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“It’s me, honey.” Nico’s usually growly voice was almost as quiet as a whisper. “Can I please come in to talk to you?” he asked.
“Of course,” she said, standing to open the door for him. Nico stood on the other side of the doorway looking so lost and upset, she couldn’t help but wrap him in her arms and hold him as close as she possibly could.
“What happened?” she whispered.
He shook his head. “Nothing new. I’m just so worried about you, baby,” he said, banding his arms around her waist. “Please tell me you’ll let me help you, Toni. I want to take care of you. I love you, honey,” he whispered.
Toni wasn’t quite sure how to respond. She didn’t remember him, not all of him. She was starting to get echoes of their past together which felt more like déjà vu moments more than memories. He was familiar and even felt like home, but she didn’t know Nico enough to tell him the words he seemed to need from her.
“I’m sorry, Nico,” she sobbed. Toni buried her face in his soft t-shirt, loving that it smelled like him, another familiarity. “I feel like I know you, but I don’t. When you hold me and touch me, it feels like home. I feel safe with you, and I can’t explain why.”
“It’s because you know me, baby. Your mind just needs time to catch up to your body and heart, but it will. Please just give me time, Toni. Let me take you someplace safe, where Zac can’t get to you. At least until we can figure out what’s going on,” he asked.
Nico looked so hopeful and yet so completely distraught, that she wasn’t sure what to say. She wanted to say yes, he was right, she needed a safe place to think things through. But going to meet his parents for the first time was daunting.
“Why didn’t you ever introduce me to your parents before?” she questioned. Nico pulled away from her and crossed the room, sitting on their bed. She wanted to go to him and sit next to him, but Nico looked like he needed some space.
“They didn’t even know about you.” He shrugged and shot her a guilty look. “I’m sorry to say my relationship with both of my parents is rocky, at best. Their occasional calls consisted of me asking how their work was going and them telling me how disappointed they were in me for not staying in Boston. I usually tried to end my call quickly and telling them about you would have only prolonged my agony.” Toni gave up the fight to give Nico space and crossed the bedroom to sit next to him, on their bed. She took his hand into hers, linking their fingers together.
“You said you were an only child like me?” Nico nodded. “I know how lonely that can be, Nico,” she whispered. “I have no one left in this world now. You should try to reach out to your parents. Tell them how you’re feeling. You are so lucky to have them in your life, don’t give up on them so easily.” Toni wiped at the warm tears that fell down her face. She was going to have to come to terms with her father’s death at some point, but she didn’t think it would have had this much of an effect on her.
“You have me, Toni,” Nico barked. “You aren’t all alone in this world now. You have me.” Toni nodded and smiled, loving that he was trying to comfort her at the same time she was comforting him. They were quite a pair.
“How about we go up to meet my parents and lay low for a while? I think it’s about time they meet the woman I plan on marrying.” Nico’s voice was almost a whisper and Toni wondered if she heard him correctly.
“What?” she questioned.
“I know you aren’t ready to hear this, baby, but I planned on asking you to marry me. I won’t push, but my plans haven’t changed,” Nico said. He didn’t give her a chance to respond or ask questions. He kissed her mouth and stood to leave the room.
“Oh, and be packed and ready to leave in an hour, honey. Heather is fine with handling things here and we can video conference when we need to. I’m going to call my mother and give her the good news that I’m coming home for a visit, and I will be bringing a very important guest.” Nico left the room leaving Toni sitting on their bed with her mouth gaped open. Nico Andrews was turning out to be a man full of surprises and she realized she liked getting to know him again.
Nico
Toni fidgeted in the front passenger seat of his car, and Nico knew she was nervous about meeting his parents. Hell, he was nervous too. Ever since crossing into Massachusetts, he felt as though he were on a roller coaster and couldn’t get off. His stomach was doing flips, and his mind replayed the last visit he had with his parents—that didn’t end well. His father told him if he took the job on the Isle of Palms, he wouldn’t be welcome back home—ever.
“Are we still sure this is a good idea?” she quietly asked. Nico could hear the concern in her voice, and he wouldn’t let on that he was worried about the same thing. They could be walking right back into his family’s bullshit problems, and he hated that would put Toni in the middle of his mess. She already had enough going on, she didn’t need to deal with his overbearing father and judgmental mother.
He reached across the center console and took her hand in his. “I’m not going to sugarcoat this, honey. We could be walking into a rather hostile situation. My father hasn’t spoken to me since I left to take the research position on the island. He basically told me that if I took the job to not bother coming back. My mother would never go against my father’s wishes, so I have very limited contact with them both. I call home occasionally and have talked to them both, but it’s extremely strained.”
“I’m so sorry, Nico. My father wasn’t an easy man to love. I wasn’t blind, I know he did things that weren’t ethical, but he was my father. I wanted him to do better, to be better, but in the end, I guess he just did the best he could.” Toni shrugged. Nico had a firsthand account of just who James Bernston was.
“I guess we both come from difficult pasts,” he said.
“Yes, we did,” she agreed.
“What happened between you and my father?” Toni questioned. “You said you had a few run-ins with him and from what Zac said, they weren’t pleasant.” Nico worried about just how much to tell Toni. He didn’t want to hurt her, but she didn’t seem to live under any disillusionment about her father’s true nature.
“When I decided to head up the research team, to work on the erosion problem on the island, I thought my only issue was going to be solving the mystery of how to get the island to stop sinking into the ocean. When I first got there, more than a quarter of all real estate on the southern tip of the island had sunk into the Atlantic. I guess I made more of a fuss than your father hoped for, and when his development deals started to stall, he began causing trouble for me. James had friends in high places, and I found my research money dwindling with all the brick walls we were hitting.” Nico paused. He hated that he and Toni’s father had a troubled past, but she needed to hear the whole story. He owed her that much.
“I’m so sorry he did that to you,” she whispered.
“When I was finally able to scientifically prove the island’s erosion problems stemmed from overdevelopment, my money was almost completely gone, and your father was relentless in persecuting me and my team. My extra funding came through just about the time we found you a little over a year ago.” Toni’s gasp had him stopping again.
“All that time, our paths crossed but we never met,” Toni said. Nico looked over at her, trying to figure out just what she meant.
“I’m not sure I’m following you, honey,” he admitted. “How did our paths cross exactly?”
Toni looked as if she regretted her statement, but he wouldn’t let her off the hook. He needed her honesty in return, and now she had her memories, he wanted to know everything about her.
