She looked up at him, the three boys still clinging to her, and saw something in his eyes that made him step back—pain tangled with guilt, and a love so deep it hurt to witness.
Vanessa began pacing the room, heels clicking rapidly against the floor, hands clutching her head as her breathing grew erratic.
“Someone explain this to me,” she demanded. “Why are these children acting like this with the housekeeper?”
She spat the last word like an insult.
Ethan snapped his head toward her.
“Don’t talk like that,” he said quietly—but with an authority that left no room for argument.
Then he looked back at Lauren, now sitting on the floor with the boys in her lap, all four of them crying, the children gripping her uniform as if she might vanish if they let go.
The scene was raw. Intimate. Achingly familiar.
Ethan’s chest tightened.
He recognized that bond.
He had seen it once before—long ago, with a woman he had loved and lost far too soon.
“How long have you worked here?” he asked.
Lauren wiped her tears with the back of her hand, her voice barely steady.
“Three weeks.”
He shook his head.
It didn’t make sense.