Total pages in book: 72
Estimated words: 68810 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 344(@200wpm)___ 275(@250wpm)___ 229(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 68810 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 344(@200wpm)___ 275(@250wpm)___ 229(@300wpm)
She cried in his arms, shaking her head fiercely when he tried to make her face him.
“I’m sorry.”
“Tell me what’s wrong,” she sobbed, “what I did—-”
“You didn’t do anything,” he said fiercely.
Then why had he changed, Pollyanna wanted to cry out. Somewhere in the back of her mind, she knew something was wrong. He hadn’t cheated on her, somehow she was sure of that.
But something was wrong.
She just couldn’t make herself ask, feeling too relieved to have him back, terrified to lose him again.
This time, when her husband tried to turn her to face him, she let him, and the moment she saw his beautiful face, she started to cry again. It felt like it had been forever since she had seen that light in his eyes, and she knew that whatever had changed her husband, he was back, and he loved her again.
And maybe it was fate, maybe it was coincidence, but that night Kyr and Pollyanna conceived their third child.
The discovery left her shell shocked, but Kyr welcomed the news. For him, it felt like a message from God, telling him that he could start anew with his wife.
But when they emerged from the clinic, he had taken one look at his wife and knew also that some things didn’t change. The knowledge that she was expecting seemed to have flipped a switch inside Pollyanna, and her sunny nature disappeared with it.
One of life’s strangest miracles, Kyr mused.
“You won’t want to be with me again,” his wife said darkly beside him.
Bending down, he brushed his lips against hers, saying, “See if you can keep me from your side.”
As it turned out, Pollyanna’s second pregnancy proved to be a lot more fun than the first one, mainly because he had his twins to share the experience with. One day, he came home to the sound of what seemed like a heated argument between mother and son. It was a rare thing, considering how much Dio secretly adored his mother, and Kyr swiftly made his way to the dining hall.
There, he saw his wife glowering down at their son, hands planted on her hips. Dio had a mutinous look on his face while Ella, seated across him, simply sipped her soup, looking utterly unaffected.
Ella was the first one to see him. “Papa!” She jumped off her seat and he bent down so she would have an easy time kissing him. After walking her back to her seat, he placed a kiss on his wife’s cheek and accepted a kiss from his son.
Straightening, he raised a brow. “Well?”
“Mama wants Dio to finish his meal,” Ella reported helpfully.
Ah. This was a common problem, with Dio being so active that there were times he couldn’t stay still long enough to finish eating his food.
But right now, Dio was shaking his head firmly. “No, Papa. It’s Mama’s fault. She says if I eat more, I will stay cute like a kid.” His lip curled, making it obvious that he no longer considered himself a kid.
When his wife turned red at their son’s words, he thought, Interesting. He nodded for Dio to go on.
Dio took a deep breath. “And then Mama said if I do not eat, I will look old and handsome like you, Papa, and she says another girl will take me away and that she will be all alone.”
Kyr burst into laughter. What the hell?
Pollyanna shot him a hurt look, saying dourly, “But it’s true.”
“No, it’s not true, Mama, and I’m already like Papa.” Dio’s chest puffed with pride as he dropped the bomb. “All the girls in my school have a crush on me.”
Pollyanna burst into tears.
Dio paled, and when his mother showed no signs of stopping, he hastily got off his chair and went to hug his mother by the waist. “I’m sorry, Mama. I’ll eat now.”
“Promise?” his mother sniffed.
He nodded vehemently. “Just don’t cry, Mama.”
Over his son’s head, he told his wife in French, “You’re a sly one.”
To which, she replied innocently, also in French, “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
When she gave birth to their child, it was a completely uneventful delivery, but seeing their child for the first time was as magical as the instance they had first glimpsed the twins.
They named their third child Leo.
And life went back to its perfect, fairytale-like state, until the day Pollyanna told him she would like to fly to New York to work.
Chapter Eight
Pollyanna couldn’t remember being this nervous, and even though she knew it was silly of her, she couldn’t help it. Of course, the way Kyr was staring at her wasn’t helping at all. Right now, it was like he wasn’t her husband. Instead, the man seated behind the table felt more like the Kyrillos Gazis, billionaire, master of the island, and a total stranger.
Maybe I came at the wrong time, Pollyanna thought. Maybe he was really busy today, and that was why everyone had been looking at her. It didn’t occur to Pollyanna at all that the looks had been either admiring or envious, depending on the person’s gender. Even after being married to Kyr for several years, Pollyanna still didn’t consider herself extraordinarily pretty, and while she did see her reflection on the mirror, she didn’t really see it, didn’t see the way happiness and maturity had made her lose the baby fat in her cheeks and how her body had become more voluptuous rather than just curvy.