She did wake and her sleepy gaze drifted to his face. Her nap, however, was nowhere near complete and he knew instantly her guard was down.
He knew this because, as he tucked her into his side, she awarded him with a small, sweet smile instead of pulling away or going stiff. Without hesitation, she put her cheek to his chest, wrapped her arm around his stomach, curled into him and fell directly back to sleep.
His attention turned to his book but he couldn’t focus on it. He found he preferred staring out the window to the sea, feeling Belle’s warmth at his side, listening to her soft breathing and contemplating their day.
Therefore when he heard a knock on the door, he ignored it. He had no intention of letting anyone disturb them.
Unfortunately, it was Lila at the door and even though he did not ask her to enter, she did.
He bit back his impatience and the sharp words he would very much liked to have said. Instead, he watched her gaze at them a moment before she walked across the room, took a chair from the front of his desk and dragged it to the side of the couch.
As she settled herself in the chair, Jack spoke quietly but pointedly. “Belle’s sleeping.”
Lila’s eyes went to her granddaughter then to Jack.
“I can see that,” she replied as she leaned back in the chair as if she was going to spend the afternoon there. Then she said, “We need to talk.”
She was right, they did need to talk. He had a few things he wished to say to her, most of them having to do with how she regularly embarrassed her granddaughter but some of them having to do with how she treated Jack thus, he sensed, distressing her granddaughter.
However, they didn’t need to talk with Belle in the room, asleep or not.
“I would enjoy that, Lila, but not now,” Jack returned, his voice still low, guarded and quiet.
“Now,” she retorted, also speaking softly. “It’s clear things have changed between you two and I need some assurances.”
Jack clenched his jaw and remained silent.
Lila either ignored it or didn’t see it (likely the first) and continued, “Considering your mother’s disposition, her assertion that you are not, in fact, adopted, and your recent behaviour, I can assume that things went horribly awry the first time you were with Belle. Or, considering your behaviour when I met you and the penchant toward violence you and your brother demonstrated, I can assume that you’re setting her up to take a gigantic fall once the baby’s born. I’d like you to tell me, honestly, which one it is.”
Jack’s body clenched as stiffly as his jaw.
For Belle’s sake, he forced his body to relax and with as much politeness as he could muster, he murmured, “Please leave, Lila.”
“I’ll leave when you tell me which one it is,” she returned stubbornly.
He regarded her a moment and then said in a low, very unhappy voice, “I’ll tell you that you don’t know me well enough to make assumptions about me. I’ll also tell you that I’m not pleased at your display of judgement when you’ve no idea what has passed between Belle and I or my brother and I. I’ll further tell you that if you behave this way around our child, I’ll not be happy. Without the facts at your command or often with them, standing in judgement of another is a revolting trait and I’ll not tolerate it around my child. And lastly, I’ll tell you that it’s commendable you wish to protect your granddaughter but you aren’t doing a very good job of it, insulting the father of her child while she’s asleep in his arms.”
Jack could swear he saw a light come to her eyes. A light that looked quite a bit like approval.
He also didn’t care.
Lila’s approval didn’t matter to him, Belle’s did. He’d earn it with Lila’s assent or not.
“I don’t think you understand that I’ve had a goodly number of heart-to-hearts with your mother,” Lila told him.
“You’ve known her a month,” Jack returned.
“What I’m saying is, I know more than you think I do,” Lila replied.
“I know what you’re saying,” Jack explained. “But my mother wasn’t present during the time I shared with Belle. She doesn’t know what transpired.”
Lila gave him a small, all-knowing grin. “Belle told me that part.”
“Belle may have been there but Belle wasn’t in my head. She clearly had no idea what I was thinking or she would never have left this house.”
Jack knew exactly what he’d given away and he’d intended to do it. Not because he wished to assuage Lila’s concern but because he wanted her to leave before they woke Belle which was something they courted the longer their conversation lasted.
“So things went horribly awry,” Lila muttered, watching him closely.
Jack didn’t bother to reply.
They studied each other for long moments before Lila’s face changed in a way he couldn’t read but he knew did not bode well.
“There are things you need to know about Belle,” she whispered.
He didn’t like the tone of her voice or the grave look on her face.
Nevertheless he replied, “Let’s let Belle share them with me, shall we?”
Lila gave him an unusually hesitant look. “I think you should know them sooner rather than later.”
“What I think is that it’s clear Belle has trust issues. If she knew I was discussing her secrets with her grandmother it would be detrimental to me winning that trust. Therefore it’s best she confide them to me when the time is right for her.”
Jack waited for Lila to argue, finding he was increasingly frustrated and thus annoyed that they were having this conversation with Belle present, asleep or not. He was further frustrated that Lila tied his hands because he couldn’t communicate the intensity of his anger, nor could he even physically move.
She was, he thought with irritation, very clever.
Her gaze shifted to her granddaughter, her face cleared and for a moment, it gentled.
She hid this look when her eyes returned to him.
“So be it,” she declared, stood and looked down on him.
This he also found irritating.
“Handle her with care, Jack,” she warned softly. “Belle deserves that.”
Jack’s jaw clenched yet again at her imparting this unnecessary piece of advice before she continued and what she said made his gut clench.
“You see, there were those before you who didn’t so it’s essential you do.”
Before he could utter a word, she swiftly and silently swept from the room.