“To be honest?” She smiled down at the wriggling baby and started to wash the body that was filling out by the day. “It was great to be able to tell her how we’ve been managing, how we’ve worked together. But mostly I felt proud telling her how supportive you’ve been and how wonderfully selfless you’ve been the whole time I’ve been here.”
He picked up Phoebe, who’d begun to fuss, and held her in the crook of his arm. Strength and tenderness rolled into one.
He came and stood beside her. “Thank you.”
For a long moment, she considered changing the subject or laughing off his response. But she couldn’t; they’d come past that. She swallowed. “You deserve it. And I’m only glad we’ve decided I’ll stay, because I certainly couldn’t imagine making up stories about you if I was trying to get custody.”
His gaze scanned her and his voice lowered to a sensual almost-whisper. “I felt the same way. I told her what a wonderful mother you are for the girls.”
She suppressed a gasp, and then she spoke quickly so he wouldn’t notice the effect his words had on her. “Thank you.” Her whole body warmed as she thought about him saying those things to the social worker.
“It’s true. I can’t believe the changes I’ve seen in you since you’ve been here—the way you’ve put the girls first, the way you’ve decided to fight for them. I’ve seen a completely different side of you. A side I never thought I’d get to see.”
Liv tried to make her voice calm over the emotion that raged through her. “That’s a lovely thing to say.”
His voice stayed soft. “I meant it.”
Her breath hitched. “I know.”
“And not because I wanted her to see us as a couple.”
She focused her gaze on Zoë. “Markus, we’re not a couple and we’re never going to be.”
“But immigration can’t know that. If we decide we’re staying here.”
His tone cushioned her disappointment as she soaped Zoë.
She had an overwhelming desire to keep this connection with Markus, but the more they talked, the more confusing everything became. He needed to understand her completely on this. “I know, but they’re the only people who’ll see our marriage as real.”
To her surprise, Markus let out a low chuckle. “Petro told Ana-Maria he thought you and I were the perfect people to bring up the girls.”
Liv swung her gaze to his as a pulsing warmth radiated through her. “He told Ana-Maria that?”
Markus’s grin was broad. “That’s what she told me. He’s become very fond of you, you know.”
He moved to the head of the bath and she could feel him watching her. “I’d like your opinion on something.”
Liv lifted Zoë out of the bath and then transferred her to the big white towel waiting on the change table. “My opinion?”
Zoë was quiet while Liv rubbed her dry, but Phoebe was fretting. “What about?”
Markus paused for a moment then spoke with assurance as he moved to Phoebe. “I wonder if it’d be right to have the girls christened.”
Phoebe’s wail drowned the half-cry that left Liv’s lips. Feathers of love for this wonderful man, for the way he felt about these babies, wrapped around her heart again. She used every ounce of effort to calm her words. “Christened?”
He held Phoebe over his shoulder and began rubbing her back, and his voice was quiet, but commanding, as if he’d put a lot of thought into this. “It’s something that happens to most Greek Orthodox children at this age, and I thought it’d be a good way to honor where they were born. It would need to happen soon, and if Ana-Maria didn’t object, I’d like to make the arrangements. It could be the first official thing you and I do together for the girls.”
Pride swelled inside Liv. He was thinking about the girls’ future, about values and beliefs and the way he’d like to bring them up, and it made her weak with wonder at his thoughtfulness.
‘We could meet with our local priest next week to discuss it at least.” He looked at her with softness. “We could go together.”
Liv swallowed. She’d never been much of a churchgoer, but this wasn’t about her. This was about the girls, and she couldn’t cheat them by denying them a foundation they might want later in life. They deserved the option of the values Markus was offering them.
“Will you come?” He held her gaze and she had to remind herself to speak. Had to force herself.
She cleared the ball of emotion from her throat—the emotion of self-discovery. Parenting was about far more than simply caring for the girls’ physical needs or loving them.
“Of course, I’ll come.”
As if sensing her inner journey, Markus spoke with warmth. “It’s just one of the many things we’ll do together in making decisions about the girls’ future. We’ve got so much to look forward to.”
They had. Those things that, in the past, had frightened her and made her think about what she’d missed out on as a child, she could now give them to Phoebe and Zoë, and it filled her heart to bursting.
11
Markus held his breath as Liv dressed Zoë. The ache in his chest finally passed and a new understanding lodged itself in his heart.
When this all began, it was a formality, the equation simple. Liv didn’t have what it took to be a present, dedicated parent who could demonstrate her love in all the right ways. He’d accepted the responsibility Polly had asked him to carry, wholeheartedly. When he’d asked Liv to marry him, he’d expected her to throw her hands up, say it was all impossible and then leave when she understood how much he loved the girls. Now, things were so, so different.
Now, Liv was beginning to show all the traits of a dedicated parent—the all-night vigils, the baby balm, the rejection of him after they kissed—hell, she hadn’t even been into town since she’d been here, except for the visit to the doctor. He didn’t have the hold on the babies or Liv that he’d had in the beginning.
And now he loved all three of them.
But Liv didn’t want that deep, passionate, soul searing love from him. And she’d said she never would while Phoebe and Zoë were their top priority. Maybe organizing the christening, having Liv think about the deeper meaning behind what they were doing, would soften her distance from him.
He wanted to share something of himself with the girls, something of who he was, something of this wonderful time the four of them had spent together here. And if he could take Liv to the church to plan for the christening, it might give her some perspective on what they had together. That what they had was worth fighting for.
He added warm water to Phoebe’s bath and then attempted to reconnect with Liv. “So you’ll come to the church?” He checked the bath’s temperature a final time, breathing deep Liv’s lavender balm.
She looked up and smiled, slow enough and sincerely enough to make this hurt all the more, and his heart cracked open a little wider. “If it’s that important to you, then of course I will. Where’s the church?”
He cleared his throat and tried to sound sure and practical while his heart squeezed in his chest. “In the old part of Paphos. It’s where my family have been going for generations.” He placed Phoebe carefully in the bath, and she wriggled in delight as her body was covered with the perfumed water.
“Do you go regularly?” Liv was rocking in the chair with Zoë on her lap, her ringlets moving gently back and forth, the copper highlights shimmering in the pale light.
“I should.” He busied himself with washing the baby so he wouldn’t have to feel the cut of Liv’s beauty. “I haven’t been inside since my grandfather’s funeral, just after I came back from France.”
Her head snapped up and a shadow of pain washed over her beautiful face. “I’m so sorry,” she whispered. “I wish I’d been here for you.”
He hadn’t meant it like that. “It’s okay, Liv,” he said softly. “Having you here now is what counts.”
The only sounds were the swish of water, as he finished washing Phoebe, and the rhythmic roc
king of Liv with Zoë.
“It’s a lovely idea, the christening,” she finally said, as Markus lifted Phoebe out of the bath and patted her dry. “I think it’s the right thing to do for the girls.”
Markus stopped and lifted his gaze to hers. Something he hadn’t seen since she arrived here, something heartfelt, radiated from the openness of her face and sent a jolt through him.
He gently pulled a brushed cotton nightgown over Phoebe’s head, ordering himself not to read anything into Liv’s expression. “Are you sure that’s what Polly would’ve wanted?”
“I’ve been thinking a lot today, about what Polly might or might not have wanted, and the fact is we’ll never know.”
She stood and carried the sleeping Zoë to her crib. “I’ve been trying to carry out what I thought Polly’s wishes would have been, and I truly believe she would have been proud of the way we’ve both handled things. And the way we’re both going to be committed to their future. Christening the girls is a wonderful idea. A beautiful act of love and a wonderful start to their lives.”
As she slowly bent her head and place a kissed on the perfect face of the sleeping child, Markus hoped it could be a new beginning for all of them.
“Oh, hi. I hope this isn’t a bad time.”
Petro’s hand gripped the half-open front door and he stared at Ana-Maria in horror.
Why did she always turn up so unexpectedly? It was nine in the morning and he had baby vomit down his shirt and was carrying a bucket of scraps for the compost. He yanked the apron from around his waist and threw it onto a coat stand beside the door.
Her face was flushed and without makeup, her glossy black hair was pulled back in a relaxed ponytail, her eyes twinkling and the thought that she was one of the most beautiful women he’d ever seen stamped itself indelibly inside his head like a tattoo.
“Rizogalo.” The word came unbidden from his throat, and a grin tickled Ana-Maria’s lips.
“Pardon me?”
“I have rice pudding cooking.” He swung the door wide and waved her in, all rational thought draining from his brain. His palms slicked and his chest constricted. He hadn’t had this reaction to a woman since his precious wife.
And he couldn’t move. His legs had frozen, and he couldn’t change his lips from the smile that was making his face begin to ache. “It burns very easily. The milk sticks on the bottom of the pan, and once it burns and catches you can’t get rid of the scorched flavor.”
He was rambling, raving.
The compost bin. It was heavy and stinky, and he was holding it while he looked at this vision of perfection.
He put it down and then realized a curl of melon skin was hanging out of it, juice dribbling on the floor.
“I’ll get Markus for you.”
“It’s okay,” she said. He couldn’t look away from nut-brown eyes that sparkled. “No need to disturb him, but I’ve just received some important information that I said I’d get to Markus as soon as it arrived.”
“It’s good rice pudding. It won awards when my family had the restaurant. It won’t be long.” Maybe she’d stay? Maybe he’d put some pudding in a bowl for her, and he’d sit watching her eat it in the enthusiastic way she’d devoured his cheese pies?
She chuckled, and the light in her eyes traveled over her cheeks and brightened her already shining face. “You’re tempting me,” she said, and then looked down when color stained her cheeks.
He reached for the envelope that she passed to him and cleared his throat. “I hope it’s good news.”
She nodded and looked up again. “Let’s say, it’s news that will mean my involvement with this case will be over very soon.”
He took a step back and nearly tripped on the bucket as his heart jolted. She wouldn’t come here anymore? Wouldn’t call? What if she decided she wanted to go back to Canada?
She shouldn’t be the only unmarried sibling.
Where had that random thought come from?
He swallowed the rock in his throat and looked down at the melon juice pooling on the floor. “I see.” Of course she wouldn’t be coming anymore. Once custody was assigned to both Liv and Markus, Ana-Maria wouldn’t need to have any more involvement.
“I’m sure Markus will let you know the decision, Petro. I can’t really explain things as it’s all confidential.”
Heat burned his cheeks. “That’s not what I was . . . I wasn’t concerned . . . About those cooking lessons. If you have time . . . that is, if you’re interested, I could give you some cooking lessons. Just the basics, the sort of thing you could impress your mother with.”
She held his gaze and shot him a grin. “That would be lovely, Petro, really lovely.”
His heart hitched in his chest as he stood staring at her in silence before he finally found his voice again. “Do you need to be anywhere? Markus has the girls and Liv’s out for a walk. I was wondering if you might like to stay and have some rice pudding with me?”
She smiled a sweet, sweet smile and slowly nodded her head. “I’d love to.” she said.
A few days later, Liv returned from a walk along the beach to find Markus working among the orchids in the internal courtyard. The girls had slept beautifully after their lavender bath the previous night and had only woken once in the night for a bottle. She’d felt so rested when they’d all woken at six that she’d decided to get some exercise.
The day was sparkling, and even from behind the glass, the intense sweetness of the vanilla pods Markus was harvesting seeped through her skin. Calm settled over her. A feeling that all was well with the world. She and Markus had been dealt a challenge, and they’d mustered their combined strength to work together and meet it.
They had the capacity to grow this unique little family, to feed and nurture it and build it into something they could all be a part of, and she felt proud of them both for putting aside their doubts and starting on that journey together.
She watched him through the glass—his body bending as he plucked the vanilla pods then placed them on a piece of bright white linen, the strong muscles in his back rippling beneath a thin blue T-shirt.
He straightened and moved to the stroller in the shade, and pushed his sunglasses onto the top of his head, before crouching and talking to the girls in a soft, low voice. Liv could feel a smile building at the beautiful picture before her.
He was so happy being a father, so content with caring for the girls, that she didn’t know why she’d ever imagined he wouldn’t be this way. She’d been so wrapped up in what she’d needed before—how having his child would affect her—that she’d never considered he might change if he decided to take responsibility.
All she needed to do now was lock down tight her creeping desire for him, as well as her smoldering memories of him, so this feeling of contentment and safety could go on forever. But the growing power of her need for him sat like a spring in her chest that had curled even tighter when he’d said he’d wait for her. The more she fed her feelings, the higher the stakes for the girls became, and she couldn’t risk it.
“Hey,” she called as she opened a sliding door and moved toward him across the giant flagstones.
Markus immediately looked up and shot her a warm grin. “Hey,” he said, then he turned back to Phoebe and Zoë. “Look who’s here, girls.”
The hot sweetness swirled around them as Liv bent down to the stroller too. “Hello, my darlings,” she said, pulling aside the sunshade and being rewarded with two heart-melting smiles. “Who looks as though they had the best sleep in the world?”
“It really works, doesn’t it? The lavender.” Markus said beside her. The skin on his neck glistened with a light film of sweat, and she breathed in deep the citrus tang of him.
“You could start a whole cottage industry making baby balms if you wanted to,” he said. “We could buy in some more lavender, and you could do soaps, lotions, all sorts. I could get you a new still set up in the shed. We could even use some of this vanilla.” A perfect grin st
ole across his face.
Tension gripped her spine. “You mean you expect me to live in your house if we stay here?” Her heart began to pitch and roll, and she was glad of the sunglasses covering her eyes. They hadn’t talked about any arrangements beyond the marriage to ensure Liv could stay here.
He stood. “Work from here anyway.” He moved to the next plant and began searching for a pod. “We can see how things develop, but there are a number of options. We can live in the city house during the week and come down here at weekends. That way you can be with the girls while I’m at work during the week, and we can spend weekends down here for you to work on your baby balms while I look after the girls during the day.”
Liv chewed her lip. “I hadn’t imagined we’d live in the same house,” she said, hesitating. “I thought I’d get a place close by so we could both have our independence.” Her voice began to trip. If they were sharing a house, how would she keep enough distance from him until he understood nothing could happen between them?
He wiped his arm across his forehead, his tricep flexing with the movement, and his face tightened. “We don’t have to, but I wouldn’t like to think of the girls being moved around all the time. It’d be better if they stayed in one place and we came to them. The west wing of this house is fully self-contained, as is the upstairs of my city house. There’s no reason why we couldn’t share the houses and still have our own space.”
Liv breathed a quiet sigh of relief. For a moment, she’d been afraid he’d say the thing about waiting for her again, but his ready solution calmed her worry. He was pulling away from her and the knowledge caused a tug of bittersweet loss. And relief.
“Maybe we could work something out where the girls stay in one place and we take turns living in the house.”
He speared her with a look of disbelief. “You really think we need to resort to that?”
A Family for Good : A sweet, small town, second chance romance (Tall Dark and Driven Book 6) Page 14