Page 45 of An Heir Made In Hawaii (Hot Winter Escapes)

Nicholas turned and greeted his father with a smile and a hearty handshake. Henry Lassard surprised him by pulling him forward and wrapping him in a hug.

“I was just looking for someone,” Nicholas said with a smile. “I can’t be too upset when our reservations from April through the end of the summer are booked solid.”

“I expected nothing less.”

Nicholas returned his father’s smile even as a thread of discomfort wound through him. He and his father had reconciled when Nicholas had approached him about pursuing a career in the family business. But there was always a faint distance anytime they spoke. It wasn’t something he had paid much attention to, not until he had met Anika. Not until he had opened the door to his past. It was sobering to realize that he had never fully forgiven his parents for emotionally abandoning him in those years after David’s death. It unsettled him, too, to realize that he had kept himself emotionally distant from his parents as well as from other people around him. A defense mechanism to not only protect himself from the pain of losing someone as he had lost David, but also as a safeguard against ever suffering the emotional tragedies he had when his parents had chosen their grief over him.

He grabbed a flute of champagne off a passing tray. If he was still holding on to this pain and resentment after twenty-plus years, was he capable of letting go and being the kind of man that he wanted to be for his child? It was a question he had been able to ignore as he had savored his time with Anika, everything from the intimacy of waking up next to her to simple things that he had never expected to get joy from, like looking across the table at breakfast and seeing her face smiling back at him.

But every relationship had its honeymoon period. And to date, every relationship that he’d been in had eventually lost that bloom of infatuation, of excitement and anticipation as it gave way to the cold realities of life.

“I hope Mother’s fundraiser is going well,” he said, trying to change the subject and focus on something other than his own morbid musings.

“The library had raised at least ten thousand pounds when we last spoke.” Henry glanced down at his watch. “That was over an hour ago. Knowing your mother, that amount has doubled, if not tripled by now.”

The pride in his father’s voice, the slight smile about his lips, stood out to Nicholas.

“Are you happy?”

His father blinked. “Happy?” he echoed. “But of course. Why wouldn’t I be?”

“There was a time in all our lives when we were extremely unhappy,” Nicholas pointed out. “I was just wondering if you and Mother are still in a good place.”

Henry tilted his head to the side. “What’s brought all this on?”

Nicholas shrugged. “Just curious.”

His father looked down at the floor. “I would say, overall, yes, we’re happy.”

Coldness slipped over Nicholas’s skin as he watched a small frown mar his father’s brow. What was his father holding back? Had the past years been a lie, a front to hide that his parents had never truly moved on?

Before his father could answer, a glimpse of teal at the corner of his eye made Nicholas turn his head. His heart thudded hard against his ribs as Anika walked into the room.

The dress clung to the curves of her breasts, the sleeves whispering over her arms. The skirt fell in a fairy-tale froth of fabric to pool at her feet. She had kept her hair simple, lightly curled and pulled back from her face with silver pins to reveal her beauty. She glanced around, the nervousness clearing from her face when she saw him. The smile she gifted him brightened the room in a way no amount of crystal chandeliers or candles could do.

“Who is she?”

Nicholas turned to see his father’s head swinging back and forth between him and Anika.

“Anika Pierce. She lives next door and runs the inn.”

His father’s eyebrows climbed up. “The owner of the inn you’ve been trying to buy?”

“Yes.”

His father glanced at Anika once more. “Just don’t lose sight of what’s important.”

Nicholas’s chest tightened. Was he losing focus? He never would have thought that anything could derail him from his career goals, or his plans to propel the family brand higher then higher still. Yet someone had. Or rather, two someones.

The more involved he became, the more he would need to give of himself. He had committed to that, had thought that if his parents could achieve at least some healing, he could, too.

But now, as he watched his father be pulled away by a guest to discuss business, he couldn’t help but wonder if he was reaching for something he was truly incapable of attaining. Every time the subject of the baby came up, he tried to summon enthusiasm, anticipation, something. Yet it was as if there was a wall built around his heart, an obstacle that no matter how hard he rammed himself against, he couldn’t break through.

Would he ever be able to?

Anika approached him.

“You look beautiful.”

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