Chapter 37 - The Quiet Harvest
Wednesday brought the peak of the autumn harvest across the valley and coastal orchards. The estate’s private apple orchard was heavy with crisp Honeycrisp and Granny Smith apples, their red and green globes glowing in the mid-morning sun.
We spent the day picking fruit with our hands, filling wooden crates while Maisie chased falling leaves across the damp grass. There were no deadlines, no security briefings, and no emergency phone calls.
Adrien climbed an aluminum ladder to reach the highest branches, tossing apples down into the canvas basket I held below him with practiced accuracy.
“Catch!” he called out with a grin, dropping a particularly large, ruby-red apple right into my hands.
“If you drop one on my head, I’m revoking your orchard privileges,” I warned playfully, biting into a crisp slice.
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Adrien climbed down the ladder, stepping close and wiping a speck of dust from my cheek with his thumb. His grey eyes softened, mirroring the golden sunlight filtering through the leaves. “You could revoke everything I own, Evelyn, and I’d still be the richest man on earth.”
We sat together on a wooden bench beneath the trees for lunch, sharing cheese, fresh bread, and cider, surrounded by the quiet beauty of a world we had fought tooth and nail to claim.
