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Leandro was on the phone on the terrace when they emerged, but he still saw the moment Skye lifted her hand for Harper to do a little twirl underneath it, as though she were a ballerina in a show. He also saw the way Skye laughed then scooped down and lifted the little girl into a hug, spinning her around in the air before replacing her on the tiled floor.
“I have to go.”
“Please don’t hang up, Leo, my love,” his mother pleaded. “You know we have to talk about this.”
“Yes,” he grunted in response. “We do. But I’m not ready yet.”
His mother was quiet, processing this. “We love you, darling boy. We loved you the first moment we saw you. I didn’t give birth to you, but in every way that matters you are my son.”
“I’m not questioning that,” he said. “But I cannot fathom why this was kept secret from me. Why was I raised to believe one thing, only to discover another is true?”
His mother was silent and at that moment, Harper saw him through the glass and waved one of those adorable little arms, her smile wide and spontaneous, dimples forming in both cheeks, just like Skye.
“We will talk,” he said after a beat. “But not yet. I can’t.”
He disconnected the call and focused on the night ahead, on the uncomplicated happiness he felt when he was with Skye, and even Harper. He knew he couldn’t ignore his situation much longer. He knew he was escaping reality here, with them, but he didn’t care. Right now, they were just the balm his soul needed, and he wouldn’t change a damned thing.
Aware that time was all too precious, he stepped inside and let Harper do a ballet twirl beneath his arm, just as Skye had, receiving rapturous giggles from the toddler—a sound of such unadulterated happiness that he knew he’d always remember it.
“You’re very good with her,” Skye said, as Alec drove them in the direction of Broadway.
He turned to face her, wishing that instead of going to a show, they’d just locked the door on his bedroom and spent the night in. Did she have any idea how great she looked? How hard he was finding it to keep his eyes off her?
“She’s a sweet child.”
Skye smiled. “She is very sweet.”
“She’s like you.”
“She’s way sweeter,” she replied, laughing a little. “Harper has never had a bad thought about anyone in her life. She is pure sunshine.”
“And you’re not?”
“Definitely not.”
“I’d disagree with that assessment.”
“Maybe I used to be,” she said, lips pulling to the side. “Before. But that was the old me.”
“And the new you?”
“Is more of a realist. I guess I have Jay to thank for that. I used to see only the best in people, but that’s so facile and reductive. After Jay, I find it a lot harder to trust. I don’t want to trust.”
Which explained why she’d been so hesitant to accept his help, even when she had so few options.
“But I was talking about you, anyway,” she said, and the words held a layer of frustration. “You’re comfortable with Harper, and it makes me wonder if you have kids in your life?”
His eyes met hers and he wondered at the way she did this—asked questions that he wanted to answer, even when he’d promised himself he would keep his private life walled away from this. He didn’t want to think about everything he’d known before the revelation. It all felt different now, it was all part of the same darkness that he was resisting.
“None in my family,” he said, turning back to the front window and taking stock of where they were. Not far from their destination.
Skye sighed beside him, but she wasn’t deterred, evidently. “There must be some kids in your life?”
She wasn’t going to let it go. In the sparest of ways he said, “The children of friends.”
Another small sigh, and this time, Skye turned and looked out the window, her body tense. It was the last thing he wanted. Somewhere along the way, he’d decided he wanted to give her everything she’d never known. He wanted to spoil her. Because he could, because it was easy and because she deserved that.
He reached out and put a hand on hers. “I know it bothers you, and I know why. But I need to keep my worlds separate.”
