Pirate boat! What pirate boat?
Giving up on her search, she pushed the case back into the wardrobe and turned to where George was sitting on the floor beside a selection of toy vehicles, his upturned eyes watching her anxiously.
‘What are you talking about, darling?’ Gently, she pushed a curl away from his forehead.
‘The pirate boat.’ He bit his lip, clearly baffled by his mother’s confusion. ‘Aristo—I mean, Daddy...’
He paused, and her heart turned over as he looked up at her. The word was not yet automatic to him.
‘They left it behind and Daddy said he’d take us to see it.’
Teddie frowned. She had some vague memory of Aristo talking about pirates when they were eating breakfast that morning, but she’d been only half paying attention, she thought guiltily. Most of her head had still been spinning from that almost-kiss they’d shared last night.
‘Okay—well, we can do that. I was just going to tie my hair back.’ Leaning forward, she gave him an impish grin. ‘But I’ve had a much better idea!’
Ten minutes later she was walking through the villa with George scampering by her side. Both of them were wearing blue and white striped T-shirts and Teddie had drawn a moustache and stubble on their faces.
‘Shall we scare him?’ George whispered, accelerating into a little run.
He seemed giddy with excitement at the prospect, and Teddie nodded. But as they crept out onto the terrace the giggle she’d been holding back subsided as she saw that the pool was empty.
‘Where is he?’ George’s hand tightened around hers and instinctively she gave it a squeeze.
‘He’s probably getting changed.’ She gave him a reassuring smile.
Ten minutes later, though, they were still waiting by the pool.
‘Do you think he’s forgotten?’ George whispered.
He was starting to look anxious, and she couldn’t stop a flicker of uncertainty rippling down her spine.
She shook her head. ‘No, of course not,’ she said firmly. ‘Why don’t we give it another five minutes and then we’ll go and look for him? I’m sure he’ll be here any moment.’
But Aristo didn’t arrive. Finally, Teddie took George’s hand, and they walked back into the villa just as Melina came rushing towards them.
‘I was coming to find you! I completely forgot Mr Aristo said that he was going to be in his office. He has a very important work call.’
Nodding, Teddie pinned a smile on her face, but inside she could feel a rising swell of angry disappointment as she asked Melina to take George to the kitchen. Disappointment and relief—for hadn’t she been expecting this to happen?
She bit down on her misery. An important work call! No, scratch that, a very important work call, she thought bitterly. Her throat tightened. Had she really thought that things could be different? Or that Aristo could change? She should have realised how this holiday was going to pan out that first morning, when she’d spotted his laptop crouching like some alien in the blazing Mediterranean sunshine. But, idiot that she was, she’d assumed it was a one-off.
Aristo’s office wasn’t hard to find, and his voice was clearly audible as she walked stiffly up to the open door.
‘No, we need total transparency. I want total transparency—exactly.’
He was standing by his desk, his phone tucked against his ear, the tension in his body at odds with the casual informality of his clothing. She stepped into the room, her heartbeat ringing in her ears as he looked up from his laptop, his frown of concentration fading.
‘I’m going to have to call you back, Nick,’ he said quietly. Hanging up, he stared at Teddie impassively. ‘So you got my message?’
‘Loud and clear,’ she snapped. Stalking into the room, she stopped in front of the desk. ‘I was a bit stunned at first, but I suppose it wasn’t that much of a surprise. You put work first during the whole of our marriage, so why should a holiday to get to know your son be any different?’
His face creased into a frown. ‘I don’t know what you’re talking about. It’s one call—’
Her response to his words was instant, visceral, making her heartbeat accelerate, emotion clog her throat. It was everything she’d dreaded—only it had happened so much more quickly than even she had thought possible. Literally within hours of him claiming that he wanted to be there for her and George.
But how many times had her father made just such a claim?
‘I’m talking about this,’ she interrupted him. ‘About you, sneaking off to close some deal—’
She broke off abruptly. The misery inside her chest was like a block of ice and she was starting to feel sick.
Aristo felt the pulse of anger start to beat beneath his skin. Ever since they’d told George that he was his father Teddie had been acting strangely, oscillating between a suspended tangible hunger and a maddening aloofness, but this—her anger, her baseless accusation—was so unexpected, so unfair.
And she was dressed as a pirate—although clearly she had forgotten that fact.
Just at that moment his phone started to ring and, glancing up at the ceiling, she rolled her eyes in a way that made him want to find a plank and make her walk it.
‘I’m not going to answer that,’ he said coolly. ‘And I wasn’t sneaking anywhere. Something important came up and I needed to deal with it. I told Melina to give you a message, and she did.’
Why was this so hard for her to understand? He’d taken a week off work, but that didn’t mean his business was on hold. And who did she think he was doing all this for—and why? Women might talk about needing love and being loved, but what that translated into was a relentless desire for money and status—as his mother had proved.
His phone was still ringing and her green eyes narrowed like a cat’s. ‘We’re not some junior members of your staff you can just fob off.’
‘I wasn’t fobbing you off.’
She stared at him incredulously. ‘George is three years old, Aristo. He was so excited.’ Her voice quivered and she paused, then straightened her shoulders determinedly. ‘You didn’t even give him a second thought, did you? But the thing about three-year-olds is that if you say you’re going to do something then you have to do it. You can’t lie to him.’
His phone had finally stopped ringing, but his chest felt suddenly so tight that he couldn’t breathe.
‘That’s rich—coming from you.’
He watched the colour drain from her face, but he told himself that she deserved it.
‘You lied to him from the day he was born. And you lied to me too.’ He shook his head dismissively. ‘All those years, and not once did you consider telling me the truth.’
‘That’s not true.’ Her face blazing with anger, Teddie took a step forward. ‘I did try and tell you.’
‘Don’t give me that.’ The coldness in his eyes made her stomach churn. ‘You could have contacted me in any number of ways.’
‘I did,’ she said flatly, the flame of her anger dying as quickly as it had ignited, smothered by the memory of the phone calls she’d made to his various offices around the globe, and the polite but cool indifference of the Leonidas staff.
‘I tried them all. By the time I realised I was pregnant, you’d left America, so I tried calling you, but you blocked me on your phone, so then I called your offices and left messages with your staff asking you to call me back but you never did. And I wrote to you, every year on George’s birthday but I never got a reply.’
There was a long silence.
Aristo could feel his heart pounding, the shock of her words pricking his skin like bee stings. She was telling the truth. He could hear it in the matter-of-fact tone of her voice. And yes, he had blocked her number, told his staff not to bother him with any kind of communications from Teddie... And they had done what they’d been told. But he’d been a
ngry and hurt—and also scared that if he even so much as heard her voice he would do something stupid, like listen to his heart...
He’d just wanted to put it all behind him—to forget her and his marriage—
‘So you gave up?’ His pride might have contributed to him not finding out about his son, but the bulk of the responsibility was still hers.
Watching her eyes widen with anger and astonishment, seeing the sudden shine of tears, he felt harsh, cruel—only before he could say anything she took a step towards him.
‘Yes, I gave up! Because I was on my own and I was sick and I was scared.’ She breathed out unsteadily. ‘But even if I hadn’t given up, and you had got my messages, you wouldn’t have called me anyway. No doubt something very important at work would have come up and you’d have had to deal with that instead.’
He stared at her in silence, his face set and tense, his dark eyes narrowing like arrowheads. ‘Not this again.’ He shook his head. ‘Unlike you, Teddie, I’m not a magician. I can’t just pull a hotel out of a hat and take a bow. I work on global projects that employ tens of thousands of people. I have responsibilities, commitments.’
His face looked cold and businesslike. It was the face he’d used on her when he’d been late home from work, or cancelled dinner, or spent all weekend on the phone. Behind him, through the window, the flat, shifting blues of the Mediterranean seemed an oddly serene backdrop to their heated argument.
‘Responsibilities...commitments...’ Her voice echoed his words incredulously. ‘Yes, you do, Aristo. Four years ago you had a wife—me—and now you have a son—George.’
‘I was working to build up the business for you, so you didn’t have to worry about money!’
Surely she could understand his motives for working so hard? Had they stayed together she would have been the first to complain, for women were never satisfied with just enough—they always wanted more.
‘Well, I didn’t marry you for your money.’
He heard the catch in her voice and his chest tightened as he watched her lip tremble.
‘And you’re already fantastically wealthy. So why are you still working as though your life depends on it?’
There was a short, strained silence, and then, as his phone started to ring again, she took a deep breath.
‘You should probably answer that,’ she said quietly. ‘We clearly have nothing left to say.’
And, turning, she walked swiftly out of the room.
* * *
Twenty minutes later, having got directions from Melina, she and George reached the right cove. The pirate boat was at the back of the beach on the dunes, its wooden hull bleached like the bones of some marine animal. It was more of a rowing boat than an actual pirate ship with masts, but it was still recognisably a boat and, on seeing it, George began towing her down the dunes.
‘Look, Mommy, look!’
‘I can see it, darling,’ she said quickly.
He’d been unusually quiet during the walk, and she was grateful to hear a hint of his former excitement back in his voice.
After walking out of Aristo’s office she had collected him from the kitchen, explaining in an over-bright voice that, ‘Daddy is very sorry that he can’t come right now, but he wants us to go without him.’
Watching her son’s face fall, she had wanted to storm back into Aristo’s office, snatch his phone and hurl it out of the window along with his laptop. She knew exactly how George was feeling, and the fact that she had somehow let it happen, by letting her selfish, workaholic ex-husband into his life, felt like a dagger between her ribs.
‘Do you want to have a look inside?’ she whispered.
He nodded and, leaning down, she picked him up. They inspected the ship carefully, but aside from a few small startled crabs they found nothing.
George sighed and, glancing down at him, she saw that his eyes were shining with tears. With an intensity that hurt, she wished she had planned ahead and hidden something for him to find.
‘Daddy would know where the treasure is,’ he said sadly.
She breathed out silently. But Daddy isn’t here. He’s holed up his office, expanding his empire.
‘He might—but we haven’t really looked properly. And most treasure is buried, isn’t it?’ she said reasonably.
‘Yes, it is,’ said a familiar male voice as a shadow fell across her. ‘And no self-respecting pirate would ever leave his treasure lying about on his ship.’
‘Daddy!’
George launched himself at his father.
Looking up at Aristo, Teddie felt her heartbeat accelerate. He was wearing a white shirt unbuttoned at the neck, and a pair of rolled-up dark trousers. He’d borrowed what looked like a scarf and tied it bandana-style around his head. The stubble, however, was his own.
He looked incredibly sexy—but she wasn’t about to let his looks or her libido wipe the slate clean, and nor was she about to expose George to any further disappointment.
‘I think we should be getting back now,’ she said stiffly. ‘We can look for treasure another time.’
Their eyes met, and she glared at him above George’s head.
‘Trust me,’ he said softly. ‘I’ve got this.’
He headed off along the beach with George scampering beside him. Gritting her teeth, she watched them crouch down near a rocky outcrop, then stand up again. And now they were heading back towards her.
‘Mommy, look!’
George was jumping up and down, and even at a distance she could see that his eyes were wide with excitement.
‘I’m coming,’ she called.
She half-walked, half-ran across the sand, to where he was pointing excitedly at a large white stone clearly marked with an X. Her heart seemed to slide sideways and she glanced up at Aristo in confusion.
The sun was behind his head, casting a shadow across his face, but she could feel his eyes, sense their intensity, and suddenly she understood what he’d done.
‘We must have walked right past it,’ she said, when she was completely sure her voice was composed.
Aristo lifted the stone, and then he and George scooped out sand with their hands until finally their fingers found the edges of a wooden box. To Teddie’s eyes it was obviously far too well-preserved to be a pirate’s relic, but she could see that her son had no doubt that it was genuine.
She watched him pull it free, and open it.
‘Oh, George,’ she whispered. The box was filled with gleaming golden coins. ‘You are so lucky.’
He looked up at her, his face trembling with astonishment. ‘Can I take it home?’
‘Of course.’ Reaching out, Aristo cupped his son’s chin in his hand. ‘This is my island, and you’re my son, and everything I have is yours.’
* * *
Back at the villa, they ate early. George was exhausted, and could barely keep his eyes open, so Aristo put him to bed and then joined Teddie on the terrace.
There was a short, delicate pause.
‘I wanted to say thank you for earlier,’ she said quietly. ‘It was magical, and so thoughtful of you.’
‘All I can say is that real pirates had it easy.’ He groaned. ‘Honestly, cleaning those coins nearly killed me. It took so long.’
She laughed. ‘Aristo Leonidas wearing his fingers to the bone! I really wish I’d seen that.’
His eyes on hers were suddenly serious. ‘Well, I’m glad you didn’t. It was my turn to make magic happen for you.’ His mouth twisted. ‘I’m sorry about the phone call.’
‘I’m sorry too.’ She squeezed his hand. ‘I shouldn’t have jumped to conclusions.’
‘You didn’t. I took the call and I shouldn’t have done,’ he said simply.
Turning his gaze towards the blue sheet of water below, Aristo frowned. Crossing the dunes earlier, his breath had seemed to choke
him, and with every step he’d grown more convinced that he’d blown it.
Now, though, beneath a pink sunset, with Teddie sitting opposite him wearing that same simple sundress, his reaction seemed ludicrously out of proportion.
Or it would have done but for the unasked question that was reverberating inside his head and had been since she’d stormed out of his office.
‘Did you mean it?’ he said abruptly. ‘Did you mean what you said earlier—about not marrying me for my money?’
He could see the confusion in her eyes. ‘Yes, of course. I would have married you if you’d been penniless.’
‘So why did you keep working, then?’ Another question—this one older, but just as pressing. ‘In New York?’
She frowned. ‘I needed to—I need to have that control.’
The words left her mouth unprompted, unedited, and she stared at him, embarrassed and angry, because up until that moment that fact had been private, not something she could even really admit to herself.
Sensing his curiosity, she hesitated, but his dark gaze was calm and unfazed and she felt her heartbeat steady itself.
‘My mum was terrible with money. She was so out of it sometimes she’d forget to pay the rent. And she was always upping her medication, so it would run out, and then we’d have to buy other people’s prescriptions. Otherwise she’d steal them.’ She swallowed. ‘I know my life isn’t like that any more, but...’
Gazing down, she saw that her hands were clenched in her lap, and with an effort she forced her fingers apart.
‘I can’t seem to stop that feeling of dread.’
‘I didn’t know that was how you felt,’ he said slowly.
She shrugged. ‘Having a regular income, however small, just makes me feel calmer.’ Finishing her sentence, she glanced towards the door. ‘We should probably go back in.’
For a moment Aristo didn’t respond, and then he nodded slowly and they stood up and walked back through the silent house.
‘You asked me why I work. And you’re right—it’s not the money, or even how work makes me feel...’
Demanding His Secret Son Page 11