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word.
I think we should go now, he told him.
Not yet, Colman replied while studying Maia. She was starting to feel
like a bug under a microscope. There is something I would like to show
Maia, he said, offering her his hand.
Maia glanced at Calen, but he just shrugged. Fidgeting slightly, she took
Colman s hand and he led her away. She followed him up the stairs and
down a short hallway. When he arrived at the door on the end, he opened it
and motioned for her to step inside.
This was Calen s room when he was a boy, he said as he stepped inside
behind her. He had another when he was older, a bigger one farther from
the master bedroom. I kept this one the way it was though.
Maia smiled softly as she took in the little racecar bed and the shelves full
of toys. There were also drawings on the wall, very good ones. Calen was a
skilled artist. He had never mentioned it at all. But that didn t surprise her.
Her husband was surprisingly modest about some things.
She stepped closer to the picture he had drawn of a fairy in the garden.
More masculine drawings of animals and transformers surrounded it, but the
fairy was still there after all these years. She looked up to find Colman
watching her quietly. His stare was unnerving, despite his friendly avuncular
appearance.
Calen says your mother was half-Irish. Do you know where her people are
from? he asked.
Um, not really. Her mother lived in Kilkee in Clare County before she
moved here. But I m not sure if that s where her family was from.
Colman nodded. We ll have to look into that. He walked over to an
overloaded closet and dug around until he pulled out a thin book. Do you
and Calen plan on having children? he asked bluntly.
Maia nodded a little too emphatically. Yes, he wants them right away.
Seriously? Colman s face was a study in surprise.
Yes.
So you re trying for kids now? he asked.
Maia flushed red, but she nodded again. This time, Colman gave her a
genuine smile and handed her the thin volume. It was a Christmas-themed
children s book. Next to Santa was a female elf with orange-gold hair and
blue eyes.
Maia looked down at the book with her mouth slightly open. She caught
Colman looking at her and snapped it shut as she sat down on the bed to flip
through the book. The colorful pages showed how Angelina the Elf saved
Christmas.
He probably doesn t remember, because he wasn t much older than little
Darren junior, but his mother used to read him that book almost every
night. It was his favorite. After she died, I put it away. She used to tell him
other stories too. Fairy stories. I thought he had forgotten all about that.
But I guess there are some things you don t forget.
Maia s mouth twisted wryly, and she nodded. I guess not.
Chapter 23
Maia decided not to give Calen the book right away. Christmas was a few
months away, and though she had several things in mind for gifts, she
wanted to give him the book on that day. If all went well, she would be
pregnant by then, and that would add another gift to the pile.
Of course, she could be pregnant well before then at the rate she and
Calen were going.
Unless he came home from one of his clubs too late, he made love to her
at least twice a night during the week and more often on the weekends. His
high sex drive had taken some getting used to, but as time went on she had
grown more confident in her own sexuality. She kept up with him with gusto
now.
She had even started to daydream about having a little baby, too. She
blamed Darren s adorable little ones for taking her vague fantasies of future
children and turning them into a full-blown case of baby lust.
Since she had alerted them to it, little Darren s deafness had been
confirmed, and now a nice young man came by every weekday to teach the
toddler and his mother sign language. They were also exploring the
possibility of a cochlear implant.
Calen had explained that his son s inability to respond to him had caused
Darren to neglect his son. A teenage cousin acted as nanny for him, which
might have explained why no one had realized why the baby didn t respond
when spoken to. Darren senior hadn t liked for people to think his son was
mentally deficient, so he d actively discouraged other family members from
spending time with him.
Maia had thought that was shameful, and Calen had agreed, but Darren
hadn t listened when he had tried to discuss it with him before she came
along. Their already tense relationship contributed to that. Darren treated
everything Calen said with suspicion.
Why? How did all of that start? she asked him one night after they had
made love.
In the darkness of their bedroom, Maia felt him shrug. It s been that way
for years. Since I decided not to go into business with the family.
But wouldn t that have made Darren more comfortable and easier to get
along with?
Calen scoffed. You d think so, but he s insecure. I think he could have
dealt with being third in line after me, but this way is somehow worse for
him. Everyone knows that if I ever changed my mind, Da would give me
Darren s place in a heartbeat. He resents that, but my reassurances that I
want no part of the business only seem to make things worse.
Maia mulled that over. Maybe it s because he interprets your refusal as a
slight to what he and your family do.
Calen laughed. The irony is that a lot of what they do is legal these days.
Just not all of it.
After that, Maia hoped the situation between the cousins would improve.
Little Darren s diagnosis seemed to make Darren more mellow. He could deal
with a deaf son a lot better than one that was mentally disabled in some
way. But Maia could still feel the tension between Darren and Calen when
they saw each other. She and Calen went to Colman s place for dinner every
other week. And, inevitably, at least once during the night, he and Darren
got into it. They never came to blows, but it was a near thing sometimes.
There didn t seem to be an easy fix for what was wrong between them.
Halloween came and went with a flurry of activity. Calen took her to two
different parties, one at his club Sylph in New York and one that Liam and
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