Page 89 of Sweet Wicked Vows
Florence placed a hand on my shoulder. “I am no fool. I may be old, but I still have my wits. Jaxon never wants to come home, always making excuses. If it weren’t for you, he would never have come home for Christmas.”
The weight swelled in my chest, taking my breath with it.
“He has never brought anyone else home, not even a girlfriend or a friend,” she laughed. “But now I know, he was just waitingto bring therightwoman home. The woman who he truly loves and who truly loves him back. I know he isn’t the easiest of men, you know that better than the rest.”
She could say that again. Jaxon was as easy to figure out as a broken Rubik’s cube.
“None of them are easy,” Florence continued. “Olivier being the exception to the rule. But I can see it, you know. I can see how much love there is between you.”
I needed to leave.
I needed to get out of the damn kitchen.
Florence squeezed my shoulder. “Just promise me one thing?”
I managed to nod, not trusting myself to speak.
“Promise me that you will visit more. I understand you both have very busy lives, but I miss my family when they are gone. So, promise me that you will come home at least twice a year.”
“I promise.” The lie slipped through the wedge in my throat.
“And when the time comes and you have children of your own, they can spend their summers right here.” Florence grinned widely. “All the family under one roof.Ce sera parfait.”
I realized there in that second that being with his family, being welcomed by them with open arms, meant it wouldn’t just be Jaxon I’d be saying goodbye to come August.
Chapter TwentyEight
I checked the sky overhead to see if pigs were actually flying.
“What are you looking for?” Frederic snapped.
“Nothing,” I smirked. “But if you could repeat what you said, I would very much like to record it and set it as my new ringtone.”
Frederic flipped me off.
“That’s naughty!” Penny shouted from across the gardens. The child missed nothing. She was busy playing tea parties with Evelyn, who she instantly took a shine to. With only uncles, and a mother who barely cared, Penny was starved for female attention.
The two of them set up a little picnic area, alongside Penny’s twenty million teddy bears, and were happy in their own world.
Even sipping on fake tea and eating imaginary cake, Evelyn was breathtaking.
Watching her from the corner of my eye, dressed in a floral dress that rivaled the flowers in the garden, made the little resilience I had left to keep her at bay dwindle into nearly nothing.
I tried to re-establish our boundaries after the harassment news broke.
It was a massive risk having her here amongst my family. They welcomed her more warmly than they did me, for crying out loud. Seeing her slotting into place with them as if she were themissing piece of our family jigsaw chipped away at the wall I built between us.
I willed myself to stay strong.
But fuck, that woman knew how to wiggle her way back into my mind, planting herself firmly in the forefront until she was all I could think about once again.
“You overstepped by releasing that shit to the press about Lexington. You had no right.” I focused back on Frederic. “Did you truly think I wouldn’t have done it?”
“Honestly? No. However, I stand by what I said. I shouldn’t have done it myself.”
“Then why did you?”
“When you gave me a copy of the files on Zhang’s computer, I found the harassment ones amongst them and sent it to you on Thanksgiving.” Frederic kept his eyes on his daughter. “You ignored me. You were too busy playing happy families with your temporary wife.”