Chapter 15 - CLAIRE DOES NOT RETURN TO HARCOURT HOUSE
Our townhouse renovation still needed three weeks.
Claire rented a furnished house.
Not a hotel.
Not my mother’s estate.
Not my penthouse downtown.
A small detached home near her obstetrician and Noah’s pediatrician.
Three bedrooms.
Tiny backyard.
No staff quarters.
I asked:
"Where does security stay?"
She answered:
"They don’t."
I frowned.
"Graham."
"One car outside?"
"No."
"Claire."
"One man on call if you need one. Not sitting outside my kitchen window."
I stopped.
She was right.
My work created security concerns sometimes.
But I had been using those concerns as universal justification for people around us.
We compromised.
A discreet contracted patrol checked the block at night.
No bodyguard inside unless requested.
Claire kept her own keys.
Her own medication.
Her own schedule.
No household ledger.
I moved in too.
But only after she said:
"I want you there."
May you like
That sentence mattered.
Marriage did not make every room automatically mine if trust had been damaged.
