"No! It’s nothing like that."
Her answer came a little too quick for his comfort. "Then what is it?"
Olivia glowered. Remaining stubbornly closed-mouthed about the relationship she had with her sole provider, she muttered, "Will you just let me call her?"
Cameron lifted his eyebrows and handed her the phone. "Knock yourself out, honey. Far be it from me to try to help my wife."
He hadn’t been much help to the last Mrs. Banks either.
Feeling a swell of bitterness, he spun away and strode from the room. Stupid little twit. He didn’t want to lend her a hand anyway. Helping others had only resulted in giving him eternal heartache. He was an idiot to think he could assist her with—
Ah, hell. Never mind. It wasn’t worth it.
Cameron stalked through the house until he entered a room already occupied. As he stepped into the family den, he found Leah sitting cross-legged on the floor playing building blocks with her four-year old son.
He paused to study the pair for a moment. When she’d married Devin, Leah wanted a big family, but the doctors thought she wouldn’t even be able to have one baby. After a bad miscarriage, she lost an ovary, and a future full of children in their home looked bleak. But three years of marriage and a load of medical consultations later, little Aiden had finally entered Leah and Devin’s life. And now their little ankle-biter was four.
A pang of loneliness speared through him as he watched mother and son play quietly in the simple task of stacking block upon block. He suddenly missed his childhood and the easy, simple life he’d lived once upon a time with his parents and older sister. He missed being the jokester, the happy-go-lucky clown who found humor in everything and could make even the most sober of people smile with his bright, engaging charisma.
He wondered why’d he’d been in such a hurry to grow up, why he’d gone after Sienna when everyone warned him to stay away, why it had sucked the happiness from him when he tried to make her smile.
Swallowing, he strolled forward.
His nephew glanced up. The way his face lit had Cameron’s insides twisting even more. If only he’d stayed away from Sienna, he’d probably have his own little ankle-biter by now who would look up at him as if he were someone worthy and important.
"Unca Cam!" Aiden called. "Come pway wiv’ us."
Cameron grinned at the enticing offer, even as his stomach clenched, making the sour alcohol inside swirl and gurgle and work its way back up his esophagus. Ignoring the heartburn, he settled himself Indian style on the floor next to his nephew and picked out a blue block.
He glanced at his sister before stacking it. "So, what do I have to do to convince you not to tell anyone about this little incident?"
Leah handed Aiden a yellow arched-shaped block and proceeded to ignore Cameron for another ten seconds before she lifted her face and blew out a breath. "Well, I’ve already called Devin at work and told him."
Cameron rolled his eyes and grabbed a red block. Of course, she wouldn’t keep anything from her husband. Great.
"Okay, then," he said. "What do I have to do to keep you from telling Mom and Dad?"
"You mean, you don’t want them knowing you once again got married without telling anyone or even letting us meet your wife first?"
Frustrated, Cameron ran his hand through his hair. "Look, this was all just one big accident, okay?"
"Well, it wouldn’t have happened if you’d been sober. I thought you were past that, Cam. I thought you didn’t need grief counseling anymore."
Cameron stopped cold. He didn’t want to go over this again. He hated it when his family looked at him with sad, frustrated eyes and wondered why he couldn’t just straighten out his act. He hated disappointing them.
He’d been doing so well about hiding the misery too.
"Obviously, you don’t remember what yesterday was," he muttered quietly, gripping the red block in his hand so hard he was surprised it didn’t crumble.
The date would get him off the hook this time, but he was going to have to do better about keeping his problems concealed.
Leah glared at him, setting her hands on her hips, "Obviously, I don’t."
What? He cocked her a surprised look. She seriously didn’t know? It didn’t seem possible. The anniversary had been glaring at him as it crept closer like a big red blinking sign. Death date approaching. Death date approaching. He didn’t understand how anyone could forget.
"Mom and Dad’s anniversary is coming up," Leah mused thoughtfully. "But other than that—" She stopped cold, her eyes growing wide. "Oh, Cam," she said, sympathy filling her voice.