Chapter 9 - The Final Severance
“Julian,” I said, my voice steady, carrying clearly across the quiet market square. “Stop right there.”
Two local constables, who had been patrolling the market near the harbor front, immediately noticed the confrontation and walked briskly toward us, their hands resting on their utility belts.
“Claire... please,” Julian pleaded, dropping to his knees on the damp stones, completely uncaring that people were stopping to watch him. “Look at me. I have nothing left. My father won't speak to me. My mother blames me for losing the estate. Bianca ruined my life. I work sixty hours a week carrying lumber, Claire! I don't have enough to pay my heating bill!”
“You made your choices, Julian,” I said, not moving an inch. “You brought your mistress to our family dinner. You laughed when your mother called me practice. You watched her hold a glass of champagne to celebrate the destruction of our children’s home.”
“I was stupid! I was arrogant!” he sobbed, burying his face in his rough, calloused hands. “I thought I was untouchable! I thought you would always be there! I miss my children, Claire! Please, just let me hear them say hello!”
I looked down at Lily.
“Lily,” I said gently, kneeling beside her. “Do you want to speak to your father?”
Lily looked at Julian. She looked at his trembling hands, his dirty shoes, his desperate, tear-streaked face. Then she remembered the mornings in Boston when he would slam doors because his shirts weren't pressed, the nights he left her crying in her crib because he couldn't be bothered with noise, and the afternoon he stood beside a woman who insulted her mother.
Lily squeezed Noah’s hand tighter and shook her head once, firmly.
“No, Mommy,” Lily said, her voice clear and without hesitation. “He wasn't our daddy. He was just a man who lived in the big house.”
Those words hit Julian like a sledgehammer to the chest. He gasped for air, his shoulders heaving, his entire body shaking on the stones.
The two Scottish constables stepped between us, placing firm hands on Julian’s shoulders.
“Stand up, sir,” Constable Fraser said, his tone stern and unwavering. “We have an international court injunction registered with the Lothian police division regarding your name. You are in direct violation of a child protection order.”
“Please... they’re my children...” Julian wept as the officers pulled him to his feet.
“Not today, sir. You’re coming with us to the station,” the officer replied, guiding him toward the patrol car parked near the pier.
Julian turned his head over his shoulder, his eyes searching mine one last time. “Claire... will you ever forgive me?”
I picked up Noah, balanced the basket of apples on my arm, and took Lily’s hand.
May you like
“I already forgave you, Julian,” I told him quietly as the police car door opened. “That’s why I left you with the life you built for yourself.”
The door shut with a heavy, final thud, and the car pulled away, disappearing down the coastal road into the Scottish fog.
