“They are working on your paperwork.”

“Your family’s estate is being restored to your name.”

Clara took a sip of the tea.

“I don’t care about the money,” she said.

“I just want to see the sun.”

“I want to walk in a park.”

“You will do that,” I said.

“Adrian has arranged for a house in Switzerland.”

“It is near a lake.”

“You will have your own garden.”

Clara looked at me, her eyes clear and calm.

“You love him,” she said.

It was not a question.

“I do,” I said.

“And he loves you,” Clara said.

“I can see it in the way he looks at this house.”

“He didn’t look at me that way.”

“Our marriage was a business arrangement between two families.”

“We were young, and we did what we were told.”

“But you are his family now.”

I did not know what to say.

I just reached out and touched her hand.

“Thank you, Clara,” I said.

Later that afternoon, Adrian joined me in the study.

The room smelled of old paper and woodsmoke.
A fire was crackling in the hearth.