Texas, he hadn't seen much of her at all. That she'd traveled all the way back here to have this confrontation aroused his suspicions.
"You haven't worried about Constance in the last two years. What brings you back here now?" He didn't mean to sound impolite, but he hadn't the patience to work around to her motives.
"I've always worried about her," Sandra protested, tapping her beringed fingers on the cushion. "I had just hoped she'd recover from Angela's death by now." She hesitated, obviously looking for the right words for her next attack.
Axell supplied them for her. "But obviously my cold, uncaring nature isn't what Constance needs." Fighting the guilt and pain, Axell braced his hand on the marble mantel that his late wife had chosen, as she had almost everything else in this palace. "Angela made the complaint more than once. I haven't forgotten."
"Angela loved you," Sandra said placatingly. "But you were so busy all the time..."
Damn, but it was as if the last two years hadn't happened, and he was slammed right back into one of those ever-running arguments Angela had hit him with every night when he came home. He didn't need this. Angela was dead. She'd died two years ago driving too fast on a rain-slick highway. She'd been furious with him at the time. He hadn't understood her fury then any more than he did now. He just knew the guilt she'd left behind.
"Look, Sandra, Constance is my daughter. She's lost one parent. I'll be damned if she'll lose another. I know you mean well..."
Beneath her professionally styled blond coif, Sandra frowned. "Axell, I'm prepared to get tough about this. Constance is my only grandchild. I'll never have another. I want what's best for her, and I can provide it. She's not happy here; anyone can see that. I don't see that's there any room for argument."
Axell clenched his fists. He wasn't a man who lost control of his emotions. If his late wife were to be believed, he didn't have emotions.
"I don't know who you've been talking to, but they cannot possibly know everything that goes on in this household. I've found Constance a very good after-school program, and she's opening up nicely. Her teacher says she's quite talented."
Sandra looked disbelieving. "When even your neighbors notice a child's unhappiness, there has to be something wrong. We could just do this on a trial basis."
Maybe she was right. Maybe Constance did need a mother figure. She was only eight, but Axell recognized that little girls wanted someone to paint their fingernails and braid their hair and hear their secrets, and he was no damned good at it. Even if she'd been a tomboy who loved climbing trees and fishing, he wouldn't be of much use. He'd spent his life between books and the bar. The only time he'd ever been fishing was at Boy Scout camp as a kid. He'd fallen in the lake and never bothered again. The principles of fishing were as illogical as women, and he didn't have the patience for either.
Damn Angela for dying and leaving him helpless.
Hating the feeling of inadequacy, Axell rubbed his hand over his face and nodded. "Give me time to think about it. I want to talk to Constance first. How long do you plan to stay? I can arrange someone to come in and fix meals..."
Sandra rose from the couch. "I'll be staying with Elizabeth Arnold. I wouldn't wish to put you out, dear. Whatever do you do for meals when I'm not here?"
Elizabeth Arnold, the mayor's mother. The last piece of puzzle plunked in place. Axell gritted his teeth and forced a polite smile. "We eat at the bar."
He really shouldn't have said that. Sandra's artfully made-up face dropped two inches. People never knew when he was kidding. The bar's opening twenty years ago had been so scandalous, everyone still referred to it as such, even though he'd expanded into the biggest restaurant in the county. Suddenly anxious to be rid of her, Axell didn't bother erasing her impression of Constance snacking on peanuts while whirling on bar stools.
As soon as his mother-in-law scurried into the night, Axell switched off the lights and walked upstairs.
His heart plummeted as he saw the spectral blur of a white nightgown darting into Constance's bedroom. The click of the door lock fastening echoed down the hall.
She'd heard everything. And he had no words to explain.
* * *
"Well, did you talk with him?" Selene hissed as Maya entered the school