Chapter 9

Caroline stepped through the door as Damian held it open for her. Her initial reaction was that it was sparsely decorated. She guessed it was because Damian hadn't been in the city very long and hadn't had time to get the things he needed.

Pictures adorned his walls. Some were framed and others were on canvases. They were all different sizes. Many had awards beside them. The ones that didn't were mostly pictures of his family.

There were some random pictures of the savannahs in Africa. But her favorites were the pictures of the animals. There were zebras, lions, gazelles, giraffes, and many others that she had only seen in zoos. All of this showed who the man was.

But there was one picture that caught her eye instantly. Damian was about seventeen in it and he was with a teenage girl. She was dark headed and very pretty. They were pressed together with their arms around each other and big goofy smiles plastered on their faces. Hanging from the edge of the picture frame was a locket covered in blood.

Damian was confused when Caroline suddenly turned and wrapped her arms around his waist. He looked down at her then up at what she had been looking at. His breath hitched at the picture of him and Emily ten years ago. He suddenly understood what had upset her. How could a woman believe a man when he said he was interested in her when he kept a picture of his ex?

"I'm so sorry," Caroline whispered into his chest.

He frowned as he tightened his grip. "For what?"

"For the loss of the woman you love. I know I can't take her place and I don't want to."

Damian was dumbfounded. Here he thought she was upset about the fact that he had the picture. No, she was sad for him because he had lost Emily.

He hugged her even tighter, even going so far as to bury his face in her neck. They had been wrong. Well, maybe they had been right about her at the beginning but now they were wrong. She wasn't a gold digger, at least not now. She was even more than that.

She was a woman who felt deeply. He guessed that when his cousin had dumped her, she had lost her way. She didn't know what to do. And now here he was trying to get her attention and she was shying away from him because she thought he was like his cousins. Oh, how much she had to learn.

He pulled away and framed her face. "Don't cry for me. That was ten years ago."

"But you can't be over her. It's not like it was twenty years ago. You were a teenager and the first love of a teenager is very strong," she replied.

"Caroline, do I still love Emily? Yes, I always will, but I can't live my life that way. I don't want to be alone. I treasure the time I had with her and I let the pure love we had shape who I am." He turned around and grabbed the locket off the picture. "Look at it. This was her birthday present. Read what it says."

It took her a few minutes to look at it. But when she did she really read what the blood encrusted engraving said.

"To thine own self be true." She looked up at him. "It's from Hamlet."

He nodded. "It was Emily's life saying. She said whatever you do, do it because you want to and not because someone expects you to do it. Her parents gave it back to me after her funeral. They thought I'd want it. They were right. I've lived by this for ten years."

He watched as she took it from him and unclasped the hook. She pulled his head down and slipped the chain around his neck. The chain was made for a woman so it slightly choked him.

He watched her place her hand over it and stare at it for a few moments. She was feeling the pain he had felt ten years ago and that concerned him. What if she couldn't get past it?

Caroline was shocked when he grabbed her and kissed her right in his living room. She wanted to pull away but that's what her head said. What her heart said was this:

"You're stupid if you think this will happen again! Don't do it!"

She allowed herself to be swept away. Damian pulled her closer and held on as tightly as he could. He felt as if he let her go, she would run away and he'd never get this back.

After a few moments, they pulled away from each other and stared for few moments. Damian finally pressed his forehead against hers and just stood there. He gripped her hands in his against his chest.

"You wanted to show me your dark room," she croaked out. He started to laugh. "Shut up."

He lifted his head and led her down the hall. The room was on his left and he opened the door. It was dark, like most dark rooms were. He flipped on the light, basking the room in a red glare. There were pictures hanging on multiple strings hung up around the room.

Caroline looked around in awe. Most people digitally printed their pictures now. To see Damian keeping with the old ways meant he was a proficient at what he did. There were so many pictures she didn't know which ones he was going to use in his gallery showing.

"Are they all printed?" she asked.

Damian nodded. "Yeah, they are. I've sent the pictures I'm going to use to be put in frames. I'll be bringing them by in the next week."

She nodded and continued looking around. He watched her as she snooped. Normally he would hate someone being in his personal space but this was Caroline. He really didn't care. There really wasn't anything he needed to hide. If she'd heard anything about his playboy ways, she didn't let on.

As he watched her, his phone started to sing. She looked at him as he pulled it from his pocket.

"Hello?"

"Damian? It's Derek. Tophyr's having contractions. We're headed to the hospital," his cousin said hurriedly.

"Wait. What? It's too soon."

"I know but her mom thinks it's due to the stress of work. We're going to the hospital to see if we can stop them. We'd like you to be with us. So please hurry."

"We're on our way." He hit the end button. "We got to go."

"What's going on?" Caroline asked as he tugged on her hand.

"They think Tophyr's in labor."

"But it's too soon!"

"That's what we all said. We got to go."

"What will happen if they can't stop them?" she asked as they hailed a cab down on the corner.

"Well, I guess we'll have a Christmas baby if they can't stop them." He herded her into the car.

"I hope she's okay."

"She will be. She's a Hurst and a Stark."