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‘It’s mine. I sold my sister’s townhouse and stored the contents.’
‘That must’ve been disruptive for the children…to lose their home and their parents at pretty much the same time.’
Leo sighed, long brown fingers flexing as he spread his hands. ‘I’m not a saint. I’ve given up a lot, but I wasn’t prepared to give up my home as well. There’s a lot more space here too and four kids and a bunch of nannies take up an enormous amount of space. My sister didn’t have nannies. She was a devoted mother, determined to do everything herself.’
‘She was younger than you…right?’
‘Five years younger. Our mother died bringing her into the world,’ Leo confided. ‘Although my father remarried soon afterwards, we didn’t have a happy family life as children. Ana met her husband, Ben, young and they were both crazy about kids. A large contented family was Ana’s dream.’
Letty picked up on the slight hoarseness of his voice. He had loved his sister and he missed her, regretting that the younger woman had not survived to live her dream.
‘I’m doing my best with Ana’s kids but it’s not working out well,’ Leo admitted stiffly.
‘It’s only been six months since they lost their parents. It takes a long time for a wound like that to heal,’ Letty said gently as she slid out of the car, suddenly feeling seriously underdressed for her grand surroundings.
The hall was huge, with a marble floor and a grand staircase with a wrought iron balustrade. A massive painting dominated the landing, a portrait of a beautiful smiling brunette. Leo urged her into a drawing room that was so opulent it took her breath away. The décor was country house stylish with wallpaper that looked hand-painted, capacious velvet sofas and a massive fireplace but there was a definite contemporary edge to the sculpture in the window embrasure and the glass tables. Absolutely no allowance had been made in the room for a family with young children, she realised wryly. It was an elegant showpiece room for adults and had the air of a space rarely used.
‘Unc’ Leo!’ a childish voice trilled.
Letty spun in time to see a small dark-haired child break free of a uniformed nanny’s hold and rush across the room to embrace Leo’s legs.
‘Letty, this is Popi,’ Leo announced as a smaller child bounded over to greet him, another little girl in a princess net outfit. ‘And this little minx is Sybella.’
The other nanny settled the baby in her arms down on the carpet with some toys and the little boy tugged his hand loose of hers and moved closer.
‘Cosmo!’ Popi hissed, grabbing his hand as she moved over to station him and herself behind her baby brother.
‘Cosmo and Theon,’ Leo completed with a frown as he dismissed the hovering pair of nannies with a quiet word.
Letty absorbed Popi’s defensive stance with her siblings and understood. As the eldest, Popi had taken on the role of protecting her younger siblings and Letty was perceived as a threat. She went down on her knees in front of the baby, who gave her the most adorable wide gummy smile of welcome, unaffected by his sister’s disapproval. He held up his arms to be lifted and Letty couldn’t resist the invitation, but she was very much aware of Popi’s dismay.
‘I’ll just sit here,’ she promised, gathering up Theon and settling into a seat beside the little girl. ‘You stay close in case he wants you.’
‘He won’t. He’s just a baby. He doesn’t even know who you are,’ Popi fired back at her, unhappy at her baby brother’s friendliness.
‘Popi…’Leo’s intervention was clipped and cool and the little girl stiffened and dropped her head. ‘What did we talk about over breakfast?’
‘It’s fine,’ Letty interposed gently. ‘Change is always threatening.’
‘I don’t want a new mother,’ Popi whispered chokily.
‘I’m Letty and you can call me that. Nobody can take the place of your mother,’ Letty said softly, shooting Leo a warning glance when his lips parted as though he was on the brink of firmly disagreeing with that statement. ‘But I do hope that when you get to know me we can be friends.’
‘I have lots of friends,’ Popi told her.
‘It never hurts to have one more,’ Letty contended calmly as Theon clutched at her and went in for a kiss. She kissed him back, looked into his big dark trusting eyes and felt her heart literally thump because he was adorable.
Cosmo sidled over and leant back against her knee while he ran a plastic car over the arm of her chair. He ignored Popi’s calls to return to her side. Sybella clutched at Leo’s jeans and then ran over to twirl in her princess dress and be admired. Popi stood alone, frozen in the centre of the rug, and her expression of loss and anxiety almost broke Letty’s heart.
‘Would you like to show me your bedrooms?’ Letty asked, eager to leave that awkward moment behind as she stood up, cradling Theon on her hip. The minute the baby laid eyes on his uncle, he lifted his arms out and lurched in his direction instead.
‘Show you toys…’ Sybella offered, dancing and hopping on one leg like a tiny brightly coloured flamingo.
Upstairs they went, with Popi trailing reluctantly in their wake. Letty now understood Leo’s concern about his sister’s children. Popi was so busy trying to parent and protect her siblings that she couldn’t relax and simply be a child. It was equally obvious that Leo was the children’s place of safety, but possibly he wasn’t around enough to make them feel secure.
Letty strolled through a set of superb bedrooms crammed with toys. She was taken aback to note that even in Popi’s room there were no photographs of the children’s late parents and she mentioned that oversight in surprise to Leo.
‘I thought it was kinder not to remind them but there’ll be photo albums in the stuff I put into storage,’ he replied.
