And was she covering up for his protection or hers?
She was already laying out her usual accoutrements: boxes of tea, teapot, sugar, milk, crockery. Without saying anything, he slid in beside her and took over the job of preparing the beverage.
She watched, leaning against the kitchen counter, as he made them two cups. “Thought you weren’t much of a tea guy,” she commented.
“I indulge from time to time.” He placed a cup before each of the two chairs at the small table and indicated for her to sit. What he didn’t say was,I’ll share a cup of tea with you if it makes me feel closer to you.
They both sat and sipped, quietly, for several minutes. Then he spoke. “I never thanked you for the way you handled Willa’s situation the other morning. I wouldn’t have had the foggiest idea what to do.”
She gave him an understanding smile. “It was my pleasure.”
“Hard to let the fact soak in that time is flying by. She’s growing up fast.”
Naisha added mischievously, “Yeah. Next thing you know, there’ll be phone calls from boys and demands for high heels. Parties and first dates.”
He clutched his chest. “Stop, or I’ll need a medic!”
She laughed, and he adored the sound of it. Loved how youthful it made her sound. Then he grew more sober, feeling obligated to explain his dilemma. “It’s been tough, not having a maternal influence around. I love my daughter more than I do my own soul, but there are things only a woman—a mom—can teach. You know?”
Her expression was understanding and compassionate. “I know it must be tough on you, William, but you’re doing a wonderful job. Willa is everything. Delightful, smart, funny, respectful—”
“Sad, lonely,” he added morosely. The hole Sofia had left in Willa’s life was like the crater left after a meteor crashed into her personal planet. How would he even begin to fill it? He felt so helpless.
“She still has you,” Naisha comforted, “And Jacyn and Alex, and her grandma. She’s surrounded by love. The pain may never fully go away, but the wound will begin to heal. I promise.”
He held that promise close to his chest and said a prayer over it. Then something came to him. “What about yours?”
“My what?”
“Your grandmother. I remember her so well. Gracious and dignified.”
Naisha dipped her head. “Grandmère Adelphine died a couple of years ago, back in Guadeloupe. She’d always hoped to make it back to la Métropole, but she never did.”
“I’m sorry.”
To his dismay, Naisha set her cup down onto the saucer, her hand shaking a little. “Just before she died, my sister Toni and I had promised to bring her back for a visit, to see the family she used to work for one last time. But I was on a shoot in Istanbul, and it got extended by an extra week. We thought it would be okay to postpone our trip, so we rebooked our vacation. But then she developed a fever, which turned into pneumonia.” She shook her head, not needing to finish her point.
The pain in her eyes was so deep that he felt it echo in his chest. He tried to comfort her. “It’s not your fault.”
She squeezed her eyes shut, not allowing him to make her feel better. “I was selfish. My career was taking off, and the opportunity for more work was too good to pass up. I could have said no, but I didn’t. I just enjoyed the attention and the publicity the shoot brought me. While my grandmother waited for me to come to her.”
To his dismay, tears began to spill from those beautiful dark eyes, down her cheeks. She rubbed them stubbornly away, but they were immediately replaced.
He didn’t realize he had gotten off his seat until he was kneeling before her, pulling her against him. As he pressed his face against hers, he could feel the dampness of her tears. Her body was supple, yielding and warm, as if she was giving into his embrace. As if she needed him to chase away her hurt.
He gave all she wanted, all the comfort and soothing. Whispered words into her ear that didn’t make any sense, but she seemed to respond.
All he could think was,She’s in my arms again. I’m holding her again after twelve years.
He didn’t even have to think about it. His body told him what to do. He kissed her. She let him. And immediately, the line blurred between who was comforting whom, who was yielding to whom. Because he was falling backwards over a precipice, into an abyss without a bottom.
Falling through the years, when a young girl whispered that she loved him, just as he pierced her for the first time.“Lim, Lim, je t’aime.”
And said it again, even as she gritted her teeth against the brief pain caused by his loving. And then he’d said it to her as they held onto each other and soared.
Now, older Liam, older Naisha, pressed into each other’s bodies, drowning in sensation. His arms came down around her waist, even though they were now both awkwardly kneeling on the floor. All he wanted to do was tilt her back, until she was making full contact with the cool marble kitchen tiles. Then, he would stretch himself out on top of her.
“No.”