AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“It’s a Valentino. This was during the high point of her career.” He closed the book. “Okay, that’s enough pictures.” He put the album on a table.
“What’s this?” Cassandra picked up a small photograph from the floor. “Oh, wow. It’s a picture of your mother—and father.” She turned it over. His mom had writtenFiji on the back.“How did they meet?”
He hadn’t seen this picture in a long time.
“They met at a party in New York.”
Cassandra handed the photo to him. His mother, hugely pregnant, wore a white sundress while posing on a beach with his father. His father wore swim trunks and had one arm around his mom and held a surfboard with the other hand. Leo kept his gaze on the photo but didn’t say a word. They looked so happy.
“You look so much like your father. His hair is longer like yours when you and I met, and your smile is just like his.” He did look like his father; a fact that caused a lot of friction when he arrived to live with the Suttons.
She leaned her head against his chest and asked in a whisper, “How did your father die?”
Leo held her tight in his arms and took a deep breath. “I hadn’t seen him for a couple of years. I’d been busy working on the favela project in Brazil. After finishing it up, he invited me to join him on a helicopter ski trip in Switzerland. I’m a decent skier, but that kind of skiing is insane. He insisted, and I agreed.” He paused, recalling every detail of that horrible day.
“Go on.”
“The weather was clear, and the snow conditions were ideal. We were headed down the last run and he flipped, hitting his head on a rock. We got him to a hospital and his injury was minor, but the scans revealed something that was a surprise to me but not to him. He had a slow-growing brain tumor, but it was inoperable. He’d known about it for a while. He had treatment, but there was nothing else the doctors could do. That’s why he wanted to go on the ski trip.”
“He wanted to be with you.” She turned his face to hers. “That’s huge, Leo,” she said, her eyes glossy with tears.
Leo was raw with emotion. Watching his vibrant father fade away had been painfully difficult, but Leo had been adamant about helping the nurses with every aspect of his care.
“Yeah, it was.” He laid her head back onto his chest and held her tight. “He had himself checked out of the hospital and wanted to spend his last weeks in Switzerland. He rented a chalet with a spectacular view of the Alps. I spent night and day with him. He told me how much he loved my mother, but he didn’t fight for her. He was too wrapped up in the business. Plus, I have no doubt Eleanor made his life a living hell.”
She lifted her head again. “How did you spend that time together?”
“We talked about everything. He told me how impressed he was with the favela project. I was so happy to be with him but angry he was dying.” He hated to revisit this story, but Cassandra deserved to know everything. He whispered, “He told me how much he loved me and that I meant more to him than anyone else.”
“More than Malcolm?”
“Strange, huh?” No wonder Malcolm and his mother hated him. “I think he wanted to emphasize it because Eleanor and Malcolm often insinuated my father was someone else. It was possible. My mother had many affairs. And remember, the company can only be run by a biological child, so those comments were intended to intimidate me.”
“Is that why you don’t work for the family business?”
He brushed a lock of hair over her shoulder. “It’s one of the reasons. There’s a board meeting soon, and Malcolm is expected to be named as my father’s replacement. I have a seat on the board. I’ve never attended a meeting in the past, butI won’t miss this one.”
“Why not?”
He said under his breath, “Malcolm has no idea what’s coming for him.”
“What’s that?” she asked.
He’d better be careful not to say anything more about his plan, not even to Cassandra.
“It’s not important.” He kissed the top of her head.
“Oh, okay.” Cassandra snuggled closer to him, still holding the photo. Shepointed to his mother’s baby bump. “And that’s you.”
Leo turned to her. “That’s me.” A wave of sadness surged through him for losing his parents far too soon.
“Are there any baby pictures of you? I’d love to see what baby Leo looked like.”
“Not today.” He put the photo back in the album. He had to get himself out of this depressing mood. “Let’s order some lunch.” He leaned in to kiss her as his phone pinged with a text and followed with an incoming call.
Cassandra broke the kiss. “Someone is trying to reach you.”
“I better take it.” No one was scheduled to work over the weekend, but the supervisor was working on site today. He picked up his phone. It was a message from Ben.
