Total pages in book: 100
Estimated words: 95013 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 475(@200wpm)___ 380(@250wpm)___ 317(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 95013 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 475(@200wpm)___ 380(@250wpm)___ 317(@300wpm)
“That’s not all who he is,” I said. “He’s very loving and nurturing. You should see the way he cares for Medusa. I have no doubt he’ll be a great father, and I have no doubt he’d care for your boys like his own if you needed help.”
She turned her attention to Constantine, watching him play with the boys like he was having fun. They’d stopped the monkey game, and now they were playing dinosaurs at the table away from everyone else. He may have seen us talking through the glass and wanted us to have all the time we needed to squash our beef.
“I’m sorry about your mother. She seems so loving and wonderful that I’m sure if she understood her own behavior, she would stop it. She just needs to understand her own disappointment is interfering with her relationship with you.”
“I don’t think it’s that hard to understand. It’s been going on for years.” She took a drink of her wine. “She doesn’t believe in divorce, like most women in Taormina, so she’s not only disappointed I chose the wrong man, she’s disappointed I divorced that very man.”
That didn’t sound like the woman I knew at all, but I had to remember that we all had different sides to ourselves. That every person had a distinct and unique relationship with us, so they knew a particular version. “I’m sorry you’re in this situation, but I’m really glad we had this talk.”
“Yeah, me too.” She looked at me again, and this time, her eyes were free of their usual hostility. Now, there was affection in her gaze, a warmth that made me feel like a friend rather than an enemy. “Let’s start over.” She moved into me and hugged me with one arm.
I hesitated before I reciprocated, not expecting the relationship to accelerate to physical touching so quickly. But I accepted her hug and returned it a millionfold.
When we got home later that night, Constantine greeted Medusa with affection, then took her outside to do her business before bed. He used to have staff who took care of Medusa for him most of the time, but he didn’t struggle to adapt to the change.
When he came back inside, Medusa headed right for the stairs, like she’d been ready for bed for hours.
Constantine walked up to me, his eyes tired but still so sexy. “Looks like you and Beatrice buried the hatchet.”
“Yeah, we did.”
“And from what I could discern, it seems you were responsible for that.”
“Yeah . . . a little bit.”
He smiled at me before he circled his arm around the small of my back and pulled me in for a kiss. “You didn’t have to do that, but thank you.”
I sank into his touch the way I did when we first met. Turned into a pool of melted chocolate from his warm flames. “She’s going to be my sister too. I want things to be good between us.”
He kissed me on the forehead and stepped back.
“But she told me Isabella wasn’t the issue. It was actually your mother.”
“My mother?” he asked, eyebrows rising in surprise.
“Remember when you told me you’re the favorite?”
“Yeah.”
“Well, you aren’t the only one who thinks that.”
When the realization hit him, he gave a sad kind of nod. “I see.”
I shared everything she’d revealed to me that night. Now I was at a crossroads, loving Sofia for the way she treated me, but also disappointed she could neglect her daughter, who needed her more than ever.
Constantine took a second to absorb all that information. He stepped away and paced the room for a few minutes, arms across his chest, his features hardened in their focus. “I said I was the favorite because of the way she would call and overfeed me and light up every time I entered the room. I didn’t realize all of this was happening with Beatrice.” He took a seat on the couch. “I wasn’t there when that asshole took off. Wasn’t there for the divorce. For any of it. So . . . I just missed it all.”
“Yeah, I can see that.”
“Kinda disappointed in my mother, to be honest.”
I moved to the spot beside him. “I was surprised too.”
He was quiet for a while as he relaxed on the couch. A moment later, Medusa came back down the stairs, looked at us with that pissed-off stare, and then gave a quiet whine that clearly said I’m ready for bed.
Constantine gave a quiet chuckle. “All right, baby girl. We’re coming.”
Medusa turned and headed back up the stairs.
“Wish kids liked going to bed like that.”
He gave a slight smile before he gripped my thigh and gave it a squeeze. “We’re going to have a sleepless eighteen years. I’m sure this kid will give me hell as karma, because I was a nightmare for my mother.”