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Mila bit down on her lip. “She was a young mother,” Mila said with a lift of her shoulders. “I was unplanned, and she was unprepared. She had a child, but she didn’t seem to want to give up her lifestyle.”
“I imagine being a professional figure skater requires a lot of determination and discipline. What exactly was her lifestyle?”
“She stopped skating when she was pregnant.” She felt a sense of disloyalty but something about Leo had her pushing on regardless. “There were a lot of guys in her life. A revolving door of ‘uncles’ for me to get to know.”
Leonidas was very quiet, very careful not to reveal anything with his expression.
“I think, after her career imploded, she didn’t know what to do with her life. She had no focus. I don’t judge her for that, at all, only, as her daughter, I used to resent the time she’d spend with them instead of me. I wanted that time. Every now and again, she would have a night without a date, and she would tuck me into bed and read to me, and I felt so completely heart-full. I lived for those moments.”
“And on the ice,” he added gently.
She nodded. “Exactly.”
“She didn’t ever go back to skating? Once you were born?”
“No.” Mila’s smile hid a mammoth amount of pain. “It’s a very competitive sport. She lost her place on the squad, and never earned it back. She said that having me made her out of condition.”
He was silent, but she knew it was a silence that spoke of understanding and, even worse, sympathy.
“It wasn’t your fault, little thief.”
The nickname triggered something inside her, something a lot like relief, because it was a reminder of what they’d shared. It was an anchor to a relationship that existed in a bubble completely separate to this, to other people, and to the real lives that were waiting for them, a nickname that pushed away the guilt she’d carried for so long.
Chapter12
THEY SAT OUTDOORS TO eat. A table was set not on the expansive terrace that ran towards the ocean, but on the lawn, underneath a particularly impressive tree.
“It’s my favourite place,” Maggie confided, once again linking arms with Mila as they walked towards the table. A white linen cloth lifted a little in the breeze, but the wine glasses stayed resolutely in place, upside down, awaiting filling.
Leonidas and Thanasi sat at the table, opposite one another, and their conversation apparently revolved around business.
“They’re just like their father,” Maggie said with an affectionate eyeroll. “Always, always working.” But Mila could hear the pride in Maggie’s voice, and understood how much those similarities meant to her, particularly now Konstantinos was gone.
“Actually, we were just discussing our plans.”
“What plans are those, darling?” Both men stood as the women approached the table, Leonidas’ eyes catching Mila’s, his hand gesturing slightly towards the seat at his side.
She moved to it at the same time as Maggie, who laughed.
“After you, of course.” But that raised a flag in Mila’s mind—a suggestion that naturally she should want to sit next to Leonidas. She demurred instinctively.
“Not at all. I’m happy here.” She changed course and took the seat beside Thanasi, smiling at him in greeting. The last thing she wanted to do was give Maggie false hope. Leonidas had come to mean something to her, that much was obvious, but Mila wasn’t a fool. It wasn’t a relationship with a future. It wasn’t even what she’d call a relationship.
It was troubling to try to pinpoint a descriptive word for what they shared, or to home in on what she wanted. She knew only that she had to keep her focus on Internationals. Leaving Leonidas was non-negotiable; she refused to make the same mistakes as her mother, to lose her career to an ill-conceived affair.
Leonidas poured four glasses of wine, but added a mineral water to Mila’s set, their eyes meeting and a familiar feeling of flames licked through her.
“I’m going to Athens tomorrow,” Thanasi said. “I need to check in with the office.”
“You mean you’re sick of babysitting your mother,” Maggie responded quietly, but with a soft smile that broke Mila’s heart.
“You are the first one to say you don’t need babysitting.”
“I don’t,” she responded quickly, turning to Leonidas. “So if the next part of the plan is that you are to be saddled with my care, think again. You and Mila may leave whenever you’d like. I’m okay here on my own, Leo.” Tears sparkled on her lashes and Mila felt a strong kick of sympathy for the woman. “I’ll be fine.”
It was a valiant attempt, but no one believed it.
“I’d like to see a little more of your beautiful home, if you don’t mind,” Mila murmured, eyes flicking briefly to Leo’s and then back to Maggie’s. “Perhaps we could just stay a day or two, and then leave you in peace?”
