“We’re not…I mean, we’re just…” I didn’t want to lie to the woman, but I couldn’t tell her the truth that all we’d really been, other than pretending to be friends for a few weeks, were two people who’d slept together a couple times.
“I bet you think I don’t know what my son is, or at least what most people, including his brother, think he is. I do. I just think he’s so much more.”
“I’m not sure what you mean,” I said, coming dangerously close to lying since I had a feeling she was referring to his reputation as a player.
“Stefan may look like me, but he’s a lot like his father. Cassian never paid much attention to Stefan. He was always only interested in the son who was his namesake. That didn’t mean Stefan loved him less, though. I’d hoped that because he looked like me that he’d be more like me, but it became clear by the time he was a teenager that he was his father to a T. His father certainly loved women.”
I didn’t know what to say at that moment. His mother had just admitted her son was a man whore. What was the appropriate response to that?
“I’m not forgiving anything about Stefan’s behavior, Shay. I just think there are reasons people act the way they do. Stefan’s father had women all over town. Besides the two sons he had with me, there are three other children he had with those women. You work at the club so you’ve met one of them. Kane.”
She stopped talking for a moment, and I wondered if I should suggest we change the topic so she didn’t get upset. She had just had a heart attack. I doubted she needed to be discussing something so difficult for her, but she continued telling me what she obviously thought I should know about her son.
“So you’re okay with Stefan and Cassian running the kind of club they have?”
Alexandria nodded her head. “Everyone involved is a consenting adult. I judge people based on things other than their brand of sex.”
I couldn’t help but like Stefan’s mother. He’d been right when he described her as just like him. She had a carefree way about her that drew me in, just like her son had.
“I hated those women and their children for a long time. I know. I should have hated my husband, but I couldn’t bring myself to do that, so I hated the others. I walked around with that hate in my heart, the very heart that seems to not be working as well as it used to. Then one day I saw Kane. He was about nine or ten the first time I saw him, and I knew the moment I looked into his face that he carried the same hate in his heart. He looked so much like my son Cassian, but where my son had gentleness in his face, all that boy had was hate and hardness.”
I knew exactly what she meant about Kane. Compared to Stefan and his lightheartedness, Kane was dark and hard.
“I couldn’t walk around with all that hate inside me. I didn’t want to look like that angry child, so I worked every day to forgive my husband. Then when Stefan became a teenager, I saw he was just like his father. Females came and went—have for years—but he’s not just like his father. There’s me inside him too, and that part makes him want more than what he’s gone after all these years.”
“I’m not sure I know Stefan well enough…” I stammered out, now completely lying to her.
“Yes, you do. You’re a smart girl. You know what he is. I’m just wondering if you know what he could be with the right person.”
“I’m not sure anyone knows what another person could be.” She looked unhappy with my answer, so I added, “I can say this. Stefan isn’t just the player man whore I thought he was.”
My blunt admission made her eyes widen for just a moment, and I thought I’d offended her, but then she flashed me a big smile. “I like hearing that. You know, his brother has always been easier, even though he carries his father’s name. I always knew Cassian would settle down and be happy. That he married wrong the first time didn’t matter. I knew he’d find someone like Olivia. But Stefan I wasn’t sure about. I didn’t know if anyone would take the time to see what’s underneath the façade.”
“Alexandria, I don’t know what he told you about me. I’m leaving in a few months to study in Europe for a year.”
Her expression fell slightly, like what I’d said disappointed her. “He didn’t tell me that. Does he know?”
“Yeah, he knows.”
“Well, I still think you’re good for him. Do you know he’s never told me about any girl ever before? You’re the first.”
Smiling, I said, “I’m honored to be the first. Stefan’s a great guy.”
“What do you plan to do after your time in Europe? Will you come back?”
“I’m not sure where I’ll end up. I want to continue my research, but I’m not sure there’s anything here for me with that.”
I saw by the look in her eyes that my answer wasn’t what she wanted to hear, but I didn’t have a better one. I didn’t know what the future held after Copenhagen. If my research led me away from Tampa, that was the way it had to be. I’d devoted too many years to my dream to discard it.
“Do you know I was a nurse when I married Stefan’s father? I loved being a nurse. I worked right here in this hospital. It’s probably the reason they’re nice to me, although more likely it’s because I’m on the board of directors,” she said with a chuckle.
“I had no idea you were a nurse. What made you stop working here?”
“I had Cassian and became very sick after giving birth to him. When I recovered, I chose to stay home with him and two years later I had Stefan. By that time, my husband’s businesses had grown to where I didn’t have to work.”
She stopped talking and I didn’t know what to say. The wistful tone in her voice told me she might have regretted giving up her career for the men in her life. I couldn’t do that, even if I loved someone. I didn’t want to be like her in thirty years and look back on my life with regret like I suspected I heard in her words.
I heard a noise behind me and turned to see Stefan with an armful of magazines, books, and newspapers. He wore the grin of a doting son as he deposited the goodies on the table near the window. “I thought you might want more, just in case you got bored.”
“My son spoils me, Shay. Can you tell?”
“Just a little,” I said with a smile as I looked at Stefan arranging enough reading material for a month.