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"I have never said he did not."
"But…"
"I will call him tomorrow and reaffirm my own lack of malaise of spirit if that will make you feel better."
"Really?" She looked at him like she was shocked.
He did not know why. If it was in his power to please her, he did it.
Thus far, he had not found anything not within his power and did not expect to.
"Consider it done."
"Thank you, Tor. I think both you and your father need that."
He didn't bother to argue, though he did not agree. He had more important things to do with his mouth.
Her cries of pleasure were his reward for doing them.
The call to his father went pretty much as he expected until the older man said there was something he'd wanted to talk to Tor about.
"Yes?" Tor asked warily.
He and his father did not indulge in confidences and the older man had abdicated voicing opinions about Tor's life choices years before.
"You may have noticed the countess and I enjoy one another's company a great deal."
"Yes." Despite there never having been any kind of announcement, Tor would be shocked if anyone in the family was unaware that his father and the countess were personally involved.
"It is more than a friendship."
"Good."
"Do you mean that?"
"Why wouldn't I?" Tor asked, genuinely confused.
"You were the youngest when we lost your mother."
"Yes?"
"Out of respect for your feelings, the Lady Ingrid and I have naturally been circumspect about our relationship." His father's words were stilted and tense.
If he was even half as uncomfortable with this conversation as Tor, no wonder.
But his words also made little sense to Tor.
"For my benefit? I do not understand."
"Naturally, you would not want someone replacing your mother."
"Perhaps it has escaped your notice, Father, but I am a twenty-five-year-old man. What you do in your personal life is of no consequence to me."
It was not as if the countess would be taking on the role of his stepmother. His father's wife, yes, and welcome to the family as far as Tor was concerned.
But he was past the age of needing a mother.
"I did not want to hurt you," his father said, his tone inexplicably sincere.
