Second family

Fiona’s POV

I sat on the edge of my dresser chair, my foot tapping anxiously on the floor as I tried to keep myself calm.

Suddenly, there was a knock on the door. Before I could respond, one of the maids rushed in, her face pale and anxious.

“Ma’am,” she panted, “Miss Phoebe is here, she's downstairs.”

I shot up from my chair so quickly that the perfume bottle I was holding slipped from my hand and rolled across the table. Phoebe was here. After all the messages I'd been sending to her, all the waiting—she was finally here.

Without another word, I hurried out of the room, my heart pounding in my chest. When I reached the bottom of the stairs, there she was.

Phoebe stood in the hallway, her back to me, glancing around the house as if she had just returned from a long vacation and nothing had changed. A slight smile curved her lips, and that smile made something inside me snap.

“Phoebe,” I called out in a low voice.

She turned to face me, the same little smile still on her lips. Her cal