Sydney was still sitting with Maddie long after everyone else had dispersed for the evening. They were both content to hide away in the kitchen with a bottle of wine, and they had moved from relaxed to giggly as they talked about this and that. Sydney was enjoying herself.

Howard checked in with his wife before he retired to the study to get some work done, and he had reported that Aunt Viola had gone to bed for the evening and that Cole had disappeared after dinner. With him gone there had been little reason for either Theresa or Bridget to hang around, so they too had gone to bed.

"How did you and Cole's father meet?" Sydney asked, putting her feet on the chair opposite her just as Maddie had done. They had both lost their shoes long ago.

Maddie's face turned dreamy as she sipped her wine.

"I was a landscape designer for a local architectural firm that Howard had hired to restore this house. He had decided that he wanted a garden similar to the one that would have been here historically, so I joined the team. I knew of his family of course, but I was hardly impressed. When I first met him, he was reserved, almost cold, I think Cole gets that from him, but as we worked together I started to see another side to him. He was warm and sensitive and very patient. I was amazed that such a large man had that much gentleness in him."

Sydney got that, she was amazed at Cole's gentleness when he chose to use it.

"When we fell in love I had stars in my eyes and didn't know what a challenge our relationship would be. My family was very different from the Eastons. My mother was an elementary school teacher, and my father was in construction, we weren't poor, but we weren't rich. Howard's family was from an entirely different world. A world that, I'm guessing by Bridget's comment, that you know all about."

Sydney nodded, she knew their world well, and it wasn't one she particularly liked.

"I didn't fit in, I still don't. Howard tries to protect me as much as he can, but I also try to fit in as much as I can, so we make it work. I don't care for acting one way in public and another in private, you are who you are all of the time. If that's something that a person has to change, then there's something wrong."

"You love each other very much, don't you?" Sydney didn't realize how wistful she looked.

"You sound almost surprised." Maddie looked over Sydney's shoulder at her son who had just joined them. Sydney was looking hard at her wine glass, so she missed Maddie's look and Cole's entrance.

"I don't come from a loving family, my mother died when I was an infant, and my step-mother never took to me. I wish I had a mother like you, Cole's lucky."

"Yes, I am," Cole agreed, as he took the chair next to Sydney.

She hadn't known he was there and she jumped at the sound of his voice, sitting up in her chair. Just like that, she went from a relaxed buzz to a nervous wreck. Her eyes fell to his lips that had kissed her so passionately earlier.

He watched her as silence descended on the kitchen.

"I'm going to turn in for the evening," Maddie said as she rose and left the kitchen, placing a kiss on Cole's head as she departed.

"And another hint is revealed about what makes the mysterious Sydney tick." Cole leaned back in his chair, continuing to watch her. They silently looked at each other for what felt like an eternity to Sydney before he turned his attention to the empty bottle of wine. He picked it up. "How much did you and my mother drink?"

"Enough." Sydney pushed her half-full glass away from her.

"Enough for you to answer a few questions?"

"I thought I already answered all of your questions."

"Not by a long shot Sydney, I want to know everything about you." Sydney felt her heart stop at not only the sound of his rough voice but his words. No one had ever wanted to know everything about her, not even Paige.

"There are a few things I wouldn't mind knowing about you too," Sydney replied.

"Ask away." He his eyes met hers, and the raw honesty that she saw there confused her. Was this a new tactic that he was using, what was his ultimate goal?

She licked her lips, and he followed the movement. Her eyes dropped to his lips, and they sat there, frozen, staring at each other once again until Sydney broke the silence by clearing her throat. "What happened between you and Bridget?"

He smiled as if this was the question he was expecting. "Are you jealous?"

Sydney shrugged, waiting for him to tell her it was none of her business, but he didn't. Instead, he started to talk.

"You already know that I graduated high school at sixteen and college when I was nineteen, and that was about the time I met Bridget. She was twenty-three and the older woman. I had lived in books, so I was...what was the term you used a few weeks ago," he watched her look away, "an easy mark. I had moved in with a distant cousin, Sam Evers. He was my roommate and best friend through graduate school. He's still is my best friend, and I'd like you to meet him one day."

Sydney's head jerked up at his last comment. Why would he want her to meet his best friend? And what was the 'one day' comment about?

He ignored her look of confusion as he continued, "It was my first time in the real world and the first time I had thought myself in love. I lost sight of the end goal, which was my Doctorate. Bridget was all that I thought I wanted. She was beautiful, our parents knew each other, and she always said the right thing. I was captivated."

"O.K. I get it, she was perfect." Sydney leaned forward wanting to bolt because she didn't want to listen to how perfect Bridget was.

"No, she was far from it. She was the worst thing that could have happened to me at that point in my life. We were together for two years. I had asked her to marry me, and she had said yes. I brought her home to meet my family, and Aunt Viola does what she does best, she was brutally honest with her." Cole shrugged.

"The money, Viola told Bridget it was all in her name?" Sydney guessed. It was what Aunt Viola had told Sydney when they had first met.

"Yes, but Bridget played it cool and, to me, it reaffirmed her love for me. I truly believed it wasn't about the money until we returned to school. Sam's family is just as wealthy as mine." He watched her as her mind raced to put all of the facts together. Bridget had stayed in his good graces long enough to make a move on this Sam.

"But he's still your best friend?" Sydney's eyes grew wide.

"And he was then, he called her out in front of me, she denied it of course, but it was evident that she was lying. When she realized she had lost, not only Sam but me too, she turned nasty. She told me that I would never be able to find someone who would want me for me, they would only want my money." He gave a careless shrug. "I might have gotten over it except I watched Sam go through the same thing a few years later, only he did marry the woman, and she took him for all that he had in the divorce. Thankfully, he hadn't inherited yet, so it wasn't much."

Cole stood up and walked to the other side of the kitchen looking out of the large picture window. "I don't know why Bridgett is back now, and I have no clue why she thinks I've forgiven her. Maybe she still thinks I'm the weak, impressionable young man I once was, and that I still think that I'm in love with her."

"Just tell Aunt Viola to have another talk with her," Sydney suggested softly.

"It's not necessary. If I know Aunt Viola she'll do it without my asking. Not that it matters since there's no danger of my ever caring about the woman again. Looking at her now, I don't know what I ever saw in her."

Sydney felt her heart soar at the words.

"Your mother can't stand her," Sydney supplied unnecessarily.

"I know, Mom has always been painfully shy, but when you couple that with dislike you can't get a word out of her." He looked over his shoulder at her. "She likes you though. I've never known her to share a drink with anyone but my father. Not even Aunt Viola."

"I like her too. We have a lot in common." Sydney gave a sad smile.

"Such as?"

Sydney just shook her head, not wanting to answer. How could she tell him that they weren't the pretty ones, that it was because Maddie had fallen in love with Cole's father and Sydney had fallen in love with Cole? They just understood each other.

Instead, she changed the subject. "And you think that my father was trying to push either my sister or me off on you that night, four years ago?"

"I don't think I'm a particularly vain man, maybe I am, but it seems to happen to me a lot. If it's not a father, it's a mother, or the girls themselves. I've learned the signs over the years." He shrugged, turning back towards the window.

"He probably was trying to push Angel at you, but not me." She shook her head at the thought.

"Why not you?"

"I barely exist in his world. I see him once, maybe twice, a year. The only reason he introduced us that night was because I was standing nearby and it would have been odd not to."

"You exist enough for him to pay for your school," Cole commented.

"No, I did that all on my own." Sydney stood up, realizing that she was revealing more than she should. She had to protect her heart; it was in danger more at that moment than it ever had been.

He turned to look at her, and they stood with the kitchen between them, staring at one another.

"You still don't trust me, do you, Cole?" Sydney's voice was sad.

"No more than you trust me Sydney."

She did trust him; how could he say that? She had let him throw her down a well, but she was too afraid to ask the question aloud. Instead, she said a soft goodnight and left the kitchen as fast as she could.

She was losing control fast. She'd be throwing herself at him again if she wasn't careful.