about? How you tossed the woman I love out of my house on her arse like she's rubbish? Did you see her face?"

He stopped less than a foot away from her, making her take a compensatory step back.

"Excuse me," she said, trying to sound confident. "It's our house now, or have you already forgotten?"

"And what about your house in Los Angeles?"

"Nicholle's going to broker it for me," LeeAnne explained. "I'm going to let her keep ten percent as a realtor's fee, and she'll put the rest in the bank for me."

"What about Sienna?"

"What about her? I told you, I'm signing her over to Gary."

"What, like she's a car? And aren't you going to give some of the money to her?" Drew's voice was incredulous. "She's the reason Gars bought you the house in the first place."

"Fuck no, why would I do that?" Now LeeAnne sounded incredulous. "I negotiated for that house, fair and square, it's mine. Gary's a multimillionaire, Sienna will be well cared for, won't she?"

"And you're fine to just, give her away?" Now Drew's voice held only curiosity.

"I'm not giving her away, I'm entrusting her to her father," LeeAnne said harshly. "So spare me your sanctimonious bullshit. She'll be loved her whole life, what's the problem?"

"You don't give a shit about that baby," Drew said in a low voice. "She was a commodity to you, an object with a dollar sign. You mined her for what she was worth, and now you're finished with her, pure and simple. How do I know you won't do the same thing with this one?"

"Are you kidding?" LeeAnne smiled at him like an angel. "This one's worth so much more. You've got ten times the money little old Gary has, and I'm going to be your fucking wife." She patted her belly. "Sienna was a golden child. This one is platinum all the way."

"You disgust me," Drew said, turning away. "Now get the fuck out. I couldn't bear the thought of you breathing next to me, let alone accidentally touching you in the night."

"Suit yourself," she shrugged, breasts bouncing fetchingly.

Drew wasn't fetched, not in the least.

"Just remember, Drew baby, that I'll be watching you like a hawk. If you don't get it from me, you're not going to get it from anyone, you got that? So no sneaking a side piece of ass in here on the sly, no grabbing any from the crowd at a show." She got right up in his face, so close he could see her perfect, porcelain skin, and smell her horrible, expensive perfume. "And for sure no getting it from that fatso that's sleeping in that cottage over there, is that clear?"

She turned and walked back toward the door, hips swinging as she went. "God knows what you ever saw in that wobbly ass and thunder thighs anyway."

"She's a hundred times the woman you'll ever be," he said.

LeeAnne turned to face him from the door. "Yeah right," she answered. "That's why I'm carrying this baby in my belly and marrying you and she's bawling her ugly eyes out over there all alone." She gave a theatrical little gasp, covering her mouth with a manicured hand. "Oops, I forgot, she's not alone, is she?

"Night, Andrew, sleep well."

She gave a little laugh and turned and left.