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Her heart, so broken, so splintered, began to pull together and she knew then that she had to be strong—not just for herself, but for Leo and Matt as well. ‘I can’t promise nothing will ever happen to me. Or Leo. Life comes with so few guarantees. But Matt, you can’t keep pushing us away. Not when we’re right here, your wife and your son, so in love with you. You can’t keep pushing us away just because something might happen, one day. You can’t throw our family away because you’re afraid. Not when, by being brave, there’s a good chance we’ll all get everything we ever wanted in life...’
He shook his head against hers, his hand moving to curl around her cheek, his other fastening around her back.
‘I ruined it,’ he said, the words husky.
She looked up at him, frowning.
‘The painting. I was so... I do not know. Angry. Afraid. No, I was terrified. When I saw that newspaper article, I took the painting from the wall and threw it to the ground, and I stared at the broken frame, the once beautiful object I had destroyed because I was afraid, and I felt... I ruined the painting,’ he said gruffly. ‘And I cannot bear that I have ruined our marriage too. I cannot bear the idea that fear has made me hurt you and push you away, that I have put you through the kind of pain I have felt this last month...’
‘You say fear, but I look at you and I see a man who is so brave. What you’ve been through and turned your life into? I don’t know anyone else who could have done that.’
‘Don’t. Do not speak so highly of me when I have been a coward, pushing you away rather than admitting how I feel for you...’
‘You came here today,’ she said softly. ‘You’re here because you love me, aren’t you?’
His eyes glistened black in his handsome face. ‘Yes,’ he said on a whoosh of relief, a smile crossing his face. ‘I am.’
‘Then you are brave,’ she promised. ‘And I love you.’
‘How is it possible?’ he asked, wonderment and weight in the question.
‘Because you are good and kind and because I believe in fairy tales and for ever.’ She pressed a kiss against his nose and his eyes fell closed. ‘Because I’m an optimist, and because my heart is as much yours as it ever was.’
‘Your heart is a fool,’ he groaned huskily. ‘To love a man so unworthy of you.’
‘You are more worthy of me than you give yourself credit for.’
‘I doubt that,’ he said with a shake of his head. ‘But I will spend the rest of my life trying to deserve you.’
He scooped down and lifted her up, cradling her against his chest, and she laughed at the sudden movement. ‘What are you doing?’
‘I have missed you, Frankie, in every single way. This last month has been an agony. I have longed to talk to you. To show you my kingdom—our kingdom. I have wanted to see your wonder as you discover what is so special about Tolmirós, and I have missed Leo with an intensity that is impossible to describe. I have missed you in every way, and right now I want to make love to you as I should have all along—hold you close and tell you that I love you, tell you that everything you have wanted all your life is right here. I want this day to be the first day of your fairy tale, Frankie.’
‘I thought you didn’t believe in fairy tales,’ she couldn’t help teasing.
‘I didn’t.’ He was serious. ‘Until I met you—and I found myself living in one regardless.’
He kissed her then, a kiss of longing and love, and it inflated her soul. ‘You have given me everything I ever wanted—my wife, my son, a family, a future. And I almost lost you because I couldn’t admit that. I’ve been such a vlakás.’
She had no idea what the word meant. ‘Yes.’ Her agreement was sanguine as she wrapped her arms around his neck. ‘But I forgive you.’
‘You were right about my upbringing,’ he said throatily. ‘I don’t often think about my childhood. I try not to, anyway.’ He furrowed his brow. ‘But that day, when you were so angry with me, you said my childhood wasn’t cold. That it was full of love. And you were right. My mother adored Spiro and me. She would have fought like a wildcat, as you did, to protect her children.’
Frankie’s stomach churned with sadness for this woman, this poor woman. ‘I’d like to know more about her,’ she said honestly, and lifted her hand to his chest. ‘I’d like to hear about your family.’
She could feel his resistance; she could see that it was something he was fighting, but then he nodded tightly. ‘I think I’d like to talk to you about them. In time.’
It was enough. She lifted up and pressed a kiss to his cheek. ‘We have all the time in the world, Matthias. I’m not going anywhere.’
EPILOGUE
NINE MONTHS LATER to the day, baby Emilia Vasilliás was born—a beautiful little sister for Tolmirós’s thriving Crown Prince Leo.
Matthias had been by his wife’s side the entire time—from the moment they’d discovered she was pregnant, only a week after her return to the palace, all the way to the delivery.
As he’d promised, in his office he was King, but he was also a man. A husband and a father, and as he watched her deliver him of another beautiful child he was mainly a bundle of nerves.
He hated seeing her in pain; he longed to be able to carry that pain, to experience it for her, so that she didn’t need to feel the agony she was enduring. But she was so strong, so brave, and after hours of labour a baby’s cry broke through the hospital and they looked upon their princess for the first time.
