Once they reached the bedroom’s en suite bathroom, he peeled off her swimsuit, then his own. He led her into the shower, wide enough for two, and slowly washed the salt and sand off their bodies.
Drawing her back to the enormous bed, he made love to his wife in the fading twilight, with the dying sun falling to the west, as the soft wind blew off the pounding surf. In that moment, Leonidas thought he might die of happiness.
I love you.
For the first time in his life, he felt like he was home, safe, wanted, desired. He and Daisy were connected in a way he’d never known, in a way he’d never imagined possible. Their souls were intertwined, as well as their bodies. She loved him. As he held her in the dark bedroom, he knew he’d never be alone again. He could finally let down his guard—
His eyes flew open.
But what if Daisy ever stopped loving him?
He felt a sudden vertigo, a sickening whirl as the earth dropped beneath him. He didn’t think he could survive.
But how could he make sure her love for him endured, when he had no idea why, or how, she could love him? Even his own mother had said Leonidas should never have been born. Whatever Daisy might say, he knew he wasn’t good enough for her.
And as for being good enough for their child...
Stop it, Leonidas told himself desperately, trying to get back to the perfect happiness of just a moment before. Squeezing his eyes shut, he held Daisy close. He kissed his wife’s sweaty temple, cradling her body with his own.
* * *
It was a perfect honeymoon. When they returned to New York a few days later, Leonidas vowed that Daisy would never regret marrying him. If he could not feel love for his wife in his cold, ashy heart, he would at least show her love every day through his actions.
And for the first three months of their marriage, she did seem very happy, as they planned the nursery, went to the theater and even took cooking and baby prep classes together. Leonidas felt like a fool as he burned every type of food from Thai to Tuscan, no matter how hard he tried.
In order to spend his days—and nights—with her, he ignored work, and did not regret it. Even when Leonidas did go in to the office, instead of focusing on sales throughout his global empire, he found himself asking his employees random questions about their lives, as Daisy did. For the first time, he was curious about their families, their goals and what had brought them to work at Liontari.
His vice presidents and board members obviously thought Leonidas was lost in some postnuptial sensual haze. But they forgave him, because the explosive global reaction to his wedding to the daughter of the man he’d sent to prison had caused brand recognition to increase thirty percent. Leonidas and Daisy had had calls for interviews on morning shows, and even four calls from Hollywood, offering to tu
rn their story into a “based on a true story” movie. Daisy had been horrified.
Leonidas had been happy to refuse. He’d discovered to his shock that he was happy working fewer hours. His heavily pregnant wife wanted him at home. She needed him at home. How could profit and loss reports compare with that?
But everything changed the day their baby was born.
On that early day in June, when the flowers were blooming outside the modern hospital in New York and the sky was the deepest blue he’d ever seen, Leonidas finally held his sweet tiny sleeping baby in his arms.
The newborn fluttered open her eyes, dark as his own. Her forehead furrowed.
And then, abruptly, she started to scream, as if in physical pain.
“She’s just hungry,” the nurse said soothingly.
But Leonidas was clammy with sweat. “Here. Take her. Just take her—”
He pushed the shrieking bundle into his wife’s welcoming arms. Holding their daughter in the bed, Daisy murmured soft words and let the rooting baby nurse. Within seconds, the hospital suite was filled with blessed silence. Daisy smiled down at her baby, touching her tiny fingers wonderingly. Then she looked up at Leonidas.
“Don’t take it personally,” she said uncertainly.
“Don’t worry,” he ground out. But Leonidas knew it was personal. His own daughter couldn’t stand to be touched by him. Somehow, the newborn had just known, as his parents had, that Leonidas was not worthy of love. Though Daisy’s kind heart had momentarily blinded her to his flaws, her love for him would not last. And it would not save him.
He was on a ticking clock. Any day now, she would realize what their baby already knew.
And by the end of the summer, his prophecy came true. As weeks passed and Leonidas refused to hold the baby again—for her own sake—he watched with despair as his wife’s expression changed from bewilderment to heartbreak, and finally cold accusation.
* * *
It was the happiest day of Daisy’s life when their baby was born in the first week of June.