Bound By His Vow: His Final Bargain / The Rings That Bind / Marriage Made of Secrets. Майя Блейк
started back along the pathway but she didn’t hear Leo following her. She glanced back when she got to the fountain but he had disappeared from sight. She gave an uneven sigh and, with a little slump of her shoulders, made her way inside the villa.
ALESSANDRA HAD ONLY just woken when Eliza came back to the nursery. ‘I’ve got a special surprise in store,’ she said as she lifted her out of the cot.
‘What is it?’ Alessandra asked, rubbing at one of her eyes.
Tatiana had explained to Eliza that eye-rubbing was something a lot of vision-impaired children did. But while it gave temporary comfort similar to sucking a thumb, as the child got older it was less socially acceptable. Tatiana had advised that distracting the child from the habit was the best way to manage it, so Eliza gently pulled her hand away and circled her tiny palm with the finger play, Ring a Ring o’ Roses.
Alessandra giggled delightedly. ‘Do it again.’
‘Give me your other hand.’
The little girl held out her hand and Eliza repeated the rhyme, her heart squeezing as she saw the unadulterated joy on the toddler’s face. ‘Again! Again!’
‘Maybe later,’ Eliza said. ‘I have other plans for you, young lady. We’re going for a walk.’
‘I don’t want to walk. Carry me.’
‘No carrying today, little Munchkin,’ Eliza said. ‘You’ve got two lovely little legs. You need to learn to use them a bit more.’
She took the little tot’s hand and led her out to the landing and then down the stairs. She got Alessandra to feel the balustrade as she went down and to plant her feet carefully on each step before taking another. It was a slow process but well worth it as by the time they got down to the ground floor she could tell Alessandra was a little more confident.
‘Now we’re going to go outside to the garden,’ Eliza said. ‘Have you been out there much?’
‘Kathleen used to take me sometimes but then she got stinged by a bee. I cried because I thought it was going to sting me too.’
‘Don’t worry; I won’t let you get stung.’ Eliza gave the little child’s hand a gentle squeeze of reassurance. ‘There’s a lot of lovely things to smell and feel out there. Flowers are some of the most beautiful things in nature but the really cool thing is you don’t have to see them to appreciate them. Lots of them have really lovely perfumes, particularly roses. I bet after a while you’ll be able to tell them apart, just from smelling them.’
Once they were out in the garden, Eliza led Alessandra down to one of the rose gardens. She picked some blooms and held them to the child’s little nose, smiling as Alessandra sniffed and smiled in turn. ‘Beyootiful!’ she said.
‘That’s a deep red one,’ Eliza said. ‘It’s got a really rich scent. Here’s a bright pink one. Its scent is a little less intense. What do you think?’
Alessandra pushed her nose against the velvet bloom. ‘Nice.’
‘Feel the petals,’ Eliza said. ‘There aren’t any thorns on this one. I checked.’
The little girl fingered the soft petals, discovering each fold, her face full of concentration as if she was trying to picture what she was feeling. ‘Can I smell some more?’
‘Of course.’ Eliza picked a yellow one this time. ‘This one reminds me of the sunshine. It’s bright and cheerful with a light, fresh fragrance.’
‘Mmm.’ Alessandra breathed in the fragrance. ‘But I like the first one best.’
‘That was the red one.’ Eliza put them in a row on the ground and got Alessandra to sit on the grass beside her. ‘Let’s play a game. I’m going to hand you a rose and you have to tell me which colour it is by the smell. Do you think you can do that?’
‘Will I know my colours after this?’
Eliza looked at the tiny tot’s engaging little face and felt her heart contract. ‘I think you’re going to be an absolute star at this game. Now, here goes. Which one is this?’
Leo was coming back from speaking to one of the gardeners working on a retaining wall at the back of the garden when he saw Eliza and his little daughter sitting in a patch of sunshine on the lawn near the main rose garden. Eliza’s attention was focused solely on Alessandra. She was smiling and tickling his daughter’s nose with a rose. Alessandra was giggling in delight. The tinkling bell sound of his little girl’s laughter sounded out across the garden. It was the most wonderful sound he had ever heard. It made something that had been stiff and locked inside his chest for years loosen.
He watched as Eliza rained a handful of rose petals from above Alessandra’s head. Alessandra reached up and caught some of them, crushing them to her face and giggling anew.
He could have stood there and watched them for hours.
But then, as if Eliza had suddenly sensed his presence, she turned her head and the remaining petals in her hand dropped to the lawn like confetti.
He closed the distance in a few strides and his little daughter also turned her head in his direction as she heard him approach. ‘Papà?’
‘You look like you are having a lot of fun, mia piccola.’
‘I know my colours!’ she said excitedly. ‘Eliza’s been teaching me.’
Leo quirked one of his brows at Eliza. ‘You look like you’re enjoying yourself too.’
‘Alessandra is a very clever little girl,’ she said. ‘She’s a joy to teach. Now, Alessandra, I’m going to pick some more roses. Let’s show Papà how clever you are at distinguishing which one is which.’
Leo watched as she picked a handful of roses and came back to sit on the lawn next to his daughter. Alessandra’s expression was a picture to behold. She held up her face for the brush of each velvet rose against her little nose. She breathed deeply and, after thinking about it for a moment, proudly announced, ‘That’s the pink one!’
‘Very good,’ Eliza said. ‘Now, how about this one?’
‘It’s the red one!’
Leo looked on in amazement. How had she done it? It was like a miracle. His little daughter was able to tell each rose from the others on the basis of its smell but somehow Eliza had got her to associate the colour as well. Even though, strictly speaking, Alessandra hadn’t learned her colours at all, it was a way to make her distinguish them by another route. It was nothing less than a stroke of genius. He felt incredibly touched that Eliza had taken the trouble to work her way through a task that had seemed insurmountable so that his little girl could feel more normal.
‘OK, now, how about this one?’ Eliza held up a white one and Alessandra sniffed and sniffed, her little face screwing up in confusion.
‘It’s not the yellow one, is it? It smells different.’
‘You clever, clever girl!’ Eliza said. ‘It’s a white one. I tried to trick you, but you’re too clever by half. Well done.’
Alessandra was grinning from ear to ear. ‘I like this game.’
Leo looked down at Eliza’s warm smile. It made that stiff part of his chest loosen another notch. He imagined her with her own child—how natural she would be, how loving and nurturing. It wasn’t just the trained teacher in her, either. He was starting to realise it was an essential part of her nature. She genuinely loved children and wanted to bring out the best in them. No wonder she had been recognised as a teacher of excellence. She cared about their learning and achievement. He could see the joy and satisfaction on her face as she worked with Alessandra. Sure, he was paying her big money to do it,