“Yes, this truly is bohemian. Like The Warehouse.”
There was silence for a few moments. “What was your mother like? I know so little about her. Only that knowledge which is public.”
“Public? Like the fact she was an alcoholic who died of a heart attack?”
“Yes.” He shrugged. “Plus the history of her designs.”
“Yes, well the design history would be accurate but not much else.”
“You mean she wasn’t an alcoholic?”
“Unfortunately she was that.” She hesitated. But it was time he knew. “But she didn’t die of a heart attack. That was something my father put about. Mustn’t have the family name or business adversely affected by scandal.”
“What kind of scandal?”
Taina took a sip of wine, wondering why she’d chosen now to tell Daidan. But she knew why. He’d offered her an olive branch and she’d enjoyed spending time with him. It was as if the past year hadn’t happened. She couldn’t tell him all her secrets and she prayed he’d never find out some of them, but this one she could. It would help him to understand her a little. “My mother committed suicide.”
His eyes widened with surprise and he squeezed her hand. “Taina, I’m so sorry. That must have been terrible for you. How old were you?”
His immediate concern for her welfare warmed her. “I was fourteen—it happened ten years ago.”
“How did it happen?”
“She hung herself. On the hook at the end of her studio.”
“The hook? No wonder you didn’t… But how did you know your father hushed it up?”
“I found her.” Her voice faltered. Deciding to tell Daidan was one thing, but actually telling him was bringing the memories back with painful force. She sucked in a calming breath and glanced up, trying to suppress the tears. “In her studio. Hanging.”
“Oh my God!”
“And it was my fault.”
“Taina! You were fourteen. How can you possibly blame all this on yourself?”
“Because when I was fourteen my mother and father separated and my father made me choose between living with my mother or living with him. I was scared of my mother when she was drunk. And my father was so controlling that he was very hard to say ‘no’ to. So I said I’d go with him. I can still remember the look on my mother’s face. She was devastated.”
“You were fourteen! Your father should never have put you in that position.”
“He did it because he knew I wouldn’t be able to say ‘no’ to him. And he knew that it would shatter my mother and he wanted to hurt her. You see, she’d fallen in love with someone else.”
“I’d always thought it was your father who’d left your mother because of her drinking.”
“No. That was something he spread about. They just wanted to lead separate lives. Poor Mama didn’t stand a chance with him as her enemy. That day I found her, I’d gone to tell her that I’d changed my mind and that I wanted to live with her. I’d gone to tell her that I loved her. But it was too late.”
Daidan moved to sit beside her. He put his arm around her and she placed her cheek against his chest. “Christ, Taina, I never knew. We met when you were twenty-two, and I wondered why you seemed so withdrawn from your father.”
“It was my only way of coping. Father didn’t seem to think there was a need for me to have therapy so I just coped with it on my own. You were my therapy, Daidan. You.”
“I had no idea.” He paused. “Taina, why don’t you come with me to Ma’in tomorrow?”
She sat back and looked at him with surprise. “Ma’in? Are you sure?”
“You’ve only ever met my brothers at our wedding. It’s about time I took you to my homeland. Sahmir and his wife will be there.”
“Sahmir? Married? Who’d have thought?” She laughed, remembering the charming Sahmir who’d flirted with her shamelessly.
“And who’d have thought we wouldn’t be?” He paused. “I mean it, Taina. Why don’t you come?”
“I don’t understand why you’d want me to.”
“Because you’re my wife, maybe?”
“And is that really why you want me to come?”
“Partly. And also maybe because I’m tired of being the strange uncle whose wife deserted him. Maybe because I’d like to maintain a united front. Maybe because it’ll give us a chance to talk business, uninterrupted, about the launch and the future of the company. And maybe…”
“Another maybe?”
“And… maybe… because I simply want your company.”