Caroline arrived at Damon’s side, her silky hair brushing his shirt sleeve as she joined him in time to glance at the photo of his relative.
“Just doing my job.” Wade pocketed the phone and nodded an acknowledgment to Caroline. “The housekeeper wanted them to wait in the library, so I sent Joseph to keep a discreet eye on the third floor while they’re here.”
“Dismiss him, but thank you. We’ll go down to them in a few minutes.” He closed the door behind the bodyguard, pivoting to face his wife. “I can make your excuses. I’m sure they’ll understand—”
“I’m eager to meet them,” she surprised him by saying. “I’ll just slip into a dress.”
“Are you sure?” He would have discouraged her if Cam hadn’t brought along his wife. He could hardly claim this was a brothers-only meeting.
“With my own family disintegrating, Damon, I look forward to connecting with yours.” She was already moving toward the dressing room. “You might not care about nurturing a relationship with your grandfather and half brothers, but for Lucas’s sake, I would like him to have the chance to be part of a bigger family.”
Was that a positive sign? Maybe if Caroline felt more deeply connected to the rest of his relatives, he could finally feel like they were a team again. A real couple.
United.
“Very well. If you don’t mind, I’ll take Lucas to the nursery and go down now to greet them. Come downstairs whenever you’re ready.”
“Thank you.” She retreated into the dressing area.
No doubt she wanted to hurry along her preparations. That’s probably why she’d seemed flustered.
But as he departed the bedroom suite where they’d renewed their marriage, he couldn’t shake the sense that Caroline was still holding something back from him. Was she actively keeping secrets from him?
Or did she simply fear—as he did—that her unrecovered memories might reveal deeper rifts in their marriage than he’d ever be able to fix?
* * *
Logically, Caroline understood that integrating herself into the McNeill family wouldn’t magically make her feel like a real McNeill again.
But knowing as much didn’t stop her from throwing herself wholeheartedly into a private conversation with her breathtakingly beautiful sister-in-law as they had after-dinner drinks in the third-floor library. Caroline acknowledged that she’d been too isolated by her father. Even during her time working in New York, away from him, she hadn’t strayed far from her office. Maybe if she’d surrounded herself with a larger network, she wouldn’t have been so susceptible to his control. She would make sure her son had more influences in his life.
Now, she and Maresa were able to speak privately on the couch while Damon and Cameron conversed on the other side of room behind the huge desk that dominated one side of the library.
“So your brother is really happy here?” Caroline asked, sitting beside Maresa McNeill on a huge leather sofa in the mahogany-paneled room surrounded by books and beautiful, antique, Chinese-lacquer panels hung on the walls between the windows.
There was a faint scent of leather and wood smoke from yet another fireplace. Had Damon said there were nine in all? Eleven? Caroline sipped at her port wine and tried to focus on Maresa’s story about her family’s summer relocation to Manhattan. The woman had led an interesting, though difficult life, and had met Cameron while working as a concierge for one of the family’s resorts in St. Thomas. Her mother had multiple sclerosis, and her brother had suffered a traumatic brain injury after a car crash during one of their mother’s seizures. Apparently, both had found excellent health services and opportunities in New York City.
“My brother loves it here. He does landscaping work in a supervised program and is truly thriving.” Maresa shifted on the sofa to face Caroline more fully, her amber-colored eyes striking against her darker skin tone. With her dark curls that ended in golden tips, she looked sun-kissed, even in the gray New York wintertime. “But enough about me. I insisted Cam bring me with him tonight so I could meet you. How are you feeling?”
“Fine.” Caroline wasn’t sure if anyone in this family knew about her ordeal being held against her will, or if the other woman was just curious about how her recovery from childbirth was going. “Damon took me sledding today in the park and it felt nice to be outdoors.”
Maresa bit her lip. “Gabe said you had amnesia. Are you recovering any memories?”
“I may have remembered all that I can, but that doesn’t mean I’m going to stop trying and hoping for more.” She wasn’t certain how much to share of her convoluted relationship with her father and the kidnapping she only recalled in pieces because of the drugs. “I’m seeing a new therapist tomorrow though, so maybe I’ll learn some new strategies for digging through the hazy parts of my past.”