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Nine
Jenna watched Lily run aheadwith Stella and Sofia, all of them eager to reach the bear exhibit. Angel was right there with them, looking as serene as ever with Farrell, Nico, and Luca closebehind.
Christophe and Charlotte, in a world all their own and holding hands like newly minted lovers, didn’t bother trying to keep up. They’d arrived on the heels of Luca and Isabel the day before bearing an assortment of French delicacies and an air ofrefinement.
Jenna knew Christophe was from an old, titled family, but when she’d first met him she couldn’t imagine a woman who would either tame him or suithim.
He’d been aloof and reserved, evenegotistical.
Then again, which of the Syndicate menweren’t?
But Christophe had been shaped both by the history and culture of his family name and by the ruin brought on by his father’s philandering. When Christophe met Charlotte, he’d been in the process of rebuilding the legacy, hunting down the antiques and art his father had sold off to settle multiple divorces after the death of Christophe’smother.
It made sense that Charlotte would suit him. An art curator from Los Angeles with a mother who was a once-famous starlet and a father who had run a respected antique store in Paris, Charlotte fit Christophe like a pricelessglove.
Jenna had watched them with fascination since their arrival, marveling over the easy sensuality that moved between them. She couldn’t help wondering if it was the lack of children in theirlife.
“Is everything allright?”
Jenna looked over to find Isabel, the beautiful woman who lived with Luca in Miami, walking next toher.
Lush and voluptuous, with dark hair that fell in waves down her back and wide eyes rimmed with long eyelashes, Isabel was raising her little sister,Sofia.
It was a tall order for someone so young, but it meant she must know plenty about life withchildren.
“Just imagining an alternate timeline where I’m that carefree,” Jenna said with alaugh.
Isabel followed her gaze to Christophe and Charlotte. They were moving slowly, like they had all the time in the world, Charlotte’s head resting on Christophe’s shoulder as theywalked.
“Ah,” Isabel said. “I know what you mean. It does lookeasier.”
Jenna smiled, her eyes on the children. “They’re exhausting, aren’tthey?”
Isabel nodded slowly. “Sofia is a bit older, but I remember when she was young like Stella and Lily. The energy! Mygod!”
Jenna smiled, charmed by Isabel’s Columbian accent, her honesty. They’d met briefly in the past, but never in a setting as intimate as aholiday.
“I’m glad I’m not the only one,” Jenna said. “I adore Lily, of course,but— ”
“Sometimes you wonder what it would be like to be free?” Isabelasked.
“Maybe a little,” Jennasaid.
She couldn’t tell Isabel that she already felt free. She had support and money and so much more that so many others didn’thave.
But none of that would change the fact that having another baby would add more stress, more pressure, to the mix. She’d already sensed a new tension between her and Farrell, an undercurrent she couldn’tdefine.
If they’d been different people they would have talked about it. She would have asked him about the tension in his shoulders and the frown lines around hismouth.
Instead they made love like teenagers — aggressively, ravenously, as if they might never get another chance. Farrell held her afterwards, stroking her hair, telling her he lovedher.
Still, the unspoken burden sat betweenthem.
“It’s understandable,” Isabel said, continuing their conversation as they stepped inside the building that provided a view to the bear exhibit. Behind the glass, a group of brown bears meandered over the terrain. “It’s hard to remember yourself when someone needs something from you all thetime.”
“That’s a good way of putting it,” Jennasaid.
“Daddy! We can watch them swim!” Lily said breathlessly, running down a ramp to a viewing area that provided a glimpse under the water where the bearsswam.
