“Is everything okay?” I asked softly.

She sat down on the bed. “I don’t know. It just feels strange to lie to Theresa and Amy. I can’t believe what a wild imagination she has.”

I grinned and sat down, kicking off my boots. “She has been obsessed with spies ever since we started watching this one show on television. I think she saw how they live and just let her imagination run with it.”

“I hate that she doesn’t know the truth.”

“I’m sorry. I just think it’s for the best right now. She doesn’t know she has another grandma. I don’t think she would understand why you left if we told her the truth right now. Let’s just make it through the next few days.”

“Yeah,” she said as she pulled the covers up to her waist. “I know.”

My eyes traveled down her body. Her breasts hung free, and through the thin fabric, I could make out the dark circles of her areolas. My cock had already started to stiffen as soon as I walked into the room, and now it took everything I had to keep it hidden. I wanted her so much. No other woman could ever compare to her raw and passionate natural beauty.

“So, what’s the plan? Are you going to sleep on the couch or the floor?” she asked quickly.

“The couch,” I said in a gruff tone. “I just wanted to talk for a second first.”

“Now?”

I nodded. “I don’t know when we’ll have time again. I just want you to know that I didn’t handle things the best I could have when you left.”

“Oh, Aaron, we don’t have to talk about this, okay?” She said. “We both made mistakes. Let’s just keep it together for Amy right now.”

“I know, but it’s something I need to get off my chest. When you left, I was so angry at you, but I wasn’t willing to see my part it in for a long time.”

“Please,” she begged.

“I never should have let Jenny into our house that day,” I said.

“It was never about Jenny,” she said softly. “We just couldn’t work through things, and that happens sometimes.”

“How can you say that she wasn’t part of it? You left us after that happened.”

“You were offered your job back! She confessed to making up the whole thing. What was I supposed to do? Just wait around when I thought I was needed?”

“There it is again,” I fumed. “You keep acting like she didn’t need you, but you still left us. And you say it had nothing to do with the investigation, but you picked that time to leave, the hardest few months of my career.”

“I didn’t leave until the charges had been cleared!”

“But you sure as hell had your bags packed and waiting to go either way.”

She glared at me before dropping her head. “I told you, I had to go.”

“But why? Why not at least try to make things work between us? Why not have your daughter visit you? You just left Julia. You took what you could carry, and you disappeared for five long years.”

“I offered to help you financially,” she whispered.

“I didn’t want your money! I wanted my wife and my daughter’s mother back! You wouldn’t even see me when I flew out to give you the divorce papers!”

“Keep your voice down,” she hissed. “My mother didn’t think seeing you would be healthy.”

“Oh, right, your mother. It’s always your mother, but any time I ask you what the hell is going on with that entire situation, you shut down on me.”

She looked up and I saw the pain in her eyes. In a flash, my heart melted, and I knew that she wasn’t keeping secrets from me. She just wasn’t ready to tell me about it yet. The desire died down, knowing that she needed me there as a friend, not a lover. I pulled her closer to me, our arms intertwining as we fell backward against the bed. All I could do was hold her as she softly sobbed in my arms. I only needed one thing in that moment, and that was to know that she was safe as we drifted off to sleep.

* * *

I glanced at the clock as Julia sobbed in my arms. She was shaking all over. It was three in the morning. At first, I wanted to wake her, but the longer I waited, I realized she was still dreaming.

“No, Mom,” she called out in her sleep. “This isn’t right.”

“Julia?” I whispered softly.

She didn’t wake. “What did you put in my drink, Mom? What is it?”

“Julia,” I said a little louder. I shook her, but she still didn’t wake up. “Honey, you need to wake up.”

“Did you do this to Dad too?” she said, almost a shriek. “What did you do to him, Mother?”

“Julia!” I yelled.

She jumped and batted her eyes, barely awake. “Why, in God’s name, are you yelling? Go to sleep, Aaron.”

I collapsed back on the bed, unable to sleep and wondering just what in the hell had happened to her with her mother.

* * *

I stretched out and felt the bed beside me, but it was empty. I hadn’t slept so late in years. Amy needed me all the time. After a fleeting moment of panic, I remembered that Amy was probably with her mother. The words felt strange to say. She hadn’t had a mother for a very long time. Now, suddenly, the pressure was taken off me, and my subconscious knew that. I heard two sets of footsteps running up the suite stairs and quickly pretended to be asleep.

Amy peeked in. “Shh! He’s still asleep. He sleeps so much.”

“Poor guy,” said Julia playfully. “I’ll grab my purse and we’ll leave him a note.”

I stretched and opened my eyes. “You two weren’t planning on running away without me, were you?”

Amy jumped onto the bed. “Daddy! You’re just in time to go shopping with Mom and me. We’re going to explore the island.”

“That sounds great. Why don’t you see if Grandma can make me some coffee?”

Amy was off in a flash, and I smiled at Julia. “We didn’t mean to wake you. You looked so peaceful sleeping that I thought I would let you enjoy yourself,” she said.

“Well, thank you for that, but I think I’ll enjoy myself more getting to spend the day with you guys,” I said as I found some clothing. “How did you sleep?”

She shrugged. “Pretty good, why?”

“Do you remember talking in your sleep last night?” I asked carefully.

Julia looked confused. “No. I didn’t know I did that. Did it happen before I left too?”

“No, it’s what you said that has me worried though. Why didn’t you want Amy to visit you?”

“This again? I thought we agreed that we weren’t going to talk about it,” she said quietly as she looked away.

“I know, and I promise if you just answer that one question, I will drop it for the day,” I said.

“Why is it so important now?”

“Because of something you said last night. Were you worried about her safety?”

Julia nodded. “Yes, but there is nothing to worry about now, okay? I am here, and I’m not going anywhere. We can work out the details and parenting later. I just want to enjoy the time that I have with her.”

I took her hand. “Julia. I’m sorry for whatever you went through with your mother. I hope that someday soon, you’ll be able to talk to me about it, but I understand that you need time. I need time too, and that’s okay. We have a lot to talk about, but you’re right. Not now.”

“I don’t want to talk about it, but I know that you need answers. I didn’t want Amy around her, ever. She was dangerous.” She paused and pulled back her hand. “You know my seizures came back when I moved home?”

“What?” I said. “How is that possible?”

When we’d first met, Julia suffered from frequent seizures. The doctors diagnosed her with a form of epilepsy. After we eloped, though, she started to get better. In the entire time I knew her after we moved, she’d never once had an episode. I had a sneaking suspicion her mother had something to do with it. But it wasn’t until now that I put the pieces together and realized that Julia had her own fears about the woman. This entire time, she had done nothing but protect Amy and keep her safe, even though it meant she could never see her.

“So there you go,” she said, quickly shutting down on me again. “I think we have a very excited little girl about to beat down the door if we don’t get out there.”

I couldn’t help but smile at her. “Well, let’s not keep her waiting. And Julia? I’m sorry for what you had to go through. I’m happy you told me about some of it. You know Jenny went to juvenile detention for what she did?”

Julia nodded. “I know. I followed the case from my mother’s house. Aaron, I know you never did anything with her, but it was that lie, that first deception at not telling me she’d come over, that started the tailspin.”

“Just tell me how to make things better, to repair the damage that I’ve created.”

“I don’t know if there is a way to fix things now. It’s been a long time. We both made mistakes, but we have Amy together. Maybe we should just focus on that.”

“All right,” I agreed.

It didn’t take long before we were milling around the quaint tourist town. After a few misadventures in getting our currency converted, we rented a golf cart and took Amy to the resident castle for a tour. It was easy to get lost in the daydream of a happy family as I watched the two of them running and hiding behind different structures, pretending to catch other spies and follow clues. My mother had been surprisingly absent since our arrival.

I had yet to meet her new boyfriend, but she said he was ‘a young, tasty thing’, which gave me all the more reason for concern. She wasn’t rich, but my mother had done modestly well for herself by painting and selling her work. She was something of a star in her hometown, but it made her an easy target for conmen looking to take an elderly woman for everything she had. It had happened once before, but I’d caught him just in the nick of time before she lost everything.

Still, it had instilled a vigilance inside me to keep close watch of her finances and my own. Teaching never paid much, and I had needed her help from time to time, but it was a two-way street. She knew that she could come to me at any time and I would help her. My father had died when I was young from a heart attack. I could only ever remember a life with my mother. I thought about Julia’s mother and how different the two grandparents were from each other.

Theresa would sacrifice anything for Amy, and so would Julia, whereas it was quickly becoming clear that Margarete would do anything to hurt Amy if it meant that she could once again get her talons into Julia. A surge of rage washed over me as I protectively watched my family. I wouldn’t let that crazy old woman hurt Amy. I would protect her and Julia with everything I had. Neither of them would ever live in fear again. Somehow, I would get my family back together, and Julia would see just how much I cared about her.