“Your mother brought her to visit?”
“Yes.”
“That was cruel.”
He shrugged. To his way of thinking, it had been much more cruel when his mother stopped bringing Iola. Some might have thought he would be jealous of the baby, but Zephyr had adored Iola from the very beginning. He had been heartbroken when his mother’s husband had insisted Leda stop bringing his sister to visit when she was two.
But just like when he had begged to be taken with her, his mother turned deaf ears to his pleas to see the little girl he had allowed himself to love.
“I thought she was the most amazing being ever. I was in awe of her.”
“What did she think of you?”
“I don’t know. Her father did not want her to wonder about me, so my mother stopped bringing her on the visits when she was old enough to begin remembering them. My mother only brought my brother a handful of times as an infant for the same reason.”
“Clearly, they don’t want to forget you. Not if your sister insisted you meet her children.”
“I take care of them.” And even his stony heart could be moved by the little ones who called him Uncle Zee.
the only reason they
“Why else?”
reason I’d want you in my life even if I didn’t work with you.” How
“Would you?”
“Yes.”
but he
your brother-in-law work for you?”
“How did you know?”
said you take care of them. Does your brother work
academically brilliant. He’s finishing his
guess, you’ve paid for his
“Naturally.”
and kissed him, far more exuberantly than he had kissed her
idiot. He kissed her back and enjoyed the moment while it lasted, all the while wondering what in the hell was wrong with him that he had shared so
all. He couldn’t give her love and this openness was bound to give her the wrong
Chapter Three
she could from the Acropolis ruins. That, and the fact that visiting hours were over. He could have arranged for special dispensation but
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