your gratitude.’
Her eyes held the hint of a challenge. ‘What do you want, then?’
Great question. The answer was harder to voice than it should have been. ‘I want to take it one day at a time, but I know I want you and Max here with me. Or wherever I am. It just feels...right.’
It was how they’d described the night they’d spent together. It was a word that kept coming up when they spoke. ‘Right’. It was right that they’d got married. Right that they’d come to Singapore.
She pulled away from him, nodding vaguely, a smile on her lips that didn’t reach her eyes. ‘Yes, okay.’ She reached out and grabbed a box, putting it in the trolley. ‘Maybe this one.’
She hadn’t even looked at the gift to see what it was.
Frustration zipped inside Dimitrios. He’d disappointed her. He’d given the wrong answer. What had she expected him to say? What had she wanted?
He ground his teeth together, following just a little behind her, his eyes scanning the rows of gifts.
Half an hour later, Annabelle had chosen a few more, with more care, each assessed for several minutes until, with a small nod, she’d decided they were suitable and had slipped them into the trolley. It was hardly what Dimitrios would describe as a ‘haul’. A remote-controlled car, a motorised train for Max’s train set and a soccer shirt.
They’d agreed they didn’t want to spoil him, yet as Dimitrios’s first Christmas with Max he found it hard not to throw every damned toy into the trolley. The idea of Max waking up to see the tree littered with presents with his name on them made Dimitrios feel all warm inside.
But their first instincts had been right. He was a great kid. Kind, generous, loving, happy. There was no need to fill his world with material things. Besides, he was living in a mansion with an army of staff at his disposal, his every whim catered for. Normal life was in his rear-view mirror, and Dimitrios knew for himself how unsettling that change was to make.
‘You know,’ he said as they left the department store and entered the opulent walkway of the mall, decorated for Christmas almost as thoroughly as his home. ‘I’ve been thinking about your law degree.’
‘I didn’t get a law degree,’ she reminded him.
‘You couldn’t, because of Max. But he’s at school now, and you don’t need to work—or not as many hours as you have been. You could study, if you wanted.’
Her surprise was evident, as though it hadn’t even occurred to her. ‘I could, couldn’t I?’
Something lifted inside him, his mood shifting. It was just what she needed to underscore the permanence of this. A life outside him and Max—a life that would fulfil her and make her happy. ‘Lewis always said you were the smartest person he’d ever met.’
Her eyes flashed to his, showing happiness. ‘Did he?’
‘Yeah. Present company included.’
She was smiling properly now, the look on her face making him feel a thousand kilograms lighter.
‘I’d want to see Max settled into school properly first,’ she was murmuring. ‘But after the first term, once I knew he was making friends and doing okay, then I wouldn’t feel so bad about doing something for me.’
‘And it doesn’t have to be law. You could study whatever you want.’
She laughed. ‘You don’t have to sell me on it, Dimitrios. I get it. It’s a good idea.’ Her voice was warm and soft. She slowed down a little, and emotion sparked in her eyes once more. ‘Thank you.’
‘You don’t have to thank me.’
She lifted her shoulders. ‘It wouldn’t have occurred to me. And I love the idea.’
‘Great. I’ll have one of my assistants look into it.’
She shook her head reproachfully, a smile making her eyes sparkle. ‘I can look into it myself.’
Relief flooded him. ‘Keep me posted?’
‘Can I open them yet?’
‘Almost.’ Dimitrios grinned, his hands covering Annabelle’s eyes, his body guiding her carefully across the marina.
‘I can smell the ocean salt.’