He stared at her in nothing less than abject horror. “You don’t mean that.”
“It’s not that black-and-white, is it?”
He sighed. “I suppose not.” For Alexandros?
That was quite the climbdown.
“When we talked about having children before we got married, do you remember what we said?” She looked into the espresso gaze that had so caught her that first time their eyes met and willed him to think back.
“That we both wanted you to be able to stay home with our children.”
“And you promised me that I could. You said you understood that I wanted to be the mom who was home after school, that our house would be the one that our children and their friends hung out in. Even if it was a mansion.” He’d used those exact words.
“You are an at-home mother.” Confusion made his body tense against hers.
He had never liked not understanding. Anything.
“Am I?” Only she didn’t feel like one when the charity work and social events he insisted she had to host and attend were as demanding as any full-time job. “Today I got to play as much as I wanted to with Helena. I got to help her make cookies for the first time without planning the event two weeks in advance on my calendar.”
There had been a time that Polly spent time baking every day, just to relax. She’d clung to that in the first year of their marriage, but obligations on her time and her mother-in-law’s attitude toward such pursuits eventually saw the end to her indulging in her passion for creating.
“In fact, it was one of the few times I’ve been in the kitchen with our daughter because there are so many things I want to do with her and there simply isn’t enough time to do them. She spends a lot of her time with me, in here, while I work with Beryl, my attention divided.”
“You do make it sound like a full-time job, but you must understand. This is how I was raised. I grew up with a mother who kept such social obligations as a matter of course.” And a grandmother before that.
She knew it was ingrained in him to see life a certain way by his family, by his history, by his culture and by his own personal experience. That didn’t make it any easier for Polly to live the life he expected of her.
“Your mother never held any other job, and she relies a lot more heavily on her personal staff than I ever had,” Polly pointed out.
“Because you believe that if a job is worth doing, it is worth doing right.”
“And personally.” Polly wasn’t putting her name to something she wasn’t actually personally involved in, but recently she’d begun to realize that maybe her own stubbornness had pushed her to a higher level of involvement than necessary.
That wasn’t an easy thing to acknowledge or admit. Because it meant that not only was some of her discontent with her life at her own instigation, but her own pride and intransigence had led her to taking time away from Helena that she hadn’t needed to.
“I know that a lot of moms don’t have the time they want with their children,” she acknowledged to him, for now not addressing her inner revelations. Not ready to share the burden of blame when so much rested on his attitudes and expectations. Still, she added, “I try very hard to remember that my life is easy in comparison to other women’s.”
“Because you are rich.”
“Because my husband is a billionaire.”
“What is mine is yours.” He said it like he believed it.
But again she thought it was a matter of him believing something in the abstract, but his actions showing a deeper conviction toward something else.
“Not according to the prenup. And honestly? If that were true, you would not have bought this house without my input.” Could he finally understand that had been taking his tendency toward control one giant step too far?
“That was a mistake.”
Again, shock rendered her nearly mute, but she managed to force out, “Was it?”
“You are my wife.” He cupped her cheek, his hand warm against her skin. “I should never have made the decision to move us out of Athens without your agreement.”
Polly was kind of stunned he was admitting it finally. “I didn’t want to live with your mother and sister any longer.” Even though, at first, she’d been okay with it.
He’d explained how the villa had been their family home for generations. How his mother had begged them to make their home there rather than him moving out. In the light of Athena
’s recent losses, Polly’s heart had been moved to agree.