This squashed, dilapidated structure wasn’t a home fit for anyone, never mind the woman who carried my child. I might not have the right emotional advantages to offer this child, but in this I could offer full benefits. My child would not be spending a second in this place. Nor would its mother.
‘Can I get you anything? A drink? We have tea. Or coffee. Or—’
‘He won’t be staying long, Mum. He has things to do. Don’t you?’ Sadie enquired pointedly.
Martha Preston ignored her daughter, her smile at me widening. Kalos, the mother was going to be a breeze to handle.
I stepped into the even more cluttered living room of this house Sadie wouldn’t be occupying for much longer, suppressing another smile eve
n while calculating how quickly I could move.
Magazines of every description covered every available shabby surface, and a gaily coloured sofa was the only bright spot in the dank space. A look passed between mother and daughter before they both faced me.
‘I’ll take a rain check on that coffee, if I may, Mrs Preston. But I do have a request.’
Green eyes similar to her daughter’s widened. ‘Of course. Anything.’
Sadie frowned. Opened her mouth.
I beat her to it. Because, really, what was the point in dragging out the inevitable?
‘I hope you’ll forgive my bluntness, but I would be honoured if you’ll give me your blessing to marry your daughter.’
Shock gripped me for a second before I rounded on this towering force of a man who’d gone from complete disavowal of his child to a systematic, head-spinning takeover in the last few hours.
‘What? Are you out of your mind?’
‘Sadie! Where are your manners? I’d like to think I brought you up better than this. I do beg your pardon, Mr Xenakis. And, please, call me Martha.’
My mother all but simpered at Neo, who inclined his head in gracious forgiveness for my bad manners.
I ground my teeth, partly to hold back my shock and partly with fury at his heartless joke. Because he had to be joking! Or, worse, this was payback for the prank he still believed I was playing on him.
‘Please don’t make excuses for me, Mum. And while you’re at it, forget what Mr Xenakis just said. He didn’t mean it.’ I fired a telling glare at him, communicating my dim view of his actions.
His expression didn’t change from one of intractable determination. For some reason, instead of angering me even more, that sent a sliver of a thrill through me. Until common sense prevailed.
‘It’s Neo, Sadie. You can’t very well keep calling me Mr Xenakis when we’re man and wife, can you?’ he drawled.
‘Since that’s not going to happen, it’s neither here nor there.’
The trace of the civility I was sure he’d cultivated for my mother’s benefit evaporated, allowing me an even clearer glimpse of the flint-hard resolution in his eyes. Cold foreboding gripped my nape, then slithered down my spine.
While I grappled with it, he turned to my mother with suave smoothness. ‘This is a shock, I know. Besides, it’s late. I don’t wish to keep you up, Martha, but I would be pleased if you’d let me pick up our acquaintance again soon?’
I opened my mouth to counter his words.
The look in his eyes stopped me.
‘Of course,’ my mother replied, and then, for the first time in a long time, the hazy cloak she clung to, so she wouldn’t have to face harsh reality, lifted. Her eyes glinted with steel as she stared at Neo. ‘As to your admittedly surprising question—I’ll speak to my daughter first. Clearly you two need better communication. When I’m satisfied that this is what she wants, you can have my blessing.’
Her answer didn’t cow Neo. If anything, reinvigorated tenacity vibrated from him, filling up every spare inch of the living room.
Inclining his head in an almost regal way, he smiled. ‘Very well. May I have a private word with your daughter?’
With a few words and what I expected was a hint of blushing, my mother left the room.
Unable to stand so close to him without losing my mind, or dissolving into hysterics, I hurried across the room, before whirling around. ‘I don’t know what the hell you think you’re playing at, but—’