Page 74 of Her Faithful Protector

He got them to one of his favorite restaurants in no time, and he wasn’t surprised to see Camilla receive some admiring glances from some of the male patrons as they walked to their table. He wanted to put an arm around her waist and let everyone know that she was his, but she still hadn’t given him that right and it was eating away at him. He knew she wanted to take things slow, and he needed to respect that, but he knew what he wanted.

They both ordered fish and chips and looked out over the water. “So do you want to talk about your session?” Nic asked quietly.

“Not here, but yeah. Let’s wait until we get home.”

Home. Fuck, he loved that she was calling his place home.

She buttered a roll and took a delicate bite. “But, there is something I want to talk to you about.”

“Okay.”

“Your letters.”

Dammit!

He nodded carefully. “Did you want to know what I said in them?”

“I think we’ve covered that,” she whispered, then put her left hand in her lap and looked down. She looked back up at him, tears sparkling on her eyelashes. “I wish I could have read them, I imagine they were beautiful.”

“Ah honey, don’t cry. Like I said, that’s behind us. We’re here now. We’re going to focus on the future.”

“Did you know Mother’s been calling? She said that some of her colleagues have been asking about me, and she wants me to come home so she can assure them I’m all right.”

What a bitch.

“No, I didn’t know she’d been calling.” This time he put his hands on his lap so she wouldn’t see his clenched fists.

“She did it, didn’t she? You said you sent the letters the summer after my junior year of college. You sent them to their house because you knew I’d be there, right?”

He clenched his jaw and nodded.

“I don’t think Dad did it; that would have required action on his part, but he would have agreed with mother’s decision to send them back to you.”

Camilla was sitting up ramrod straight, her eyes boring into his, daring him to disagree with her. “But you’ve known this for a while, right?”

He nodded again. What else could he say?

“When? When did you guess?”

“Pretty much when you told me you didn’t get the letters,” he admitted.

This time it was her turn to nod. It was so regal. “You would have let me think you were a liar before throwing the blame on my parents, wouldn’t you?”

He rubbed the back of his neck. “Ah hell, I don’t know. Pretty quick you said you knew I wasn’t a liar, so it was a moot point.”

“Here’s your food.”

He and Camilla looked up and thanked the waitress for their lunch. After she walked away, they didn’t give their plates a second glance; instead, they continued to look at one another.

Nic reached out. “Give me your hand Cami.”

When she put her hand in his, he laced their fingers together. “What can I do to help?” he asked.

“I don’t know. This isn’t something for Doctor Cricket. I don’t want to get into mommy issues with her. I’ve been coping with them for fucking years. Up ‘til now, I thought I was through the worst of it, but leave it to her to go lower.” Her laugh was bitter.

“You can share my mom if you want. She already adores you.”

“Thanks,” Camilla said softly. Then she sighed and he watched as she gathered herself up and somehow produced a smile.