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She found Theron sitting at a table in the garden, leaning back in a chair, his face turned up towards the sun, his features relaxed, and he looked, for the first time, his twenty-eight years. He inclined his head just a little towards her and she realised that was his way of telling her he knew she was there.
She took the seat beside him. ‘Do you miss it?’ she couldn’t help but ask. ‘The sun. Greece,’ she clarified.
‘God, yes. I don’t know how you do it. It’s...unhealthy.’
The laugh tumbled out of her. She was not in the least offended by his over-exaggerated negativity towards England, or Norfolk. It was playful, the teasing. Not mean or cruel. And the idea of him not being able to withstand a bit of English weather was exactly that: laughable. Because there was something incredibly strong, immovable about him. She had—back in Greece—compared him to dolerite and now she realised how fitting that was.
Its powerfully strong properties were what made it so suitable in protective barriers and construction. That was what she felt about Theron. That, no matter what, he would protect her. Perhaps whether she wanted that protection or not.
‘So how does it feel?’ he asked, cutting through her thoughts. ‘To have found a treasure that’s been hidden for over one hundred and fifty years?’
Summer smiled, her heart soaring once again. ‘Incredible. But knowing that we’ll be able to sell the estate and pay for our mother’s treatment is...’ She shook her head, trying to find the words that could express the relief, the joy, the hope... ‘I know it’s not a guarantee that the treatment will work, or that she’ll be okay, but it feels as if we’ve won half the battle at least,’ she said truthfully. Although she couldn’t quite explain why the thought of selling the estate dimmed her joy a little.
‘Catherine Soames must have been a very impressive woman,’ Theron mused. ‘I can’t imagine the thought, determination, the...’
‘Faith?’ Summer asked as she smiled at him.
‘Faith,’ he acknowledged with a nod, ‘to plan something like this. It must have taken years.’
‘I don’t know what I’m going to be doing in five years, let alone...’ Summer’s careless words trailed off and her smile fell as she realised that she would have a four-year-old child. Thattheywould have a four-year-old child. She swallowed. She knew they needed to talk about this, but until now she’d been so focused on the diamonds, her mother, even Kyros... Had she thrown them all up as excuses to stop this very conversation? ‘I didn’t plan for this,’ she said, trying to explain.
‘I know,’ Theron said, looking intently at his hands.
‘No, I mean... I hadplans. Always. Skye was the one who looked after us, Star was the dreamer, the romantic, and I was the one who was going to getthe job. The one who would make sure we were all going to be okay. Financially.’ Summer squinted and it had nothing to do with the gentle sun’s rays and everything to do with trying to pierce the shrouds of time to a point when she’dnothad plans. ‘Myplanwas to go to university. Take my fourth year abroad. Finish my degree and find a job in the environmental engineering sector. Get settled. Save money. Look after Mum and the girls.’ Summer took a breath, wondering how many years she’d clung to that plan. Nearly ten, maybe? ‘And then everything started to fall apart when I found out about Kyros. I deviated from my plan and went to Greece and...’ she broke off, laughing bitterly ‘...and he wasn’t there. And then, when he was...’ Her heart hurt so much at the memory of his dismissal. She’d never felt such rejection. Until Theron had said what he’d then said. She tried to close the door on that hurt.
She now understood why he’d behaved the way he had. Theron had thought she was a threat to Kyros—the man who had been more of a father to him than he’d had the chance to be to her. And she also had to face the fact that she could have stayed. Shecouldhave. Theron hadn’t the power to kick her out of Greece. Her plan had gone wrong and she’d left because it had been easier than staying and confronting her father.
‘The point is,’ she pressed on, ‘I was making plans. And now I’m not. Because they don’t work and I’m not sure what to do any more.’ She slowly exhaled the breath that had built in her chest and wondered if anything she’d said had made sense.
Theron held her gaze when she looked at him. It was open, accepting and understanding. And suddenly she didn’t want it. She didn’t want his understanding. She wanted him to tell her what to do.
‘Plans are notwants. Plans are what we do to get what we want. So, until you know what you want, you can’t make a plan. What do you want?’ he asked.
‘I want you to tell me what you want,’ she hedged.
Theron smiled ruefully and narrowed his eyes as if considering what to say. ‘I want you and our child to be safe and happy.’ But he said it in a way that sounded sad. As if he was separate from it. And in that moment Summer didn’t have the courage to challenge him on it.
So, what did she want?
The answer was there, beating in her heart. She wanted the strong, patient, protective man who had not laughed at her mother’s esoteric leanings, who had not dismissed her job or her interest, who was stubborn and sometimes sulked like a teenager, but who felt so deeply he didn’t always have the words to describe it.
But something was holding him back. And until he was able to face that, Summer felt a little too vulnerable to voice the truth in her heart. So instead she thought of what she wanted for their child and the answer flew from her lips.
‘I want you to be there. I want you to be all the things that my father wasn’t or couldn’t be. I don’t want our child to hurt the way that I hurt, to feel the inability or yearning that I felt. I want them to know who their parents are and be absolutely sure that they are safe. That they are loved. So,’ she said, taking a breath, ‘I need you to promise that you’ll be there.’
When she looked back up at Theron she noticed that his hands were fisted and his knuckles were white, his mouth was a fine tight line, and her heart broke a little. She felt foolish for speaking so freely, but knew that her words had been right and true and she would stand by them for her child.
He nodded once. But to let her know that he’d heard her or in agreement, she couldn’t tell. And then he was gone. Just like that. As if he’d never really been sitting there.
Theron paced the length of his room, passing the empty fireplace and unseeing of the dust and damp that had horrified him on his first night here. He felt as if creatures were crawling up his body, scratching against his skin, and he couldn’t stop it.
I want you to be there.
She’d had no idea what she’d said, how her words had poked and prodded at the open wound in his heart. He clenched his jaw at the sudden rush of memories, all piling in on each other. Lykos walking away from him, the loss of Althaia, Kyros leaving him behind as he left for the island without him. As if he’d never been a part of the Agyros family. His hand fisted and he wanted to lash out. To punch something. To have a physical pain that would be easier to bear than the chaotically sprawling emotions he couldn’t seem to control.
I want you to be all the things that my father wasn’t or couldn’t be.
He looked at his phone, staring at the five missed calls from Kyros. Theron dropped down onto the mattress and put his head into his hands. Summer still held so much hurt from not knowing Kyros. And what of Kyros? He couldn’t imagine what pain it would cause him to have been kept away from his child for so long. He couldn’t put it off any more. He had to call Kyros, no matter what it cost him.
