felt the need to hilariously discuss it at length afterwards, and sent them off to enjoy snack time with a few other volunteers
“Children are much easier to work with than adults,” I mused to Val. “Less complicated and more innocent. What you see is what you get.”
She nodded. “Children are rather simple creatures. All they really want at the end of the day is to be loved. My heart breaks every time I see a child who doesn’t even have that.”
It felt like she’d hit a bruise on my heart with those words, as they were so terribly close to home.
“Isn’t that what we all want at the end of the day?” I asked. “To be loved?”
She inclined her head knowingly at me. With her warm chocolate eyes, olive skin, and stylish bob that had only a few streaks of gray, Val was a very beautiful woman. And with Enzo being so handsome… I could see where their sons had all gotten their good looks from.
“I think most people do, yes,” she answered. “Even commitment-phobic thirty-three-year-olds who’ve sworn up and down they’d never get married, yet who wed themselves to lovely, kind-hearted women purely for business reasons.”
I lowered my head, blushing. “Why do I feel like that comment was a little on the nose?”
“Because you’re an intelligent woman.”
Taking pity on me, she suspended her scrutinizing stare to help me clean up the play area where I’d read to the children.
“I know Nico has his faults, but he truly is a good man. Even if he doesn’t think he is.”
I cast her a side glance. “What do you mean?”
She sighed. “No one has greater expectations of Nico than Nico himself. He sets the bar higher than anyone else would. I know everyone thinks he’s a lackadaisical goofball, but I think he works himself far harder than anyone sees. In fact, I think he pushes himself too hard.”
Considering the fact that I’d rarely seen him not working since I’d met him—except during our frenzied masturbatory sessions, of course—I’d have to agree with her.
“His work ethic does seem to be…demanding.”
She finished reassembling a wooden puzzle and placed it on a stack with all the others. “I’m afraid his father put too much pressure on him when he was younger, being the first-born and all. Nico felt the weight of his future responsibilities and somehow got it in his head that he would never rise to the level of achievement we expected. Of course, that was never the case. All Enzo and I have ever wanted for our children is for them to be happy.”
Seeing her slumped shoulders, hearing the dejected tone in her voice, I felt compelled to comfort her. “I don’t think he’s unhappy. In fact, I think he works as hard as he does in order to make you and Enzo happy.”
She smiled. “You’re very sweet, Lexi. I can see why he looks at you the way he does.”
I felt my cheeks flush as I tucked my hair behind my ear. “I think what you’re seeing is contempt. Not affection.”
She chuckled. “Like I said, you’re intelligent. I think you know better. All I know with certainty is that Nico treats you differently than any woman I’ve ever seen him with. Which tells me that you are different. In a good way.”
I turned so she wouldn’t see the way her words affected me. “Whether I am or not won’t make a difference in the grand scheme of things. Once Nico acquires the rest of my father’s shares in Kozlov Industries, he’ll terminate the marriage. He was never in this for the long haul.”
“Do you want him to be?”
I couldn’t answer. I didn’t want to lie to her, but I also didn’t know what the truth was.
“Are you, Lexi?” she pushed. “In it for the long haul?”
I peeked at her over my shoulder, shrugging. “I don’t think what I am or what I want will matter in the end. This marriage was arranged without my input, and I foresee it being terminated without my input.”
I flinched, regretting my words.
This was her son we were talking about. She probably didn’t want to hear of my resentment over the situation. Even if Val wouldn’t be my mother-in-law for much longer, I wanted her to like me. As pathetic as it was, she was the closest thing to a mother figure I’d ever had. And I hadn’t even known her a full two weeks.
“You’re wrong about that,” she said slyly. “This is your life, too, Lexi.