The Cherished Wife

Charles glanced at Ronald, who immediately came over and handed him a piece of paper and a pen. Charles quickly sketched a few letters on the paper and then passed it to Janice. "When can it be ready?" he asked.

Janice paused for a moment. "When do you need it?"

"Before New Year's," Charles replied, glancing at his watch. "It's getting late. I'll wait for your good news."

"Understood," Janice said with a smile, gesturing politely as she watched Charles leave with his usual composed stride.

Narrowing her eyes, she looked down at the letters he had written-C&N. She wondered who this lucky woman was to be treated so thoughtfully by Charles.

Milo had a simple purpose for his visit to Brookville-to gauge Charles' intentions and to see how much tolerance Charles had for the situation.

encounter to be so tense. It seemed Charles was not interested in playing along

direct. Could it be that he genuinely felt something for Winter? Perhaps they had done something that crossed Charles's boundaries? "Why did you come this time, Milo?" Clarisse asked, puzzled by Milo's silence since her

you worried I'm not

up at Clarisse. It had been six months since he last saw her, and she seemed to have aged quite a bit, which surprised him. Pressing his lips

care of her since she was young. Sometimes, you're kinder to her than

with Charlie," Milo replied. He was making allusions to the matter with Charles, and his voice still carried a hint of

"Didn't you just arrive in Brookville? How did you meet Charlie so quickly? What

see him, you could've told me. We could've gone to the Hoffman residence or had

Milo snapped, clearly displeased. "I'm still Charlie's uncle. What's

I meant. You know that Charlie and I don't have the best relationship; and he's not very close to you either," Clarisse explained. "He still