Her hair brushed against his eyelids. She tucked it around her shell-like ear. “Of course, darling. There’s no rush on anything. We have our whole lives ahead of us.”
Our whole lives.
She was so brave. He couldn’t find the words to tell her.
“Don’t put me on some kind of angelic pedestal,” she said, reading his mind. “Hundreds of thousands of women around the world are in my exact shoes.” She smiled. “There’s a whole whacked army of us.”
“A formidable army,” he admitted in a haunted whisper. “My father once told me women are the strong ones. I believe it.”
His wife leaned down to kiss his mouth. “My mother once told me the greatest power in the world was a kind man. Among your many masculine qualities, it’s your hallmark trait. I adore you, Andreas.” Her eyes unexpectedly clouded. “I only wish some kindness would spill over on Theo, before it’s too late.”
How had Theo slipped into this conversation? He couldn’t keep up with his wife’s thoughts. “Olympia should never have married him.”
When Dominique’s dark-fringed eyes filled with tears, they darkened to purple, enslaving him. “But then little Ari wouldn’t have been born. He’s so precious.”
“I agree.”
Dominique clutched his shoulders. “Theo told me he gave up his parental rights.”
Andreas hadn’t realized the depth of their conversation.
“Theo’s had nothing to do with the baby since he was born. When I went to the hospital to see Olympia, she told me he’d never come near. I’d hoped he would change his mind when he found out the baby was his, but it made no difference.”
She choked on a sob. “I was horrified when he told me. I simply can’t comprehend anyone abandoning their child. Ari needs his own father. But Theo told me Olympia only married him on the rebound. She’d hurt him terribly.”
“What rebound?” Andreas challenged. “Olympia’s had a lot of boyfriends, but she hadn’t been seriously involved with another man when she met Theo.”
“He meant you.” Her voice trembled.
“I realize that, but the charge is absurd.”
“You mean you never had a relationship with her?”
“A relationship, yes. Through the years she’s been like a sister to me—especially with Maris gone. If Theo saw something else, that’s his problem.”
She bit her lip so enticingly he had to kiss her again.
“It’s a tragic problem, Andreas. He’s taken his anger and jealousy out on an innocent baby.”
“He’s not a normal man. Olympia found that out soon after they married.”
After a pause, “Did he abuse her?”
“Yes.”
“Physically?”
“That, and emotionally. He forbade her to associate with our family. It was his way of keeping her away from me.”
She sat up against the headboard. “How did she meet him?”
“Through me. Soon after Maris died I took the family out on the yacht. I invited Olympia and her aunt, who raised her, to join us. We spent a couple of weeks together. During that time I still had business to attend to, and would fly back and forth. Theo and I had some commercial interests in common, so I brought him back to the Cygnus. He met Olympia. They fell in love and married quickly. You could say it was a whirlwind affair. It turned out to be a mistake I could have prevented.”
“How?”
He shook
his head. “I don’t know. I should have seen the signs.”