(Ruby's POV)
The rain didn't stop for three days.
I watched it from the library window, the glass cold against my forehead. The garden was a lake. The driveway was a river. The sky was a bruise, purple and gray, pressing down on the manor like it wanted to crush us.
Nicholas was in the study, making calls. Contractors. Lawyers. Architects. The rebuild was already underway, even in the rain. He said he didn't want to waste any more time.
I understood the feeling.
My father's confession sat in my chest like a stone. He was dying. Catherine was gone. And I was here, in a house that had been a prison and was becoming a home, trying to figure out who I was without the weight of fear pressing down on me.
Mrs. MacLeod found me in the library.
"There's someone at the gate," she said.
I turned from the window. "Who?"
"Catherine."
My heart didn't race. My hands didn't shake. I just felt... tired.
"Let her in."
Mrs. MacLeod hesitated. "Are you sure?"
"I'm sure."
