Chapter 481: Eight Years Late

Lily’s teacher caught Arianne at the gate before the twins even reached it, calling Lily "the best reader in the class" and asking if she’d consider reading aloud at the spring assembly. Lily’s whole face lit up at the idea, already listing which book she’d pick before Arianne had finished thanking the teacher.

"Everyone wants to sit with her at lunch now," Leo said, matter-of-fact, tugging his backpack strap into place. "I don’t mind."

"Do people want to sit with you too?"

"Some." He shrugged, then smiled anyway, a small one that reached his eyes before it reached his mouth. "Kyle mostly. And whoever Lily tells to."

Arianne took his hand and Lily’s in the other, and they’d made it almost to the car when Lily stopped walking.

"That’s Nicholas," Lily said, pointing. "He’s in Room 6."

Diana Blackwood stood near the drop-off circle with a boy who had to be seven now, dark-haired and gangly in the way boys got right before a growth spurt evened them out. Diana saw Arianne at the same moment and froze for half a second before she managed something like a smile.

"Arianne." She said it carefully, like she’d practiced the greeting more than once. "I didn’t know your two went here too."

"Since kindergarten." Arianne kept her voice even. Lily had already crossed the distance between them, peppering Nicholas with questions about his homeroom teacher and whether he liked the class hamster, and Leo trailed after her, saying less but listening to every answer.

Diana glanced between the three of them, then back at Arianne. "Would you have a few minutes? There’s a cafe just down the block. I’d like to talk, if you’re willing."

Arianne glanced at the twins, fully absorbed now in comparing notes with a boy they’d just met, and decided the conversation would happen whether she agreed to it gracefully or not. "A few minutes."

The cafe was half empty at this hour, sunlight cutting flat lines across the tables near the window. The twins ordered their usual slice of cake to split and two milkshakes, Nicholas asked for a parfait, and the three of them settled into their own conversation almost immediately, close enough to reach but far enough not to hear every word. Arianne and Diana ordered coffee they didn’t touch.

"I owe you an apology I should have given eight years ago," Diana said, both hands around her cup like it was the only thing keeping them steady. "I knew Dominic was engaged when I met him. I want to say that plainly, because I spent a long time telling myself I hadn’t really known, and that was a lie I told myself more than anyone else."

Arianne said nothing. She’d learned a long time ago that silence pulled more truth out of people than questions did.

"I fell for him anyway. I told myself it wasn’t my fault, that I couldn’t help it, and some part of me even blamed you for not seeing what was happening under your own roof. That was unfair. You had no reason to be watching for me." Diana’s mouth twisted, something between a smile and an apology of its own. "The affair went on for almost a year. I knew exactly what it would cost you when it finally came out at the engagement banquet, and I let it happen anyway."

"You told him you were pregnant before that." Arianne kept her tone flat, not quite a question.

"I did. I told him I’d walk away if he wanted me to. I knew his family would never accept me, and he was still engaged to you at the time. I meant it when I said I’d go." Diana’s eyes dropped to the table. "He chose me because I was carrying his heir, not because he loved me more. You’d already told him you wouldn’t have children with him. That was the whole of it. I’ve had eight years to make peace with knowing exactly where I ranked in that decision, and some days I still haven’t."

Arianne turned her cup a quarter turn, watching the surface of the coffee settle. "I don’t know if I can forgive you for it."

"I’m not asking you to. Not today, maybe not ever." Diana’s voice didn’t waver, though her hands had gone tight around the cup. "I only needed to say it to your face instead of leaving it as something you’d heard about secondhand for the rest of your life."

"Does Dominic know you’re here?"

"Dominic doesn’t know most things about me anymore." Diana managed a smile, thin and a little worn at the edges. "I filed for divorce three weeks ago. It’s done, or it will be soon enough."

Arianne didn’t answer right away, watching the twins across the table, Lily counting off milkshake flavors on her fingers while Nicholas nodded along like each one mattered.

"I always knew I wasn’t the one he wanted," Diana said, her voice lower now, though not quite defeated. "I told myself the heir would be enough to make up the difference eventually. It wasn’t. I gave eight years to a marriage that never once felt like mine, and I’m done pretending that was a fair trade for anything."

"What happens to Nicholas?"

"He stays with me. Dominic hasn’t fought me on that, which tells you most of what you need to know about how much room he ever made for either of us." Diana looked over at her son, laughing now at something Lily had said, and her whole face softened in a way it hadn’t since they’d sat down. "He’s the only part of the last eight years I’d do again without hesitating."

Arianne watched Nicholas laugh, easy and unguarded, nothing in him yet that carried the weight of what his parents had built and broken around him.

"I’m not offering you anything," Diana said. "I just wanted you to know before you heard it from somewhere else. Whatever comes next, I intend for it to be something I actually chose."

Arianne set her cup down, finished but for the last cold inch of it. "Thank you for telling me yourself."

It wasn’t forgiveness, and they both seemed to understand that it didn’t need to be, not today. Lily and Nicholas were already trading numbers for a promised playdate, and Leo watched them do it, the same small smile from the school gate still on his face.