Chapter 9 - The Final Choice
A month had passed since the night in the CVS.
Sophie was perfectly healthy,
running around the penthouse like a whirlwind.
The legal battles were winding down,
with Vane and his cohorts facing years in prison.
Maxwell had moved his office to the penthouse,
refusing to leave his family for more than a few hours.
But today,
there was a tension in the air.
The lease on Eleanor’s old apartment was officially up.
Her things—the few she had—were sitting in boxes by the door.
"I have to decide,
don't I?"
Eleanor asked,
standing in the middle of the living room.
Maxwell looked up from his laptop.
"Decide what,
Ellie?"
"If I’m staying.
Or if I’m taking Sophie and finding a place of our own."
Maxwell stood up,
his heart sinking.
"I thought...
I thought we were doing well."
"We are,"
she said.
"But this penthouse,
this life...
it’s all yours,
Max.
I need to know if there’s a place for me that isn't just as your 'ex-wife' or 'Sophie’s mother.'"
Maxwell walked over to her,
taking her hands in his.
"I don't want an ex-wife,
Eleanor.
I want a wife."
He reached into his pocket and pulled out a small velvet box.
Inside was the ring she had left on the kitchen island three years ago.
He had kept it in his safe,
a reminder of his greatest failure.
"I don't want to go back to the way things were,"
he said.
"I want a new start.
No secrets.
No mothers.
No lawyers.
Just us."
Eleanor looked at the ring,
then at him.
"You’re asking me to marry you again?"
"I’m asking you to let me be the man you deserved back then."
The room was silent for a long moment.
Sophie was in the other room,
singing a song to her stuffed duck.
The sun was setting,
casting a golden glow over the city.
"Yes,"
Eleanor said,
her voice steady.
"But on one condition."
"Anything,"
Maxwell promised.
"We move.
Somewhere new.
Somewhere that doesn't have the Callahan name on the door."
Maxwell smiled.
"I already bought a house in the Berkshires.
Lots of trees.
No skyscrapers.
And plenty of room for Sophie to run."
Eleanor laughed,
a sound that filled Maxwell with more joy than any business deal ever could.
"You’re always one step ahead,
aren't you?"
"Only when it comes to you,"
he said.
He slipped the ring back onto her finger,
May you like
and this time,
it stayed.
