Page 36 of Sapphire Tears

“They… they like you. Respect you.”

“Then let’s go,” I tell her. “I’m right behind you.”

She throws me a quick nod and heads out the door. Milana walks up to me and wags her eyebrows. “That’s a good sign.”

“What is?”

“The fact that she came here to ask for your help. She needs you.”

I don’t respond to that, but as I walk out of my office room to join June downstairs, I can’t help thinking how much I’d rather be wanted than needed.

I find June standing outside the garden sitting room when I come down the stairs. Something occurs to me.

“You should know,” I say, “I spoke to your parents the day of the wedding. After you went missing.”

June blinks. “You did? What did they say?”

“Obviously, they wanted to know what happened.”

“And you told them…?”

“That you got cold feet.”

She does a double-take. “What?”

“I had to tell them something. That seemed like the simplest option.”

“Couldn’t you have told them I was kidnapped or something?”

“That would have been preferable?”

“By miles!” she cries out. “At least with kidnapping, they can’t blame me.” Sighing deeply, she heads into the room where her parents are already settled on the sleek white sofa.

“June!” Bridget exclaims, getting to her feet and bustling over.

They exchange stiff hugs, then Bridget passes June off to her husband while she turns her attention on me. “Kolya,” she greets, opening up for another hug with all the warmth she neglected to give her daughter.

“Bridget,” I say, giving her a hug. “Nice to see you. And you as well, Luke.”

June glances between the three of us, as though this newfound familiarity between us is freaking her out. “It was, uh, nice of you guys to visit.”

“Visit?” Luke scoffs, eyeing his daughter. “June, darling, we’ve been worried sick about you. Where have you been?”

She glances towards me. “Well—”

“June just needed a little space,” I explain. “She needed some time to think.”

Bridget’s lips purse up with displeasure. “Do you realize what you put your fiancé through? What you putusthrough?”

The fake smile drops from June’s lips. “I wasn’t really thinking.”

“Clearly,” Bridget sniffs. “Another man would have thrown you to the curb. But Kolya chose to take you back. You’re extremely lucky.”

“I didn’t need to take her back,” I say immediately, disliking the accusatory tone this is taking. “As I said, planning the wedding was overwhelming. She needed to step back for a bit. To breathe.”

“Isn’t that what the honeymoon is for?” Bridget retorts. “Sweetheart, you’ve got a wonderful man here. Why on earth would you jeopardize that?”

“I’m pregnant, Mom.” June’s expression is a cross between rebellion and pleading. “I… I’ve been through a lot the last few months. And then suddenly, I was planning a wedding. It all got to be too much. Did you ever think that maybe, instead of judgment, I needed some understanding?”

---