My parents? Well, they hadn’t been as organized. Poverty did that for you, and the way we’d moved around had made preschool and the basics that much harder.
I bit my lip at the memory of the hardship of my childhood, especially in the face of the life I was leading now. My family had loved me, and that love had been pure and untainted, and in that, I’d been richer than Adam. Sure, Anna and Robert adored him, but there were more expectations on him than any kid should have had to deal with.
It was, I felt sure, why he was the way he was. It was what had turned him down the path he’d taken, and while it was a path I’d understood and had been willing to help him with along the way, it was a festering bitterness in his soul that he couldn’t seem to escape from.
A bitterness that affected us every damn day.
“God, I’m so proud of you!”
Anna’s declaration had me jolting, because I realized I’d been staring at Adam and he, of course, had been staring at me. See, that was how two magnets worked.
Put them in the vicinity of one another, and boom—they were going to collide.
Sometimes I fought it, but I couldn’t fight fate.
I quickly broke the link between us, then turned to Anna who was still beaming, but it felt faker now as her gaze drifted between Adam and me.
“Thank you, Anna,” I replied a little tamely and a lot huskily, thanks to where my thoughts had taken me.
Adam was opposite me, his knees so close that I could feel his body heat against me, and I wanted nothing more than to be able to claim that heat, to have it as mine.
To have the right to cuddle up to him, to be in his arms for something longer than a congratulatory hug.
But he wouldn’t allow it.
And me? I wasn’t sure if what I wanted was worth fighting for when Adam’s demons took up more of his soul than I possibly could.
As Robert ordered something in Japanese, I told Anna, “I intend on making you prouder.”
Excitement gleamed in her eyes. “I can’t wait for tomorrow. What you did today was incredible. The speed you swam at?”
“She’s right. You were like a fish under there,” Adam rasped. “You beat even the men’s record.”
That he sounded impressed made me color, and I dipped my chin. Though he wasn’t a competitive swimmer anymore, he had been, so his respect meant a lot to me.
“I just—” I shrugged. “I don’t know what I did.” A sheepish grin split my jaw at their laughter.
“Well, whatever it was, do it again.” Robert’s eyes twinkled in the dim light. “We can put your medals in the Trophy Room.”
My mouth rounded at that. “You’d let me?”
Robert snorted. “Let you? Just you wait. The second you take that off your neck, I want my grabby hands around it.”
Anna rolled her eyes, but there was a faint glint in them that told me she was thinking of Cain, and the medals he would have won if it weren’t for me.
Though Adam had what it took to be a competitive swimmer, Cain had Olympic level talent. I’d seen him in the water—he’d been like a fish. The coaches at Rosemore had used some of his techniques as teaching material for a reason.
I bit the inside of my cheek to hide the sudden shrouding of guilt that overtook me, and instead, ducked my head and lifted the medal over it. Passing it to Robert, I murmured, “Here.”
Robert grinned as he raised it to his line of sight, then pushed it into the spotlight so he could see the different details on the face.
“Didn’t think I’d get to touch one of these after—” He choked a little, then he whistled under his breath as he passed it back to me.
I shook my head. “Feel free to wear it,” I offered, laughing when, without even a second’s hesitation, he plunked it overhead.
“Goes well with your Polo shirt, Dad,” Adam joked.
“Fingers crossed you’ll win enough for us all to wear one,” Robert teased.
“I’ll try my best,” I told him, but my tone was a little too fervent for my pledge to sound like a joke.
Robert’s eyes softened as he reached over and patted my hand. “Be you, Thea, and you’ll do us proud. You know that, don’t you?”
Because it was Robert, I believed him, so I sent him a smile.