Chapter 0420
“Triple, then,” Noah persisted. “Just name your price.”
I could see the annoyance growing on the couple’s faces, their body language becoming defensive. The husband began tugging his wife away, both grumbling about entitled parents.
“Noah, stop,” I hissed, mortified. My cheeks burned with embarrassment. “It’s fine. We don’t need the toy set that badly. Let’s just go.”
“But—”
Thankfully, the vendor, sensing the tension, intervened just as Noah was about to chase the other couple down with all the cash he had on him, including his expensive watch.
“It’s sweet that your husband wants to spoil your baby,” the vendor, a kind-faced older woman with square glasses and short-cropped gray hair, said with a gentle smile. “I have some other lovely selections if you’re interested. Perhaps something even more special?”
My cheeks burned even hotter at her words. He’s not my husband, I wanted to say. Not anymore. But the words stuck in my throat as I glanced at Noah, whose face had turned an impressive shade of red.
Our eyes met, and for a moment, I saw a flicker of something—regret? Longing?—in his gaze before he looked away.
Clearing his throat, Noah turned to the vendor. “What else do you have? I’d like to see your best pieces, please.”
The toy set Noah eventually picked out was just as beautiful as the first—a set of wooden blocks with letters and numbers, hand-painted in soft pastel colors.
“We’ll take this one.” He pulled out several bills, far more than the set was worth. “Keep the change,” he told the vendor as we walked away, leaving her beaming and counting the stack behind us.
Once we were out of earshot, I turned to him. “You really didn’t need to go to all that trouble. I think the other couple got a bit annoyed… And that was way too much money for a toy set, Noah.”
Noah shrugged, his expression unapologetic. “I don’t care who gets annoyed at me so long as you and Melody get what you want. I’ve spent enough time not treating you like a princess, Hannah. I need to make up for it.”
His words hit me like a punch to the gut, reminding me all too well of the night of the baby shower when he had showered me with affection and called me his princess. Tears pricked at my eyes at the reminder of that night—and the gauzy pink dress torn to ribbons the very next day.
I looked away, not wanting him to see how affected I was.
“Hannah?” Noah nudged my elbow. “Are you okay? Did I say something wrong?”
I shook my head and offered a watery smile, gesturing to a nearby bench. “I think I need to sit down, that’s all,” I lied. “My back hurts.”
“Oh. Alright,” Noah stepped back from the stroller, relinquishing control to me once again. “I’m just going to run and find a restroom. Wait here.”
Nodding, I plopped down on the bench and watched him jog off into the crowd. Melody began to fuss, so I gently cooed to her and rolled her stroller back and forth, soothing her.
Looking at her little face, her new toys nestled in the storage compartment below her, I almost felt myself crack. My girls… Our daughter… Princess…
It was almost too much, seeing Noah like this with our child. Seeing him so… alive. So happy. So different from the cold man I’d been married to.
Would that change once I told him the truth about my rebirth, I wondered? Would his view of me change once I shared that part of myself? I hated the thought of doing anything to wipe that smile off his face.
Suddenly, I felt something cold being pressed into my hand, ripping me out of my thoughts. Startlingly, I looked up in shock to see Noah standing over me with a cone of ice cream in one hand. When I looked down, there was another cone—a pink one—in my own.
“Strawberry cheesecake is your favorite, right?” Noah asked, cocking his head.
A tear slipped down my cheek before I could stop it.
“Hannah?”
“You remembered…”