she paused, “friends. I don’t even know which of them might have been Nicky’s father. If he was one of them, he certainly didn’t stick around after the leeches killed my mother.”“I’m surprised that Tristan took in a child who was not his.” Kaden said.She smiled a little. “I like to believe that he took Nicky because of me. That he knew how much I loved him. But the truth is - Nicky was a very sick baby. I think papa believed that he wouldn’t last much longer anyway.”“What was wrong with him?”“I don’t know. Papa was right though. He would have died if it had not been for Avery.”“Did she heal him?”“Aye. On our way home, papa stopped at a slave house to purchase some house staff and a nanny for Nicky and I. Avery convinced him to take her sister Maya as our nanny.”“How did Avery end up with you?”“I wanted her. I was fascinated by her hair, and I begged papa to buy her as well.” She smiled to herself. She could still remember the way Avery’s hair had glowed in the light from the window. She studied her index finger for a moment.“I had cut my finger and it wasn’t healing. Avery healed it right there in the slave house, just by kissing the wound. That, and the combination of her red hair, made me determined to take her with us.”“So your father bought himself a slave and ended up with a wife?” Kaden said quietly. She frowned at the disgust in his voice.“My father may have had slaves at one time but he treated them all very well. I know it doesn’t make it right, but he didn’t realize how wrong it was to keep slaves.”“Why did he stop then?”She smiled. “Avery feels very passionate about all people having the same rights and freedom. She convinced papa that he shouldn’t have slaves.”“Do you ever miss your real mother?” He asked quietly.She shook her head immediately. “No. I barely remember her.”She was lying. She remembered her mother very well. Her mother’s wild mood swings, her childish outbursts and her habit of slapping first and asking questions later, had made her impossible to forget.“Are you alright?”She glanced at Kaden. He was staring at her, and she had the oddest feeling that he knew she was lying. She cleared her throat and nodded.
