Callum’s gaze kept drifting toward me. But when he saw that I kept my head down and stayed silent, his expression darkened.
After dinner, I tried to say I needed to help my younger siblings with their homework so I could sleep in their room.
But my mother-in-law dragged me back toward the master bedroom and shooed the giggling siblings away in a low voice. “Don’t disturb your sister-in-law and brother.”
Turning to me with a grin full of implication, she said, “You’re shy, aren’t you? You’ve waited long enough for your husband. Hurry now, let me hold a grandson by next year.”
I pressed my lips together. Not wanting to disappoint her, I forced myself to enter the bedroom.
I planned to come up with a reason to sleep separately, but the moment I stepped inside, I froze.
Callum sat stiffly at the table, his expression cold and unreadable.
He slowly lifted his eyes at the sound of the door opening, his gaze like ice.
In his hand was a crumpled copy of my application letter to join the National Rural Service Program and a divorce agreement.
Suddenly, my mind went completely blank.
Elara's POV
He slapped the letter down on the table, his voice cold enough to frost over. “What is this?”
Then something seemed to click in his mind. “No wonder you were acting weird today. First, you jumped to conclusions about Briar and me. Then at dinner, when we were talking, you didn’t even get jealous.”
His face twisted with sudden anger. “So, this is it. You’re planning to divorce me and run off! You’re a woman. Why would you go to such a remote place alone? Someone must be taking you there, right? Who is he? How long have you two been together?”
The absurdity of it almost made me laugh. He had built a whole life with another woman in Washington, and yet here he was accusing me of cheating.
I calmly walked forward, picked up the application letter and the divorce papers. “I originally planned to go to the Northwest to find you. That’s why I had someone draft the letter. And the divorce agreement doesn’t belong to me. I was helping someone else deliver it. I’m giving it back tomorrow.”
Callum stared at me, skeptical at first, but when he saw my expression hadn’t changed, the frost on his face finally melted. He let out a relieved laugh and said, “I knew it. You waited for me all these years, loved me all these years, how could you possibly divorce me?”