Chapter 15 #2
She gnawed on her bottom lip. “Tori thinks there’s room for reconciliation.”
I gaped at her. “You’re joking, right?”
A head shake had me questioning why Gabe’s wife would think he should be anywhere near the man who had treated his children so horrendously.
“And what does your brother think of that?”
With a shrug, she said, “He’s taking it in steps, but I doubt there will be anything but hate there.”
“What about for you?”
Her eyes dropped. “Mama was the one who held us together when she was having her good days. She doted on us, especially Gabe.” She rested her chin on her knees, and I had to force myself to ignore the fact that she was completely naked.
This was important for her to talk out, and I needed to understand.
“He’s like her in a lot of ways. He doesn’t see it.
Thinks he takes after our father, but that’s not true.
Only when he’s working is he like him. He has her ways, the softness she had. ”
I tipped my head, watching as she took a deep breath and lifted her gaze to me. “And you?”
“I am my father’s daughter.”
A resolute confession with no regrets, no guilt. Owning the distinction from her brother, the one that connected her to a man no one would want to emulate. Quiet stretched between us like a bridge waiting to be crossed as I tossed those words around in my mind.
“How do you feel about that?” I asked, tucking my hands in my pockets.
“I don’t know. As horrible as he was…” Admitting she was anything like him was something she didn’t like, and maybe she’d never admitted it before. Shielding the truth behind the same walls she’d built to hide her emotions.
I walked back into the room and squatted before her, taking her hand in mine.
“You’re not everything he is, Olivia. Maybe you made yourself hard and indifferent because that’s the way you needed to be to prove yourself, but that’s not who you are.
Not the girl I fell in love with, or the woman who keeps giving me glimpses of that girl.
You wear a mask to show the world you’re his daughter.
Tough and uncaring. But the other parts of you, the intelligent, talented, calculating woman, are who you are without his influence.
And the parts of you that you tucked away to fit into his world are still there.
It might take some time to set them free again, but I can promise you, I’ll make every attempt to help you because those are the pieces I love most about you.
The amazing, smart, caring, beautiful woman you are. ”
She snorted, and I could see her covering her emotions. “I doubt anyone would call me caring.”
“Not your nephew?”
Her mouth opened, slamming closed quickly and revealing the soft spot she had for him.
“Maybe, but he’s very chatty, and all he talks about are cars. Just like Gabe always did, going on about this car or that. Even has a collection of them like Gabe did before…”
I waited as the memory stole her, contorting her features with pain, and I wondered if her brother knew how much she loved him.
I doubted she had ever told him. She was too distant, but if I could convince her to keep opening up, to release the bad and let good into her life, to let me stay in it, I would ensure she told him.
It was clear to me, and I suspected it was to Tori.
A bond between the two that had kept them grounded while the world combusted around them.
“Anyway, I suppose he might.”
I couldn’t help but laugh at how her snarky side was back to cover the fragility the memory had presented. Perhaps I would need to learn to love that part of her, too, because I doubted it would ever fade. It was a permanent part of her.
“I’m willing to bet he does.”
“I thought you were going out to check on the horses. Are you using me as an excuse to avoid the rain?”
And she was back, but the light was still there, shimmering in her irises, accentuating the gold tones.
“Can’t put anything past you, can I?” I gave her a wink, kissing her head as I rose.
“You might want to consider a shirt. As much as I enjoy looking at your chest, it might be a distraction for the horses.”
I glanced down, seeing that I had indeed forgotten to put my shirt on. “They’ve seen it before. In fact, they behave better when I’m shirtless,” I teased as I looked for my shirt.
She leaned over, her hair spilling over her shoulder like a wave of auburn, and my eyes followed the curves of her body, my pants growing uncomfortable again.
I ran my hand through my hair as she sat back up, holding my shirt.
She contemplated it for a few moments, then pulled it over her head.
The air froze in my lungs as she maneuvered her hair from under it and tugged it down.
Images of all the times she’d worn my shirts with nothing else except for the occasional pair of skimpy underwear that didn’t stay on long, had my heart expanding.
Raising her eyes to me, she smiled, the sight assuring that every space in me that had continued to love her spread to encompass any others that had yet to get in line.
“Guess I’ll grab another shirt,” I grumbled, even though my grin was tugging at my lips.
“I guess you will.” She rose, and the shirt fell to cover the rest of her, ending halfway down her thighs. Sexy and adorable at once. I was doomed, but then again, I always had been with Olivia.