CHAPTER FIFTY-SIX

Claire bid Mr. Stevens good night, ready to leave.

"There's no way I'm letting you leave at this hour while we have enough rooms for everyone in this house," Mr. Stevens said.

"See? I told you he won't agree," Bruno whispered in her ear.

"Now I understand where your grandsons have got this obstinacy from. I think it's strictly genetic," Claire said with a smile. The two gentlemen laughed delightfully. "Okay, I guess I don't have a choice." She chose to stay.

The rest of the evening went uneventfully, and by the time Claire had retired to her respective room, Ryan wasn't home yet. She got up abruptly, feeling upset, and stood up by the large window. It had the perfect view of anyone who went in and out of the mansion.

Claire hadn't any clue on what upset her more. Was it the fact that he wasn't home yet?

Or that he'd left with Doris?

Or maybe both?

She kept pacing hence and forth inside that huge Victorian-style bedroom, that according to Bruno, it used to be their mother's.

For a momen