Persephone, an old hat at the task, made quick work of getting Leeya settled. Hill took greater care. He made sure to place Layah in the middle of her big bed and then he used the extra pillows along the headboard to line the sides of the bed to prevent her tumbling off the edge. He made sure to tuck the blanket beneath her feet to keep it in place if she shifted. Hill put a lingering kiss to Layah’s forehead, another to her cheek before he came around to the other bed.
Persephone watched from a distance as he tucked Leeya in to match her sister and lined the pillows for added security. He pressed the same kisses to Leeya’s face as he had to her sister’s. He knelt between the beds then and just watched them.
Persephone gave him time. She left the room and waited in the hall for him to join her. The delight that had warmed her, made a hasty departure when Hill left the girls’ room. She turned, leading the way to a mini den that occupied space at the end of the same corridor.
The walls were a study in soothing emerald green and midnight blue as were the sofas and loveseats that faced the mountain range in the distance. Bronze urns overflowed with healthy vines, dotting every corner of the space.
“The kitchen’s not far from here. Are you hungry? I kind of went overboard with the pancakes.”
“I’m good,” he eased his hands into his trouser pockets and studied the marine pattern on the rug as he paced.
The place evoked a mellow charm to be certain, but Hill was so clearly not in the mood to be mellowed. Accepting that the time had come, Persephone went to push the door shut.
“The girls sleep like logs. They should be out for the rest of the day- most likely ‘til the morning since they’ve been up so long. They were at a sleepover…”
Hill said nothing, only watched Persephone as she rambled. His stare then was less accusing and more curious.
“The girls won’t hear you,” Persephone slapped her hands to her sides both eager and terrified to get the conversation started. “You can rage as loud as you want.”
The barest flicker of a smile ghosted across his beautiful mouth. There was nothing humorous in the gesture. “I don’t need to be loud in order to rage,” he said.
Persephone recalled that all too well. She didn’t think it’d be wise then to make a verbal acknowledgement of the fact. He moved suddenly and she commanded herself to hold her ground. He went to the den door. She watched, intrigued when he opened it.
“We should be able to hear them if they wake up and need us.”
Brows rising, Persephone nodded.
Hill had already resumed his pacing. His steps led him to a spiral glass shelf that housed more candid photos of the girls. They caught and kept his gaze.
“I need to hear you say it.” He told her. “I need to hear you tell me they’re mine.”
“They’re yours,” There was no hesitation then. “Leeya and Layah are your girls. You’re their father. We can have as many tests as you-”
He raised a hand for her to stop and then shook his head. “I don’t need that. I know they’re mine I- I just needed to hear it. To hear it from you.” He closed his eyes, bracing his hand to one of the shelves for balance.
The muddled, sluggish sensation was dropping its shroud over his brain again. He wasn’t as surprised by the sensation of tears pressing behind his eyes that time. Still, he stifled them. He squeezed his eyes shut and winced as memories of a long ago day returned.
“What happened, Sef? That morning?” Satisfied that his composure was intact, he turned to her. “I remember it. I think about it all the time. We... made love-” his features tightened in response to the phrasing as well as the quick stab of anger that eased in.
“Maybe it was just one last fuck for you though, huh?” The anger dissolved as quickly as it had taken hold to make room for something more wounded. “What did I do wrong, Sef? Did you finally have enough of me being so pigheaded about my folks?”
“No Hill never, it-” She was ready to rush to him, to throw herself at his feet and beg him to forgive her. She stopped mid-step when he shook his head. The defiant gesture was a clear warning that she should keep her distance.
“It was none of those things, Hill. You didn’t do anything wrong.”
“Did you know?” His eyes made a slow trek from her face to her waist. “Did you know you were pregnant?”
Persephone looked down as well. “I suspected for a while. I was on the pill but… it’s why I started getting so insistent about you fixing things with your parents. I wanted us to be a real family- with all the drama behind us by the time the girls came into our world. We were together and happy for ten years. I thought it was time for you to forgive yourself- to put those ghosts to rest.”
Talk of his parents, took Hill right back to where he’d been when the girls had asked about them before. Setting aside the emotion, he drew on his anger to sustain.
“Why didn’t you tell me at Bill's?”
Persephone claimed the arm of one of the loveseats and peered blankly at the blue green waves beyond her property. “It wasn’t the right time and there just didn’t seem to be a time while we all focused our energies on finding her.”
“And after we got her back?” His expression changed again. This time it was sly and knowing. “When it was all over? When I was all over you on that hood? Stop? No? You know me well enough to know that’s all it would’ve taken to get me to back off.”
Persephone was fighting a battle against her memory stoked by his talk of the night atop the infamous hood. She heard his questions, though. He spoke the truth. She did know him well enough to know that. Stop. No. Those were his trigger words. He’d always been obsessively sensitive over his ability to intrigue or intimidate.
He obsessed more intently when the opposite sex was involved. He never wanted a woman to feel as though she had reason to be wary, afraid or in danger when she was around him.
Persephone never had the heart to tell him that, whatever wariness or fear a woman experienced in his presence was most likely something he could do nothing to change. Those feelings, she believed, were instilled by what a woman learned about herself in that moment. Hill Tesano’s presence alone had the power to strip a woman bare of her inhibitions and better intentions. Whatever danger a woman felt, was in knowing that.
“No and stop…” Persephone dropped her face into her hands and groaned. “I’m afraid neither of those words came to mind that night.” She risked slipping him an accusing look of her own. “Not that you gave me the chance to say much.”
His smile turned into one of sheer amusement. “Did you want a chance, Goddess?”
“Yes Hill,” she snapped. “Yes, I did.” Her stern look held only a few seconds against his measuring one, before she caved. “At the time…” she cleared her throat of sudden embarrassment. “At the time I guess I was more focused on what else I wanted.”
“So you wanted to tell me the truth, but you wanted to fuck me first?” His smile defined with approval. “Thanks for your honesty. About that, at least.”
Persephone accepted the dig, left the arm of the chair to disengage the retracting glass wall. She needed air. “I told Bill that I wanted to find you- tell you everything. That was long before everything went crazy with her.”
“When did you tell her this exactly?” Some of the steel had eased from his voice following her confession of why she’d held back the truth. He resisted softening fully, however. “Was that when you talked to her in Scotland or during one of those cozy lunches you guys met for at that cafe where she lives in Napa?”
Persephone could’ve choked on the fresh air that surged inside once the wall slid back. She pivoted to face him.
“Yeah, I was there,” he confessed with a cool smile.
