“Call me Sophia, darling.”
Mom pulls her into a hug and kisses her three times, as is customary in our family. Then she nods toward the house.
“I could murder a coffee. Why don’t we talk inside?”
Mom doesn’t visit the Washington mansion much, preferring to spend most of her time in the Hamptons with my father. I prefer to run the business from here because it gives me privacy.
Nico lives in his penthouse in New York most of the time to be close to Viper holdings and Joseph is stationed in London, living in the house in Belgravia.
Simeon flits between them all, and if he favors any particular location, he prefers the ranch in Denver. When in town, he stays in a converted building in Queens, shying away from the elite because he prefers to surround himself with reality, as he calls it.
Subsequently, our parents leave him alone because it’s not a place they enjoy going, which makes me conclude that of all of us, Joseph possibly being the only exception, Simeon is the shrewdest of us all.
Rose is quiet as she walks beside me, and I sense her unease. Mom is a stylish and elegant woman and exudes confidence, and Rose has a long way to go in achieving that. But she will. It will come in time, and I’m not pushing it because the longer Rose stays exactly how she is now, is fine by me.
38
ROSE
Sophia is an amazing woman, and I realized that the second she smiled at me. There was kindness in her smile, and I am not used to that outside of the convent.
She is extremely elegant, and despite wearing the impeccably tailored suit Julius had delivered, I don’t yet feel comfortable in designer clothes. Perhaps, in time, I will.
Even as children, we were encouraged to wear a pretty dress with none of the sophistication of the collection delivered a short time ago. Perhaps I will get used to it. I hope so anyway, because I don’t want to let Julius down. He deserves a woman like his mom holding his hand. Stylish, effortlessly chic and confident. I want to be that woman, so I take every detail in, memorizing it in the hope I will rise to the challenge.
We make it to the kitchen, and Sophia wastes no time in heading to the coffee machine, obviously at home here and unafraid to get stuck in.
“So, Rose.” Her kind smile relaxes me as she points to a bar stool at the counter.
“Tell me about yourself.”
“It will be a short tale, I’m afraid.”
She shrugs. “I doubt it, you see from what I’ve heard, you’ve led a very unconventional life so far and we are at home with the unconventional.”
“I suppose.”
My smile is warm as I talk about life at the convent and after a while and a mug of delicious creamy coffee later, she focuses her attention on me, giving me nowhere to hide.
“I believe you married my son.”
I swallow hard, wondering if she is angry about it.
“Yes.” My smile falters, and she glances between us.
“I understand the urgency; your circumstances are not the typical ones, but I must ask you this question, and I want an honest answer.”
“Where is this going, Mom?” Julius sighs, earning him a disapproving frown from his mother.
“Do not question me, Julius. I am asking as your mom and not because of the task your father set you.”
She turns to me, with a hard gleam in her eye. “Are you happy, Rose? Was marrying Julius the making of your world, or the ending of it?”
I hold my breath because she is suddenly so fierce, and yet as I steal a glance at my husband, I have no regrets.
“The making of it, Mrs, I mean, Sophia.”
I smile at Julius and whisper, “To be honest, ma’am, I asked him. He refused me at first, and I was crushed.”
