He reached up and adjusted her coat, tucking it tighter around her shoulders. His tone was gentle now. “It’s snowing and freezing out here. Go inside and warm up. I’ll wait a little longer.”
Charlotte hesitated before reaching for his hand, but just as she did, Evelyn arrived. She stepped through the gate and into the courtyard, only to find Christopher and Charlotte standing side by side, their attention entirely on one another.
Evelyn quickly lowered her gaze, biting her lip. She said nothing, quickening her pace until she reached the center of the snowy courtyard. There, she dropped to her knees without hesitation, her movement precise and practiced.
This was Christopher’s punishment. Yesterday, after an argument with Charlotte that escalated into harsh words, he had decreed that Evelyn should kneel in the snow for the entire day.
No one could defy Christopher—not even Evelyn.
Hearing the noise behind them, Christopher and Charlotte turned their heads. Christopher immediately pulled his hand back from Charlotte and shoved it into his coat pocket, his tone colder than the winter wind.
“Where were you?”
Evelyn’s voice was weak, her breath barely visible in the icy air. “There was something important I had to take care of.”
Christopher’s eyes swept over her pale face, his jaw tightening. His hand flexed inside his pocket, betraying the storm of questions swirling in his mind.
Who had she gone to see? Why was she back so late? And why was she wearing so little in this kind of weather?
But when he finally spoke, the words came out stiff and unforgiving. “Do you know what you did wrong?”
Yesterday, Evelyn had shocked everyone by lashing out at Charlotte, using crude, biting words that left Charlotte shaken—so shaken, in fact, that it triggered a mild heart episode.
Christopher had been forced to cancel his meetings and rush Charlotte to the hospital. He’d spent the entire day apologizing, culminating in tonight’s city-wide fireworks display to make her birthday unforgettable. Only after all that had Charlotte forgiven the incident.
To appease her further, Christopher had declared Evelyn would be punished—kneeling in the snow all day. In truth, it was more of a symbolic gesture. He hadn’t intended to take it seriously.