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I look at the two animals. There’s yearning and a desire to the pleas in Ferb’s eyes, whereas Phin continues to glare her disdain for me. “Your cat hates me.” I scoop the suggested amount into Phin’s bowl, but she doesn’t move until I return to Aris’ side.
“She’ll come around. You were just the first person she saw after waiting so long for her food.”
Ferb attacks his food, inhaling the entire portion within seconds. In contrast, Phin hunches over her bowl, emitting a growling sound as she stares at me and eats. I’ve never felt threatened by such a small animal, but Phin makes me reconsider. If she truly wants me gone, I doubt Aris could stop her.
Aris leads me to the kitchen where he begins preparations for an early lunch. I catch a tuneless whistle while he works. Last night’s tension is conspicuously absent as he flips a knife and catches it in the air.
We eat outside again. The temperature is cooler than yesterday’s. When I finish, I ask, “What is on the agenda for the rest of the day?”
The light-hearted atmosphere chills as Aris’ features turn into steel. “You’ll call your father.”
CHAPTER NINE
It’s almost dinnertime and I’ve put off phoning home for as long as I can. Aris enters the study on the second floor, making my plan to hide a failure. Ferb raises his head from my feet and gives me a pitying glance before meeting Aris at the door.
“It’s time.” He hands me the phone. “He can’t hurt you here.”
“My father isn’t one to back down when someone challenges his authority.”
“Nevertheless, you will call him. Put it on speaker. If he says anything out of line, I’ll correct him.” Dark relish enters his eyes.
“Why do I think you want him to act up?”
“You think I want to harm my father-in-law for traumatizing my wife? What would give you that idea?”
“Yeah…maybe you shouldn’t be here for this.”
“Yet, I’m not leaving.”Aris pulls me out of my chair, grabs me by the back of my neck, and kisses me until my knees give out.
Instead of releasing me to sink onto the chair, he sits and pulls me across his lap. He braces my back with his arm and turns my head until we are eye to eye.
Silver flecks his blue eye, and golden streaks through his green one. Within their depths, emotions swirl in chaotic harmony, belying my previous assumption about his stoicism. I reach out and brush my finger against his cheek.
Even if Aris hadn’t forced me to acknowledge the connection between us, I would eventually have admitted it to myself. There’s no other explanation for this feeling inside me. He represents the safety I never had at home.
“Thank you,” I whisper.
A wrinkle mars his brow, but I leave the reason for my gratitude unexplained.
“What do I tell my father?”
“Break the news of our marriage. If he asks about your sisters, I’d recommend you tell him as little as possible. I can’t guarantee their safety otherwise.”
“That makes sense.” I dial my father’s number.
With each ring, the more tense I become.
“Relax,” Aris mouths.
“Easy for you to say,” I mouth back.
He pushes my head on his shoulder and puts the phone in my lap with the speakerphone engaged.
When the ringing seems like it is about to end, he slides his hand under my dress and doesn’t stop until a voice answers the phone.
“Who is this?” my father barks.
Aris squeezes my knee, and it gives me the push I need.
