Total pages in book: 81
Estimated words: 76390 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 382(@200wpm)___ 306(@250wpm)___ 255(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 76390 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 382(@200wpm)___ 306(@250wpm)___ 255(@300wpm)
A dull ache emerged in his chest as Miranda’s words sank in, but Nik forced himself to ignore it. “It doesn’t matter,” he heard himself say. “It doesn’t change a thing—-”
“Doesn’t it?” Miranda demanded. “Nik, other people—-”
His head jerked up at what she was implying. “Other people could what?” he grated out. “Are you fucking saying that you think all those men lied about her? Can you hear yourself, Miranda? Are you saying that all twenty-eight men fucking lied—-”
“Yes!” As soon as she said it, she suddenly knew she did believe that. “I’m saying yes, even if it sounds completely unbelievable and unrealistic, I’m saying yes, I believe that. I’m going to bank on the fact that I know you’re not the type of person to fall for someone just because she was good in bed – if you were, you would have fallen for me.” Her smile was self-mocking. “But you didn’t. So yes, I think you must have seen something special in Daria and so yes, I think they all lied. I think she’s it for you.”
THE FLIGHT FROM NEW York City to Miami had drained him, but Nik had his driver take him straight to Magnolia Everest’s estate.
He wasn’t certain if she would consent to meet him, but she did. She bore a strong resemblance to Daria and looked a decade younger than her age. The photos he had seen of her always had Magnolia dressed in outfits more suitable for teenagers than middle-aged women. But when Daria’s mother came to the drawing room, she was nothing like her photos. Her hair was left loose, her face free of makeup, and she was dressed in a loose, long-sleeved silk blouse and slacks.
“Mr. Alexandropoulos.” Her voice was as husky as Daria’s.
They shook hands briefly. “Thank you for seeing me, Mrs. Everest.”
She nodded, and when they were seated, she said without preamble, “Daria’s not with me.”
Ah. She knew about him then. It was all he allowed himself to think. The fact that Daria was not here was something he preferred not to dwell on at all.
“Was that why you came?” she asked. He didn’t answer right away, and she was beginning to see why Daria’s friends had oh-so-carefully described him as mercurial and aloof. Understatements, all of them, Magnolia thought.
“She came here three months ago, and she found me drunk.”
Nik stiffened.
“But I wasn’t drunk enough not to realize something was wrong with my baby. She wasn’t crying, but I’m her mother and I could feel it. I kept asking her what was wrong in my slurred voice, but she only said she was going to take care of me. And I let her even when...she’s never cried. Don’t you think that’s strange? My baby’s always been a girly girl.” Her voice broke. “She should cry more, don’t you think?”
Nik’s jaw clenched. Memories drifted in his mind, Daria telling him she didn’t allow herself to cry as punishment for hurting him.
“It sobered me, seeing her so determined to care for me even when she was hurting inside. It broke me.”
And looking at her, Nik saw that Magnolia was also punishing herself now. Tears brightened her gaze the way it did Daria’s, but Magnolia kept her eyes unblinking, not letting a single drop fall.
“She didn’t tell me a thing about you, you know. All she told me that it was her fault because she lied.” She choked the last word out, emotions tightening her throat. “Why are you so hard on her? One lie and you took away her pride, took away everything, even though she loved you so much—-”
Nik stood up. “I’m sorry,” he bit out. He didn’t give a damn if leaving suddenly would make him like the biggest prick on earth. He just didn’t want to listen to another person waxing poetry about Daria. Iolanthe had done it, even Miranda, and of course Magnolia would do it, too.
If he listened to more of this, all his defenses would crash, and he would—-
As he turned away, he heard Magnolia speak behind him. “She’s the silliest daughter in the world, you know.”
Nik knew he should leave. That the more he listened, the more he would think that Daria—-
“She’s so silly it breaks my heart,” Magnolia whispered. “She dated all those men, and she let them speak lies about her because she kept thinking that one day, a man would come to love her, despite her past, and with that she could prove that even someone like me – someone like me could be loved.” Her voice caught, and then and there he saw her for who she was, saw Magnolia the way Daria had always seen her mother.
A woman the world punished for loving too much and not being sorry for it.
Slowly, Nik turned to face Magnolia, and his defenses broke down as her eyes sought his assurance. Him, the man who had thought she was despicable, the same man who had hurt her daughter.