Third Time's a Charm (Holland Springs #3)(90)

“Christian’s in Fiji. Apparently they haven’t outgrown the whole twin switcheroo bit.”

“That was his brother?”

“Apparently, Scrooge, er, Sebastian, got a bit of the Christmas spirit in him.” He narrowed his eyes. “He didn’t flirt with you, did he?”

Rose shook her head. “No, he slept most of the time and played a game on his phone. The plane ride was a little bouncy but nice. Ivy and I had a little nap. There was a big bed. It was soft and I drank hot chocolate in the limo.”

Sasha bit back a smile at her nervous ramblings. “Did you come to spend Christmas with me?”

Pemberly sailed away, Sasha’s coat in his hand.

“I came to help you.” She still wouldn’t look at him. “Your cousin said you weren’t doing too good since your momma died.”

His heart sank a little. “That’s the only reason?”

Ivy wiggled and squirmed until Rose knelt down and placed her on the floor. “Should there be another?”

Well, he had hoped for more. As soon as he’d seen her, he’d thought she’d come to tell him she wanted to be with him. He didn’t need anything else but that.

Rose kissed Ivy’s head. The baby got on all fours, rocking back and forth.

Who was he kidding? He wanted everything from Rose, especially her love and trust. But those things took time. Lucky for them both, he had plenty of time. Of freedom to do whatever he wanted. Be with whomever he wanted.

The baby did some sort of army crawl, inching Sasha’s way. He couldn’t keep the smile off of his face. “Ivy’s crawling!”

“Kinda.”

He knelt on the floor, torn between the fascination of watching her show off her new skills and wanting to hold her in his arms. Her mother, too. “She’s gotten so big.”

“Could you call a cab for me, please?” Rose asked and he jerked his head up.

“Why?”

“I need a ride to Heathrow. I think your cousin pulled a fast one on me.”

Panicking, he mentally raced through a plethora of ideas and blurted out the first one that sounded sane. “At least stay until lunch. Let Ivy get her morning nap, and you get one too.”

“I’m not tired.”

Sasha searched her face. No, she didn’t look tired. She looked exhausted and slightly scared. Not that he could blame her. He was terrified that she’d leave. “It’s Christmas Eve, love. You’ll be lucky to find a place to sit for the next twenty-four hours, much less a plane ticket.”

“I’ll get a hotel room.”

Undeterred he said, “You can stay in one of the fifteen—”

“Twenty-two.” Pemberly brought in a tray of snacks, set it between Sasha and Rose and disappeared to only he knew where, acting like two adults kneeling in the middle of the foyer with a baby crawling around was a regular occurrence. Bless him.

“What he said.” He scooped up Ivy and kissed her forehead. She tried to bite his nose with her one tooth. “It’s been awhile, but does the tooth fairy leave money for when a tooth comes in?” He’d missed so much, but for damn sure he wouldn’t miss anything else.

Rose bit her lip. “I don’t know.”

“I’m sure we can look it up online and check,” he said with a shrug.

“I meant about staying here.” Rose closed her eyes and shook her head.

“Tea?”

Her eyes popped open. “No, thank you.”

“Pemberly can charge you twice what’d you pay at Claridge’s, if it’d make you feel better.”

One of her rare smiles pushed at the corners of her lips, then to his eternal gratitude she sat down on the floor, crisscrossing her legs in front of her. “How are things?”

The breath he’d been holding in rushed out. “I’m not working for my uncle anymore. I quit, before my mum died.”

“That’s…good. And sad about your mom.”

“It surprised Vladimir so much that he had a stroke.”

“Is he okay?”

An image of Childers’ stark hospital rooms sprang to mind. “He’s not dead.” Yet.

“Your house is pretty.”

“Thank you.”

She looked up at the ceiling, then the walls and back at him. “Every building on Broad Street could fit in here with room to spare.”

“I thought it was rather Wayne Manor-like.” At her questioning look, “You know, from the movie Batman.”

“I never saw that one.”

This was not how he envisioned a reunion with Rose. Stilted questions and abbreviated answers. Sighing, he placed Ivy back on the floor, sitting up. She grabbed his thumbs and bit down on one, her sharp tooth pinching. “Holy—” He clamped his mouth shut and gently pried his thumb out.

“Give Ivy her bunny to gnaw on.” Rose threw the stuffed animal at him.

He caught it easily, then gestured to the snacks and tea. “Help yourself.”

“Thank you.” But she didn’t move from her spot on the floor.

The silence grew, heavy and awkward.

“You doing okay with your mom passing?” she finally asked.

“I’d been preparing for it for a really long time, or I thought I had,” he confessed and sat down, stretching his legs out on either side of Ivy. “But every day it gets easier. And I did have three weeks with her. No one lording anything over my head.”