“Just—don’t mention marriage to them, please,” she implored, her heart wobbling in her chest. It felt as though he’d sliced through her with a blade, over and over. Offering marriage had shown her what she’d been coming to terms with for days, if not longer. His suggestion had been like the bursting of the sun, from behind clouds, and then, his pragmatic explanation was like the opening of the heavens, in a torrential downpour. It had hurt. His reasons were so unemotional, so devoid of feeling, when Elodie was overflowing with them.
His nostrils flared. “What do you take me for?”
Everything was wrong. This was nothing like they’d been on the yacht, where she’d felt so completely in lockstep with him, asthough they had been designed to speak each other’s language fluently.
“Just—thank you.”
He nodded once, eyes boring into hers. “But Elodie?”
Her heart twisted.
“This conversation is on pause—not finished.”
While Elodieclearly felt nervous about telling her parents, Raf, from the outside, could see what she perhaps couldn’t: her parents loved her more than anything. More than their conservative values, more than their attachment to her ex—which was obvious from the fact photographs of Elodie and a man he knew must have been Aaron—still cluttered most surfaces of the house. It was obviously not their ideal situation, and yet they very clearly just wanted her to be happy.
Their hospitality was very different to the Santoros’, but it was no less thoughtful. Genevieve Finch had baked a selection of little pastries, and made egg and cress sandwiches, which she’d arranged on a delicate silver platter. There was tea—which Raf hated but drank regardless—and very polite, civil conversation, as they gingerly tried to get to know the man who had gotten their daughter pregnant during a one-night stand. And despite knowing he’d been careful, that she’d been on contraception, he felt like a complete failure for not being able to protect her better. For having done something—even unintentionally—that had completely re-shaped the direction of her life.
When Elodie excused herself to the restroom, eventually, he abandoned all pretence at the polite, English conversation and got right to the point.
“I intend to make sure your daughter has everything she wants in life,” he said, as soon as they were alone.
Frank Finch sat up a little straighter, his eyes narrowing. “What does that mean?”
“She’ll never want for anything. She can pursue whatever she wants, professionally, or not. It’s her choice. I’ll make sure that this baby doesn’t mean she loses options…”
Frank looked at Genevieve, both frowning. “Mr Santoro?—,”
“Raf,” he corrected Elodie’s mother.
“I’m sure you know Elodie well enough,” she said, with a frown that showed she knew no such thing. “To know she’d never accept money from you. Our daughter is not mercenary.”
He wasn’t stupid enough to think the painful twisting in his chest was anything other than right in the middle of his heart.
“I wasn’t suggesting that,” he said, lifting a hand in the air. “Though of course, I will make sure she is taken care of on that front, too.”
“I don’t think she’d like that,” Genevieve said, shaking her head, then smiling softly, with obvious affection. “Ellie’s always been an independent one.”
“That’s true,” Frank added his voice. “Even as a little girl, she had to do things her way.”
Raf found his own mouth twitching with something like amusement. Elodie had gone head to head with him from the beginning, known her own mind. Right back on that very first night, she’d stood her ground. Her inner strength was not something he expected to change, nor that he wanted to challenge.
“I have an obligation,” he said, with a small shrug of his shoulders.
Frank and Genevieve exchanged another glance. “To contribute to the baby’s upbringing, perhaps,” Genevieve said. “I’m sure Elodie will welcome that, within reason. But it wouldn’t matter if you were the King of England, or someonefrom the streets, I don’t think it would change a single thing for Elodie. She won’t want your money.”
He knew that to be the case. She had never once acted as though she was impressed by his wealth, and the trappings that came with it. Though they’d enjoyed the yacht, he knew, without a shadow of a doubt, they would have had just as much fun in a tiny hotel room.
“What do you think she does want?” Raf asked, judging himself for asking that of her parents, when he should have just asked her.
Marriage was clearly not it, but what then?
“We can’t speak for her,” Genevieve said, and Raf knew then how much he liked these people. They were every bit as decent and ethical as Elodie. Apples didn’t fall far from trees. He’d spent the last two years living up to his father’s reputation and Elodie…well, Elodie deserved someone a hell of a lot better than him.
I don’t want to marry anyone unless it’s the deepest, most real love there is.
He closed his eyes against that fierce rejection, and a moment later, Elodie was in the room. They stayed only another ten minutes, before Elodie started to make noises about leaving.
“Oh, darling,” Genevieve said, her face showing an apologetic grimace. “I’m not sure if there’s time today, but Aaron has been asking about you. I know he’d like to see you, if possible.”
