“It’s better than fine, Princess.”
It might only be a few weeks before I found out if I was pregnant. That fact would burn Gabriel and I couldn’t wait.
I leaned into Daddy.
He raised my hand and gently kissed it.
My insides might be pulverised, but Daddy always kissed me better.
???
My eyes kept returning to my dad speaking to Daddy. They were relaxed, cordial—and I could tell my dad was grateful that Daddy had kept Gabriel away from me in a way that others couldn’t. Not the police. Not sanctuaries.
Maya nudged me.
“You’re banging the old man, aren’t you?”
“Maya!” my mum screeched.
She was still a wee cow.
Elias bit into another canapé and every one of them turned to look at Daddy Asher before staring at me.
“For a house like this, you’d be asking if the grandad was alive,” I said dryly, patting my poor mum’s shoulder.
“You’re not wrong. For a house like this, I don’t even think Callum would mind,” Maya snickered.
My mum downed her champagne in one go like a truly adapted Irish woman.
“I am banging the old man,” I declared.“Had I known this Kersey first I’d have never married Gabriel.”
Everyone turned to look at Daddy again.
“Some mileage on him, but I bet he knows a thing or two in the sack,” Maya concluded.
Mum sighed and reached for another drink.
Elias gagged.
God damn. It was good to have my family back.
???
“I can’t believe this is your bedroom,” Maya said, her eyes moving over everything with undisguised awe. When she lifted my frog from the dresser I nearly launched myself across the room.
She stared at me for a moment then carefully placed Fredrick back in his rightful spot. She wandered the length of the room before settling into the window seat, pulling her knees up the way she always had since we were children.
“It’s very—Victorian,” she said, staring at the ceiling.
“I love it. He had it decorated for me ages ago.”
Her head snapped back to me.
“Sounds a bit creepy when you put it like that.”
“He grows on you,” I shrugged.
She glanced at Pandora sitting in the middle of the bed. Something shifted in her expression—the teasing gone, replaced by something quieter.
