Total pages in book: 192
Estimated words: 192810 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 964(@200wpm)___ 771(@250wpm)___ 643(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 192810 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 964(@200wpm)___ 771(@250wpm)___ 643(@300wpm)
Aleksei walked in, seeing a riot of green and color, more vegetables, as well as herbs. It was humid in there, warm, and standing in it, he saw Tern Makepeace wearing a battered button down, the sleeves rolled up, and jeans, both had dirt marks on them. He was tending to some pots.
He stopped what he was doing when Aleksei came in and did a small bow, greeting, “Your highness.”
“I’m uncertain why I’m in your greenhouse,” Aleksei replied, not particularly liking seeing this man in what was clearly his element, relaxed, at ease.
Normal.
Makepeace had a trowel in hand, and he used it to indicate the brownstone. “It’s far more pleasant out here than it is in there.”
He wasn’t wrong.
Nevertheless.
“This isn’t a social call,” Aleksei pointed out.
Makepeace nodded. “I appreciate you granting me this audience. And coming to me.”
“It’s an audience of ten minutes, and I don’t want my mate to know I’m here,” he shared this not to be informative, but as a warning. “And speaking to you here will be one of the few places she’d never guess I’ll be.”
Makepeace’s face turned melancholy. “It’s not my place to say, but I learned the hard way you shouldn’t keep anything from your mate.”
“It is, indeed, not your place to say. And now you have nine minutes.”
Makepeace nodded. “Cetra has filed official papers for the dissolution of our marriage with the magistrate.”
“I’m aware of this.”
“She’s living with Chevalforce.”
“I know this too.”
“He’s a male I hate. That’s why she chose him to sleep with.”
Aleksei was tiring of this because he had no interest in it.
“Now you have eight minutes,” he warned.
“He’s a male I hate because he’s not a good male. She’ll learn this if she doesn’t already know it. She might stay, as she did with me, so she can have the life she wishes to lead, something she can’t have unless she cohabitates. But I doubt it, because he’s that detestable and she no longer has the reason she had to be with him, that reason being attempting to harm me. And when she finds herself at loose ends for a partner to share expenses with, this might become a problem.”
Aleksei understood what he was saying, and reminded him, “She’s signed an agreement to remain out of Laura’s life.”
“This won’t stop her because she knows her daughter, or more to the point, she knows what buttons to push to get her way, and if those don’t work, she’s highly adept in creating a situation where she’ll get the attention she needs, even if it’s negative.”
“Meaning?”
The male tipped his head to side. “Have you not noted Laura’s soft heart?”
Aleksei felt a muscle in his jaw tick, because he most assuredly had, in the numerous ways she displayed it.
Including her having even a hint of understanding of how this male treated her.
Makepeace gestured to the greenhouse with his trowel. “When Laura left, I attended anger mitigation classes. One of the things they suggested was to find a hobby. Spend some time each day doing something you enjoyed.”
And the male chose gardening.
Aleksei didn’t want it to, but he found this choice interesting, and his dedication to it telling.
“I asked Cetra to attend with me, or to sit down with a relationship counselor to try to understand if we have anything to work on. She refused both.”
Aleksei was unsurprised at this, but he said nothing.
“There is no excuse—” Makepeace began.
“No, there isn’t,” Aleksei agreed before he could say it.
“And I know that, so I can assure you I will honor Laura’s no contact order. If she wishes to keep me informed through her aide, I will gratefully accept. If I never hear another word, I’ll accept that too. I won’t like it, but I’ll accept it, and I’ll do it because that’s what my daughter needs. But the matter of what I was to her and what I did to her is very different than what kind of mother Cetra was to her.”
This, he was interested in.
“Explain,” Aleksei ordered.
Makepeace appeared uncomfortable. “I do believe Cetra loved me, at first. This is part of my penance. That I was so lonely after my loss, I found the first female who would take me in my sorry state and marry me, not considering what it might do to her.”
“And?” Aleksei prompted.
“That love quickly turned to hate. Understandable, in one sense. If it was directed at me. However, she’s the kind of female who was unable to feel her feelings, find her way to something better, or find a way to work it out. Instead, she put everything into making those around her just as miserable as she was. Even her daughter. Recent case in point, Chevalforce. Cetra is an attractive female. She could find any number of lovers. She chose him specifically.”
“This isn’t lost on me either.”