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She took a deep shuddering breath and looked up at Nico Last night hadto her, meant so much that she couldn’t bear to sully it with a secret

"Ten years ago I got pregnant It was Kingsley’s I didn’t have the baby I should have told you this o, should have told you before you even kissed ret my choice, but all this ti I was supposed to have Kingsley’s child When I learned about you that feeling finally went away"

Nico only stared at her ashe never expected he would do He kissed her on the forehead

"It went away, because I asley’s child," he said "And you had me, Mistress Nora, and you will always have sley is my father Søren is your ‘Father’ We were y"

"I appreciate your theology," she whispered

He kissed her then, a final kiss, a goodbye kiss The worst kind of kiss

After the kiss, Nico didn’t speak He turned away, got into his car and drove off He didn’t look back when he left her, and she watched him until he disappeared froe, crawled into bed and slept the day away When she awoke it was nearly night in the Black Forest but still evening in America She found her phone and walked with it until she picked up a signal

It rang only once before he answered

"Eleanor?"

"God, I’vemore relieved than she’d ever heard him

"Bavaria," she said "I’m in the Black Forest"

"Bavaria? It’s been teeks and no one’s heard a word fro--"

"Mo but stunned silence

"It was lung cancer," she said, as if it mattered It didn’t

"Little One, I’m so sorry"

"She only had days or hours, they didn’t know That’s why I left so fast I had to be there before she was gone"

"Were you?"

"She was lucid for a day before lapsing into a coma for four days I held her hand while she died" Nora closed her eyes Hertenacity On the fourth night of the watch, Eleanor had fallen asleep bedside, holding her mother’s hand Her mother’s hand hen Eleanor fell asleep By the time she woke up five hours later, it was cold "She wouldn’t have wantedon you for comfort She wouldn’t have wanted you there, even for me Out of respect for her …"