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“Have you ever been in love before, Felix?”
“No,” I say without a pause.
“But I presume you’ve had girlfriends in the past…considering your age.”
“Does the age bother you?” Freya asks, her voice getting breathy and tense. “Because Dad was….”
“The age doesn’t bother me. And I’m very well aware of how old your father was. I don’t care if there are two decades between you any more than I cared about my dear late husband being fifteen years older than me.”
Her tone gets darker, sadness tinging it. Despite the quality of the emotion, I can’t help but respect her loyalty. She’s grieving for this man even now, part of his memory still alive within her.
“So, Felix?” she says after a pause.
“I’ve never been in love,” I tell her. “But yes, I’ve had girlfriends. My last one was around eleven years ago. The truth is, Mrs. Abrams, I stopped searching for love because I didn’t think I was capable. Some bad stuff happened when I was a kid. Maybe it was that I thought. I served in the military and saw my share of nightmares. Maybe it was that….” I shake my head. “But it was none of those things. I was waiting for Freya. I never loved, and thought I couldn’t, because I hadn’t met her yet.”
Annabelle wipes at her cheek as though expecting tears there, though there are none.
“And to answer your earlier question,” I say, “I don’t think this feeling is going to fade. In fact, Iknowit’s not. But let’s say it somehow did for the sake of argument. Let’s say I married your daughter one day – with your blessing – and then we both stopped being obsessed with each other.
“I can’t speak for Freya, but I know what I’d do. I’d work on the relationship. I’d focus on being the best parents we could be. I wouldn’t quit on us, ever.”
“Neither would I,” Freya says passionately. “I want this, Mom. Want him. Want us. A life, family, children…all of it. Why wait if we’re sure now? If weknow. I don’t think many people have ever known love like this…except you and Dad, maybe.”
Annabelle smiles, nodding, even as her eyes glisten.
“Yes, yes, it’s true. We only knew each other for a month before we were engaged. But a month and a few days are very different things. Freya, you’re young. In many ways, you’re mature. But you’re still young. Are yousureyou want to do this?”
“I’m more sure about this than anything in my entire life,” she says, making my heart glow, stirring things in me I never would’ve believed before I met my woman.
“I love your daughter, Mrs. Abrams,” I say when she turns to me. “I promise that, whatever happens, I’ll always protect her. I’ll always encourage her to follow her passions. I’ll always respect her.”
“What about your…work?”
I bite down, thinking of the three men. Evil, deserving, and yet I carried out Mr. Red’s bidding all the same. At least I verified his claims about them myself. There’s no way to fake some of the stuff those monsters did.
“I was going to head up the East Coast division of Kenny’s security firm before this started. He’s been asking me for years after I left the military…but then everything with Yasmin happened. I’m not a hitman, Mrs. Abrams, not anymore.”
“He was forced to be, for a little while,” Freya says. “But it’s not who he is.”
After a pause, Annabelle says, “Felix, I’d like to speak with you alone if you don’t mind.”
CHAPTERTWENTY-FIVE
ONE MONTH LATER
Freya
“Yippee!” Felicia beams as Julie pushes her on the swing.
The sun was shining down in the park, children were laughing, and people were walking their dogs.
It’s been a month since we told my mom, and she’s given us her blessing…though I still don’t know what she and Felix talked about when she asked me to leave.
Once I returned to the room, both of them were smiling.
“I want you to be happy,” Mom said. “And I won’t stand in your way.”
I haven’t asked Felix what they discussed. I sense I’m not supposed to know, even if it sends my mind into whirring what-the-heck-is-going-on mode.
