The first vial glanced off of his shoulder and smashed against the table; Noble flinched. "Stop it," Noble said. Against his better judgment, he said, "I never said I was over you." He said he couldn't do it anymore, by which he meant — he couldn't get left by her again. He should have changed his mind.

It didn't matter that he'd changed it now, and maybe he should not have written her, but it was evident enough in the swell of her belly that she was happy with Grimstone.