Chapter 0222

A day alone with my very important gentleman Romulus ends up being way more fun than I thought it would. We ended up going

out front to fetch Jerome because I figured that we were going to be here for a while and didn’t want him to be left alone out in

the heat. This ended up being an amazing choice because Romulus took to Jerome immediately, crawling all over him like a

jungle gym.

We're all laying out in the back yard staring up at the clouds about three hours into my visit, Romulus catching his breath after

another long bout of his new favorite game, Pirates, where he and Jerome basically just chase each other around with sticks,

when a dark shadow falls over me.

“Oh,” I say, surprised when I realize that it’s not a sudden rain cloud but, instead, my father smiling down at us. “Oh, hello!” I say,

laughing a little and working to sit up. “I didn’t hear you come outside.”

“I was quiet,” my father says, smiling at me as Romulus shrieks and throws himself at our dad, clearly thrilled to see him. “It did

my heart good to see you with your brother. I have...wanted to see that for a long time.”

I bite my lip a little at the sincerity in my father’s voice and then smile at him, this man who is a stranger but who so clearly does

not want to be.

“Dad,” I say, standing up and reaching out my hand towards him. Quite suddenly I feel a little pang of guilt at calling this man

dad, when another man raised me — and then another pang, when I realize that I haven’t reached out to my actual dad in a while.

I make a mental note to fix that as soon as I can.

“Fay,” my father replies, taking my hand.

“Romulus!” Romulus shouts, throwing two hands up in the air in victory. We all laugh and then Jerome takes one of the little

boy’s hands.

“Come on, kid,” he says, “let’s go get a popsicle.” Then, quite politely, Jerome looks to my father with a raised eyebrow, asking if

that’s all right. My father nods graciously, and Jerome leads Romulus away.

“Dad,” I say, starting again, squeezing his hand a little. “I want to be...better than we are. I’m sorry — I know it’s not...perfect,

between us. Far from it.”

“Fay,” he says, shaking his head and coming closer to pat me on the cheek with his other hand. “I owe you an apology as well. I

was horrible to you the last time you came to visit. Come, we'll start again.”

He snaps his fingers to a servant standing at the back door who I hadn’t noticed — who certainly hadn’t been there all day — and

then leads me over to a little wooden bench in the corner of his back garden, prettily shaded and surrounded by flowers. As we

sit, the servant comes back out with a little try with two long-stemmed glasses filled with bubbling, rich orange liquid.

“What's this?” I ask, taking one off the tray and smiling at the servant.

My father tsks as he takes his own drink, waving a hand for the servant to leave. “Asin,” he says, smiling and shaking his head

at me. “For my daughter to not know Aperol when she sees it.”

Curious, I take a sip from the little straw poking out of the glass and my eyes go wide when I realize how good it is. “Oh my god,”

I say, looking down at it. “Oh wow, it’s delicious.”

“Of course it is,” my father laughs, patting me on the knee. “Aperol, prosecco, and tonic. Ashame your Daniel has not taught you

this.”

I shrug and smile at him. “Daniel and Kent drink more whiskey than anything else,” I say.

“Irishman’s drink,” my father says,

wrinkling his nose in distaste W)

rayat bub. fOlgnable. At least they,

too, are Catholic.” Please read the

original content at .

I grin, not really getting why that matters, but...whatever. I put the phrase in my back pocket to use on Natalia later.

“What brings you to me, daughter,”

my father says, turning bowie

“I know it is or roekeya vist to see

tartan though I'd be happy if it

was. The timing is...too rich.” Please

read the original content at

.

I shrug, not admitting or denying anything.

“Did your Daniel send you?” my father

pushes. “To convince me, again, that

your engagement to hinvis real Kain

{fogleg, Bayrnhe ¥antinues, his

voice taking on a bit of a warning. “I

can see that you...have more for lvan,

in your heart, than you do for the boy

to whom you are engaged.” Please

read the original content at

.