25. Eliza

25

ELIZA

M ike said he was certain Levi hadn't seen the maquette I did of the larger sculpture I was getting ready to start Dan?a dos amantes or Lovers' Dance.

It was the piece I'd sketched the night he and I met. It would be months before I finished it, but when I did, my plan was to give it to Levi as a gift.

Keeping a piece that size a secret would be no easy task, but Mike assured me he'd help.

I'd just walked in the door when the lift opened and Levi stepped out. I met him halfway, and we embraced.

"How was your day, honey?" I said in a contrived accent that sounded more Southern belle than fifties' American housewife.

"Every day is better when I come home to you."

When he'd stopped by the studio earlier, he seemed particularly tense. Now, he didn't. "I struggle with not asking, because I know there's little you can tell me, and seeming as though I don't care."

"I always know you care," he said, kissing my forehead. "Let's talk about your day. I'm sure it's far more interesting."

"Not really. Niven stopped by earlier. He said he was on his way to Shere. Did you see him?"

"In passing," Levi muttered.

"Anyway, he was in a foul mood. I've decided that if he's away from Harper, it's his modus operandi ."

Levi laughed. "Sounds like me."

I wouldn't agree, but there were times I thought it. Particularly after one of the conversations I'd had with Kima.

"He's a different person when he's around you. Even more so than me. In general, he's an angry grizzly bear," she'd said.

I giggled, and he raised a brow. "Kima likened you to an angry bear, except when you're with me."

"Did your cousin stop by for a particular reason?"

I rolled my eyes. "I made the mistake of telling Harper about the studio, which was the reason he was here when you and Kima arrived several days ago. He wanted to see it. I'm guessing he asked her where I was living, and she told him I was with you."

"I'm in the same place you just said you were, caught between not wanting to invade your privacy and not seeming to care."

I pulled a bottle of wine we'd opened the night before from the refrigerator and held it up.

"Yes, please," he said, getting two glasses from the cupboard. He carried them into the living room, where we liked to sit at the end of the day and look out at the sea.

"I know the two of you don't get on, but today I had enough."

"What happened?" he asked.

"I asked how he would've felt if I had taken an immediate dislike to Harper. She's the love of his bloody life, the air he breathes, and all that. Why can't he be as happy for me as I am for him?"

"We have history."

I closed my eyes, took a deep breath, then opened them. "I'm sorry, Levi, but I would have an easier time accepting that it happened a long time ago, and I'm better off not knowing the details, if it wasn't affecting my life now. It isn't ancient history. Whatever it is festers beneath the surface for both you and my cousin." I groaned. "I didn't intend to say any of that."

"I made a promise to myself and to you that I would not come between you and your cousin. That is the primary reason I told you that you're better off not knowing. Not just you, but all of us are better served by leaving it in the past."

Now that I'd started this conversation, I wasn't ready to end it. "What did he do?"

Levi took my hand in his and smiled. "Why aren't you asking what I did?"

I thought about why I hadn't. The answer was simple. "It feels as though you're protecting him when you talk about it, even though you aren't actually talking about it. It's the same as what you did that night in the hospital parking lot. I heard him threaten your life, and you denied it."

He pulled me onto his lap and wrapped his arms around me. "You asked why your cousin can't be as happy for you as you are for him. In the same way, I say, isn't it better that you don't have to deal with something that happened over ten years ago? That you can choose to love me as a man and Niven as your family without feeling the same anger and animosity we do?"

What Levi said was the reason I'd asked what Niven had done. I knew that if I pressed my cousin to tell me what happened, he would. And, as was the old adage, there were three sides to every story. No doubt, Niven would paint Levi in the harshest light possible and himself in the best.

I put my arms around Levi's neck and kissed him. "You're absolutely right. I wish he could be as mature about it as you are."

"What I won't stand for is him hurting you."

I kissed him again and changed the subject. "I was thinking Nando's for dinner tonight."

His eyes lit up. "Are you having a craving for Portuguese food, my love?"

"I am."

"What are you doing tomorrow?"

I laughed out loud. "Are you saying you'd prefer lunch?"

He nuzzled my neck. "Answer the question, El."

"I'm not doing anything out of the ordinary. Working in the studio, although Mike won't be around for a few days. He's visiting his daughter and her family in London. I mean, I can work without him."

"What would you think about leaving for Algarve in the morning?"

"I would love it!" I squealed. "It's my favorite place on earth, Levi."

He smiled and rested his head against mine. "Anywhere with you is my favorite."

"Even if it's here? Upstairs maybe? In our bed?"

He stood with me in his arms and carried me to the lift. "I should've said anywhere where I'm in you is my favorite."

I kissed his neck. "Mine too."