B00CQUPUKW EBOK (34 page)

“He pressed charges against you?  A child?”  Disbelief rang in his voice.

“He was tired of the local kids stealing from him.  He was making an example out of me,” she said.  “Luckily for me, my case worker knew the owner of the store and she persuaded him to drop the charges.  Since my mother was nowhere to be found, I was placed in foster care.”

“Tell me about your life in foster care.”  

“Some were good,” she said.  “Others not so good.  I moved around a lot.  During that time, my mother came back into the picture and wanted me, but my caseworker found out that the man she was living with was a registered sex offender, so the courts denied her petition, and the two of them took off.”

“Dear God.  To think of what could have happened to you if she’d won custody.”

Kaya shuddered in his arms.  “When I was sixteen, I was placed with Mrs. Jackson.  She was nice to me and she taught me how to cook.  I stayed with her until I was eighteen and no longer a ward of the state.  She died a couple years ago.”

“I’m so sorry.”  His voice was barely a whisper.  “Did you ever try to find your mother?”

Kaya traced a finger down the cool surface of the glass.  “I hired a PI once.  I just wanted to know why she couldn’t love me, why she hated me so much.  He found her in New Orleans dancing in a nightclub.  She always wanted to be a dancer.  She’s very beautiful.  Anyway, she told the PI that she didn’t have any children.”

“Oh, Kaya.”  Bryce held her tightly to his chest, his body shaking on a sob.  “I’m so, so sorry you had such a horrible childhood.  I will make up for it.  I promise, darling.”  He turned her around and pressed her head into his chest, his tears falling on her face, melting into hers. 

Kaya held on to him like her life depended on it.  She had been abandoned and rejected so many times, by so many people—her father, her mother, her foster parents, and Jack.  She couldn’t lose Bryce, too.  She was so deeply and helplessly in love with him.  He said he cared about her, but he couldn’t say he loved her, because deep down she knew he was still in love with Pilar.

While they were having tea at the country club, Michelle had told her about the difficult path she and Erik had taken to get to where they were today.  Michelle said she’d been patient with Erik because she knew he’d been in love with, and then hurt by his first wife, and that that kind of love and betrayal was not easily forgotten.   Kaya would try to be as patient with Bryce as Michelle had been with Erik.

“At least I know my father loved me,” she said.  “You know that locket I wear sometimes?”

“The one shaped like a fist?”  He raised her face and leaned down to kiss her lips ever so softly, not seeking passion, but offering comfort and support.

“Yes.  Daddy gave it to me the last time I saw him.  He told me that there was a code inside it that would open a safety deposit box at a bank in Palm Beach.  He told me not to go to the bank until I was eighteen.”  

“What’s in it?”

“A huge diamond, a document of authenticity, and a letter from my father explaining how he came into possession of the diamond.   It belonged to my great-great-grandfather.  Some Englishman gave it to him for helping him escape from Kimberley, South Africa, during the 1899 Anglo-Boer War.” 

“I’m aware of that siege.  It lasted about four months.  That mine yielded one of the biggest diamonds in the world—the Star of Africa.  It weighed in at eighty-three and a half carats, I think.  It was given to King Edward the Seventh of England, and is now part of the Crown Jewels collection in the Tower of London.  I’ve seen it.  Do you have any idea what such a diamond is worth?”

“Quite a bit.  I was tempted to sell it when I found out the kids had no money, but then the situation changed, and here we are.  I would have hated to part with it.  It is all I have of my family’s legacy to pass down to future generations.”

“Some things are worth a lot more than money.  I still have my grandmother’s old coffee maker.  Every time it breaks down, I get it fixed.” 

Kaya chuckled.  “I was wondering what that old contraption in your kitchen was.”

“Now you know.”  He kissed the top of her head.

“Since I’m married to one of the richest men in the world, I’ll put the diamond in trust for Jason, Alyssa, and Anastasia, and the children you and I will have.”

His eyed darkened.  “Are you trying to tell me something, wife?  We made love three nights ago, and I think there’s some kind of test out there that can give results as early as the next day.”

“You’re not opposed to us having children?”

“Not at all.  I want children.  Lots of them, and I can’t think of them having any other mother but you.  I watch you with the kids and I know you’ll be the best mother in the world.  You’re patient and affectionate, and you can cook,” he added on a chuckle.  “That’s all children need.  If you can love the children of a sister whom you resented, I know you will love our children.”

“And you’ll be the best father,” Kaya told him, gazing up at him with love and wonder in her eyes.

“Let’s go to bed,” he said, taking her by the hand and leading her across the room towards the huge bed.  “I want to hold you, let you know I’m here, show you how much I care.”

Like an obedient child, Kaya followed Bryce, and when he pulled down the covers, slipped off her robe, then his own, and lifted her gently unto the bed, Kaya knew that she was exactly where she belonged.  
Home
.

But was Bryce?  The fact that he was still living in this penthouse told her that he was still holding on to Pilar.  He was still out in the cold, maybe closer to home, but not completely.  Their roles had switched.  She was no longer the reluctant bride who was not only afraid to make love with her husband, but who was also afraid to love him.  Bryce was now the reluctant groom.

Yet, when Bryce joined her on the bed, Kaya opened her arms to him.  Maybe, just maybe, he’d come home tomorrow, she thought as he laid her out on his stomach, wrapped his arms about her and captured her lips with his.

“I want you like this.  Woman on top, all night long,” he said, capturing her mouth with his.

Their lovemaking was slow and tender.  Passion peaked.  Emotions swelled, and tears fell, as they loved each other into the wee hours of the morning.

CHAPTER SEVENTEEN

Kaya awoke to the faint hum of distant voices.  She opened her eyes and tried to focus in the semi-darkened bedroom.  She reached out her hand and groped around the bed.  Bryce was gone.  The place where he had lain and cradled her while he transported her from one thrilling orgasm to the next, last night, was now empty and cold.

Kaya turned on her back and strained her ears to the sounds.  She could distinctly make out the low baritone pitch of Bryce’s, and another equally low male voice that she didn’t recognize.  She couldn’t fully make out the conversation, but she could tell that it wasn’t pleasant.  

When she heard the higher-pitched tone of a woman’s voice, Kaya jumped off the bed and reached for her robe.  Shrugging into it, she tiptoed toward the foot of the stairs.  The voices were louder, but she still couldn’t make out the conversation.

With her heart pounding in her chest, Kaya eased quietly down the stairs until the hum became distinct words.  She plopped down on a step, just before the stairway curved.  Out of sight, but within hearing distance, she wrapped her hands around her legs and rested her chin on her knees.  The position in which she was sitting took Kaya back to the day when her parents had made her sit on the steps outside their apartment while they argued inside—the day she’d seen her father for the last time.  Her heart thundered with anxiety.

“Why do you keep shutting us out of your life, Bryce?  Just like your first marriage, we had to read about this one from the latest issue of Granite Falls People Magazine.  We almost didn’t make it for you and Pilar’s wedding.  And we weren’t even aware of this one.  My own son has been married for over a month and I just heard about it yesterday.”  The woman sounded close to tears.

His parents
, Kaya realized with a mixture of curiosity and confusion swirling inside her.  Why hadn’t Bryce told his parents about her?  She hadn’t given any thought to his relationship with them.  He’d spoken of them briefly and affectionately the two times he’d mentioned them, but because her own experience with the parent/child relationship was so warped, Kaya never thought of asking Bryce about his.  She’d thought it normal.  Whatever normal was.

She would never have guessed there was any discord between them.  Bryce was a master at masking his emotions, except those that were related to sex.

“A month,” his father reiterated.  “We’ve spoken on the phone several times, and not once did you mention that you’d remarried and raising your godchildren.  I have three grandchildren and I didn’t even know it.”

“You weren’t here,” Bryce stated in a tone Kaya thought quite despondent.

“Yes, we were in Asia, but you could have mentioned it in a phone call.  We would have flown back for the ceremony and then gone back to finish our work there.”

“That’s it, Mom.  You are never here.  You’re always there, and everywhere, but here,” Bryce declared as if holding a raw emotion in check.

“So we’re back to that,” his father stated in an irritating voice.  “We’re back to your childhood.  We had to work, Bryce.  You know that.  We had to work to provide a decent life for you.” 

“Because we love you.  We wanted the best for you,” his mother said on a sniffle.

“I know you love me.  I don’t doubt that.  But you weren’t there when I was sick, or scared, or even when I was happy about some simple accomplishment.  You let Grannie raise me.  The best you can give your child is yourself, Mom.  That’s what Grannie gave me.  Herself.”

“Well, if she hadn’t made me work two jobs, sometimes three, to pay for your boarding school, especially when she could have afforded to pay for it herself, I may have been free to spend more time with you,” his father retorted defensively.  “I still can’t believe she was sitting on all that money when I was breaking my back.”

“You wouldn't have spent more time with me.”  Bryce chuckled sarcastically.  “She made you pay for my education because she wanted you to have a part in my success, Dad.  Haven’t you figured that out, yet?  She didn’t do it out of spite or meanness.  Because you were working so hard, it made me work harder to make you proud.  I received full scholarships from every Ivy League college I applied to.”

There was a long, brittle silence then Bryce spoke again.  “After Pilar and I were married, I asked you to move to Granite Falls, to get to know her, and me, and all the grandchildren we planned to give you.  But your friends and your life in New York were more important than me.”

Kaya’s heart felt as if it would burst.  She covered her mouth with her hands to keep from crying out.  
It’s natural to want your mother at any age,
Bryce had said yesterday when she’d told him about her mother’s abandonment.  Apparently, there was more than one way to abandon a child.

“I didn’t tell you about Kaya and the kids because I don’t want them to get close to you and then be disappointed when you don’t show up as you promised.  I don’t want them to ever feel that anything or anyone is more important than them.”

Tears slid from Kaya’s eyes and ran down her face.  She felt as if a hand had closed around her throat.

Bryce loved her
.

He either just didn’t know it, or couldn’t say it yet.  The knowledge warmed her heart.

“I’m sorry if that’s the way we’ve made you feel all these years, son,” his mother said, breaking the silence that was growing tight with tension.  “We didn’t know.  You’re so big, and strong, successful, and important.  We didn’t think you needed us.”

“I’ll always need you, Mom, Dad.  Always.”  His voice trembled with emotion.  “I don’t resent you.  I just learned to live without you.  The question is, do you need me?” 

“Oh, Bryce.  My baby.  I need you.  I need you.”

Kaya heard feet shuffling across the hardwood floor, then thuds as if arms were being slapped about each other.

Kaya didn’t even know her sobs had reached the trio in the kitchen until a shadow appeared on the stairs below her.  She held her breath as she peered through her tears at Bryce, clad in jeans and a sweater, standing with one hand on the railing, staring up at her.

His eyes were red, his face puffy.  She knew that he knew she’d been eavesdropping but there were no traces of judgment or concern in his countenance.

He reached out his hand to her.  “Come, meet my parents.”

“I’m not dressed,” she said, staring down at her bare feet with red toenails sticking out from beneath her robe.  She ran her hands over her rumpled curls, trying to brush errant strands from her face.

“It’s okay.  They’re family.”

There was nothing for Kaya to do but walk down the stairs toward him.  He put his arms about her shoulders and led her silently into the kitchen were his parents were standing around the island, expectant looks on their faces as if they were waiting for Michelle Obama to appear.

Bryce stood behind her, his hands still resting on her shoulders, his thumbs massaging the nervous muscles in her upper neck.  “Mom, Dad, this is Kaya, my wife.  Kaya, these are my parents, Henry and Lillian Fontaine.”

“Oh my God, Bryce.”  Lillian clasped her hands to her mouth, a big grin on her face as she stared at Kaya.  “She’s gorgeous.  Absolutely gorgeous.”

“Kaya.  What a lovely name for a lovely girl,” Henry said.

“It’s nice meeting you,” Kaya said, looking from one to the other, not quite knowing what to make of them.  They must have been aware that she’d been eavesdropping on their emotional and extremely private conversation with their son.

Henry Fontaine was tall and broad, with a full head of salt and pepper hair.  Bryce was a chip off the old block with the same wide forehead, thick brows, prominent nose and lips, and a strong jawline and chin.  His eyes, though, Kaya noted with interest were his mother’s—dark and intense, with tenderness lurking in the background.  Lillian was a few inches shorter than her husband, and sported a curvaceous body that looked as if it spent a lot of time at the gym.  Her long black hair was done up in a sophisticated style away from her long attractive face.  Kaya remembered that Bryce had said she used to be a hairdresser.  With all the little girls in the family, Kaya thought her skills would come in handy.