Page 110 of Second Time Around

“Oh, dearest, you know what I mean,” Betsy said, unruffled.

“You’re a terrible snob,” Will said. A horrifying realization seared through his brain. He’d been guilty of snobbery himself. He’d thought that his mild affection for Petra was more “appropriate” than his intense longing for Kyra. He hadn’t trusted his feelings for her because they seemed so sudden, so irrational, and so out of place in his life. Since his emotions about Kyra knocked him off-balance, he looked at them as suspect. When he felt a bonfire instead of a gentle glow, he had labeled it as something else: obsession, fascination, infatuation, anything other than what he identified as love.

He heard a tearing sound from his lap. He had twisted his linen napkin so hard that he’d ripped it. Tossing the mangled fabric onto thetable, he pushed back his chair and rose. “I’ve made a serious mistake that I need to fix.”

“Will!” his father said, standing as well. “I’ll walk you to the door.”

Will could only nod because his jaw was clenched so hard at the anguish of knowing how much damage he’d done to Kyra. How could he have been so stupid and blind?

As they passed out of the dining room, his father said, “Forgive your mother. She loves you so she worries.”

“I don’t doubt her love,” Will said, adjusting his stride to match his father’s slower gait. “It’s her perspective that I question. Schuyler and I are no longer ten years old.”

As he said it, he felt the last chains of parental control fall away from him. Kyra had been right. On some deep level that he hadn’t been aware of, he was still seeking his parents’ approval. That had contributed to his blindness about his feelings for Kyra. He nearly groaned out loud, but he wouldn’t show that weakness.

“I know,” Twain said, “but it’s hard for your mother to let go. She had rather domineering parents herself.” His father made a wry face. “Sometimes I wonder if she married me because they told her to.”

Will stopped in his tracks. “I thought you fell in love with her when you saw her win a sailing race at age seventeen.”

“Oh, I fell in love with her, but it took a while to convince her that she was in love with me.”

Will had won Kyra’s love but he’d thrown it away. He’d thought they should be just friends. What an ass he was.

Twain put a hand on Will’s arm. “I won’t say that I haven’t enjoyed building the law firm, but I’m glad that you and Schuyler are finding your own directions now. I knew she wasn’t happy with the corporate cases.” His eyes twinkled. “I thought about firing her for her own good, but she needed to make the move herself.”

“It would have helped if you’d said something,” Will said. “She feels like crap about this.”

“If I made it easy, she wouldn’t be sure this is what she wants to do.”

“You’re a bit of a bastard, Pops.” But Will understood. He’d put his heart and soul into building Ceres because he had to justify walking away from the family business.

“So my opponents say,” his father said with pride. “But don’t let me keep you from wherever you’re rushing off to. I suspect it has something to do with Kyra.”

Another surprise. His father remembered her name.

“I screwed up, and I guess I have to thank Mum for making me realize that.” He started to shake his father’s hand, then pulled him in for a hug. “Tell Schuyler what you told me. We’re past the need for tough love now.”

“It’s a hard habit to break,” Twain said, returning Will’s hug. “Good luck, son.”

“I’m going to need it.”