Angel and the Assassin 3: Sins of the Father

when Angel commented,
    “Daddy, there’s a fourth place set.”
    Kael looked at the empty chair, then at the double doors. “So there is.” He ordered
    champagne, and when four glasses were brought and Angel squinted a questioning
    look at him, he glanced at the doors again, relieved when he saw her. He had spent the
    last few days afraid she wouldn’t bother to show up, even though his last words to her
    had been, “If you don’t get your arse to Claridge’s at exactly seven p.m. on the tenth of August,
    I will come to France to visit you, and I will not be responsible for what I do.”
    Following his gaze, Angel said, “Mom? Oh my God!” Angel looked at him. Kael
    rose to his feet, and Angel immediately followed suit.
    “Angel Gabe. How’s my baby?” Samantha St. Germaine looked stunning in her
    expensive French clothes. With her dark hair pinned up and her slender figure, she
    looked like a latter-day Audrey Hepburn. There was no question that Mme St.
    Germaine was a beautiful woman. No wonder she had managed to get two rich
    husbands in a row.
    Hesitantly Angel hugged her. “Hi, Mom.”
    “Hello, Madame St. Germaine,” Kael said.
    “Hello, Mr. Saunders,” she replied stiffly.
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    235

    With a quick look at Angel, Kael nodded at the fourth chair. Still stunned at his
    mother’s unexpected appearance, Angel didn’t move. “Angel. Chair.”
    “Sorry!” He grabbed the chair, pulling it out for his mother.
    “Thank you, Angel.” She sat, and Kael introduced her to his mum.
    Having taken the bottle from the ice bucket, Kael poured four glasses of
    champagne. Ceremoniously he raised his glass. “Sweetheart, congratulations on your
    academic success.”
    Cheeks growing pink as they always did when he was the center of attention,
    Angel said, “I couldn’t have done it without you, Daddy.” The boy looked at Sharon
    and then Samantha. “Daddy is the best teacher in the world.” Then his beautiful gray
    eyes alighted on Kael again. “I love you, Daddy.”
    “I love you too,” Kael said, amazed at himself for not shying away from his
    emotions or feeling any discomfort in front of Angel’s mum.
    “Well done, Angel, luv!” Smiling broadly, Sharon looked at Samantha. “You’ve
    got a lovely boy there. I love him to bits. I think of him as my other son.”
    “Perhaps I’ll feel the same about your son when I get to know him a little better,”
    she said with a tight smile. Kael was only three years younger than she.
    Obviously taking his mother’s words at face value, Angel beamed a huge smile at
    Kael.
    “Angel, you’re not wearing your Rolex.” At Samantha’s words, Kael’s forefinger
    went automatically to the gold heart he wore over his dress shirt.
    The boy looked directly at his mother. “I sold it.”
    “Oh. Well, thank goodness I didn’t waste my time looking for a graduation gift.”
    She pulled an envelope from her small clutch purse. “This is from Gregoire and me.”
    A check fluttered onto the table when Angel opened the card. He picked it up.
    “Five thousand pounds? Wow.”
    “You’ll probably spend it on clothes, knowing you.”
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    236

    “Thank you,” Angel said. “Sharon bought me a beautiful shirt.”
    “It wasn’t five thousand pounds,” she said. “But it’s the thought that counts.”
    “It’s the love that counts,” Angel said.
    Kael wanted to kiss him right there and then for being so sweet. Instead he pulled
    a box from his pocket. “I got you a present too.”
    “Looks like jewelry to me. Are you going to do an Elton John?” Samantha asked.
    Kael threw her a look that said, Don’t annoy me, lady . He opened the box and
    withdrew a plain gold band encircled with tiny diamonds. Carefully removing it from
    the box, he took Angel’s left hand and slipped it onto his ring finger. It fit perfectly.
    “There, now you’re mine.”
    Tears brimmed at the edges of Angel’s eyes. “I was already yours, Daddy. I’ve
    been yours from the moment I saw you.” He got up and hugged Kael, who remained
    seated.
    “Aww,” Sharon said. “Aren’t they lovely, Samantha?”
    “I’m glad my son is finally happy,” she said. “I guess I could have been a better
    mom, but it wasn’t easy on my own.”
    Kael had told his mum some of the things Samantha had done to Angel, the foster
    homes, abandoning him to go off to marry the billionaire. Still Sharon looked
    sympathetically at