"Dinner tonight?" Chloe asked as she threw her bag over her shoulder, preparing to leave for the day.

"Sure, I have nothing else to do," Lia said with a sigh.

"Still no word from Ben?" Faye asked gently, she was concerned for Lia. It had been hard to watch her slip more and more into a depression because of Ben's lack of communication.

"I had a text last night, they added a few more dates to the tour," Lia answered.

"It won't last forever." Chloe patted her on the shoulder as she passed. "Same time, same place?" She looked at Faye and Chloe who nodded. Chloe, on the other hand, looked as if a weight had been lifted from her shoulders the last couple of days.

As Chloe left Silas entered, saying something to her in what she guessed was Dutch. She laughed and shook her head, answering him in the same language. Faye could feel Lia looking at her, watching for a reaction, but she was looking the other way as she gathered her things together. Lia had started to catch on to her feelings for Silas, and it had taken everything she had to pretend like she was clueless where he was concerned.

"You coming to dinner with us tonight Silas?" Lia asked, turning her attention to him.

"Am I invited?" Now Faye could feel his eyes boring into her back.

"I would love it. I haven't had the company of a charming man in a long while," Lia said after a tense moment of silence.

Silas looked at Faye until she turned around, feeling she had to say something. She smiled at them both. "Please come, Dr. DeGraff."

He nodded then turned to Lia asking her about Ben, and Faye felt that she could turn back around. She listened to them talk for a few moments then Lia left, and another tense silence surrounded them.

"How have you been liefje?" he asked softly.

Faye took a moment to compose herself before she answered. She hadn't had a private moment with Silas since he had left her house the same day that she had asked him to leave. It had been a relief to a certain extent because she didn't have to see him when she was at home, but she had missed him desperately.

"I've been fine, Dr. DeGraff, how have you been?" She closed her locker and turned to face him.

"I've been well. Are you sure you don't mind me joining you this evening? I know it has been a while since you, Lia, and Chloe have spent time together."

"I don't mind," Faye lied with a forced smile.

He tilted his head and watched her for a moment. "You're lying, I'll make an excuse-"

"No!" Faye said urgently. "You have to come, Lia's been curious enough about the situation as it is, if you don't come, she will wonder why."

"Very well," he said. "I saw the house is for sale, how is that going?"

"I couldn't say, I'm not the one handling it. I'll move when I'm told to." She forced another smile and moved to pass him, but he grabbed her hand as she did.

"Faye, can we meet before dinner?" his voice was low and urgent.

"Have things changed? Have you honored all of your promises?" she asked.

She had been kicking herself since their last conversation when she had told him to leave. He had implied that he loved her and that he wanted everyone to know it, but at the time it hadn't been enough. He had said he wanted to, not that he was going to, and she had needed to hear that he was going to.

That a man like Silas DeGraff would want her amazed and awed her, and the conclusion she had come to in the early morning hours, when she couldn't sleep, was that she didn't trust him because she didn't have faith in herself, she didn't believe that she was capable of catching the interest of a man like Silas.

"Yes, and I would like to start slow, tell you about myself and my marriage, and gain your trust once more." He squeezed her hand as he said the words and Faye felt the connection all the way to her toes.

"I trust you, Silas," she whispered.

"With many things yes, but not with your heart, at least not anymore, and I deserve that. All I ask is that you give me a chance to regain that trust."

Faye was unable to speak.

He gave her a gentle smile as if he knew what she was going through. "No more secrets, liefje."

She could only stare at him as she tried to decide what to do.

"Please, I just need to be near you, I have needed to be near you since the moment I met you. I have had to fight myself to stay away, and I have failed miserably, hurting you because of my failure."

Faye swallowed hard at his words, they were the right ones. "Alright, I'll meet you," she whispered.

"Meet me at the restaurant an hour earlier than usual? We'll take a walk first."

They heard the door handle and Silas released her hand before turning and leaving the room first, as another nurse coming on duty entered.

*******

Faye walked towards the restaurant slowly, hoping she wasn't making a mistake. Her battered heart couldn't take many more hits. As she turned the corner, she saw Silas leaning against a lamp post looking down at his phone with his hand in his pocket. She stopped and stared at him a moment, watching how people around him interacted with him. Most gave him his space but there were a few women who accidentally brushed up against him to get his attention, not that he noticed other than to excuse himself in case he was at fault. The suit he was wearing was tailor fitted and looked wonderful on him.

As if he sensed her gaze, he looked up, scanning the busy street and caught sight of her. When he smiled at her it took her breath away and she watched as he walked towards her while others followed his movements with their eyes. He naturally drew people's attention, she guessed barons had a natural way of doing that. Perhaps it was bred into them.

"Let's walk towards the square," he suggested when he caught up with her.

She nodded and let him take her arm and escort her across the street. They turned east and headed towards the more residential part of downtown, walking a few blocks without saying a word.

"You wanted to tell me about your wife," Faye reminded when she could no longer take the silence.

"Yes, let's sit," he moved her to a bench on the quiet square.

"Did you love her?" Faye asked.

"No, I was young and made a promise to my dying brother." He was silent as he gathered his thoughts. "I was twenty-one and in school, I thought I had all the time in the world, my brother was seven years older than me and the first born, the rightful heir to the title. Astrid, my ex-wife, was deemed a good match for my brother and so they became engaged. She was the right social ranking to marry him, so my father was happy to allow it. I couldn't say if they loved each other, I was too young to know what real love looked like." He watched a woman hurry across the square before turning to look at Faye.

"My brother was in a car accident and on his deathbed, sounds dramatic doesn't it," he gave a self-mocking smile, "he told me Astrid was pregnant and asked me to marry her so that his son could keep the title."

"That sounds horribly selfish of him," Faye said sadly.

Silas stared at her after her outburst, but she hadn't a clue what he was thinking.

"It may have been, but he was a lot like my father, rank meant everything. My brother and I had different mothers, his mother was socially acceptable, mine not as much. My father wanted my mother, but I don't think he loved her. I think she was something pretty for him to own. Don't get me wrong, he wasn't a bad father, he was just old fashioned and very strict. It was often easier to follow his wishes than not. At the time I thought it was my brother's wish for me to marry Astrid.  I didn't realize it was my father's wish because my brother's blood was bluer than mine, meaning that his grandson with proper the bloodlines would inherit the title."

"You got played," Faye said, shocked that he would let it happen to him.

"I did, but it didn't take me long to catch on. I never like Astrid overly much and I worried that the twins might not be my brother's, but then they were born."

"And they look so much like you, and I'm guessing your brother too," Faye concluded.

He nodded, taking her hand, and Faye didn't pull away as he traced the lines on her palm.

"I agreed to marry her with a strict prenuptial agreement. A divorce would be agreed to by both parties when the children were seventeen, an allowance was agreed upon, and if she had been granted the title at the time of our divorce, she would be able to continue to use it."

It all clicked in Faye's mind. "But your father was alive when you divorced, and she was never granted the title."

"Yes, and the sum that was agreed upon twenty years ago, doesn't go quite as far today as it would have then. Sometimes I think my father held on as long as he did so she wouldn't get the title. He didn't like the way Astrid treated the children. He adored the twins and was a devoted grandfather, giving them anything they wanted." He smiled fondly at the memory.

"You love them very much," Faye said, leaning her head on his shoulder.

"I do, they are my children and they don't know differently," he said as he took her hand and kissed it.

"Yes, they do," Faye said quietly. She couldn't hold her tongue any longer, it wasn't fair to him.

He grew very still, and she let him adjust to the news. "Aaron found out somehow, my guess would be Astrid, and he told Andrea this summer. That's why she acted out, she wanted to test you."

"Is this what you talked about," he asked quietly.

"Partly," she peeked up at him, "are you mad?"

"No, but I am stunned."

They sat in silence watching people walk past them, and Faye enjoyed the peaceful moment.

"We still have a long way to go Silas, you know that, right?" she asked.

"Yes, but as long as you're willing to work at getting there, I'll keep trying." He kissed the top of her head. "We should go."

"Silas," she didn't know how to ask the question, but she felt she needed to. "Your wife-"

"Ex-wife," he corrected.

"Your ex-wife, you and she never had an intimate relationship?" She blushed as she asked.

"No, we've never even kissed. I had a few discreet relationships over the years, as did Astrid, but I haven't had a relationship since we divorced." He looked down at her waiting for her to ask the next question. She had to.

"Chloe, was she one of those discreet relationships?" Faye looked up at him.

"No, Chloe has only ever been a friend. What is between the two of us is because of a mutual friend, a friend by proxy if you like."

Faye nodded and stood, allowing him to take her hand as they walked towards the restaurant, but as they approached, she let go and he looked down at her, confused.

"I'm not ready to share yet." She looked up, asking him to understand without saying a word.

He smiled down at her and nodded. 'We'll go at your pace."

"What does liefje mean?" she asked.

"It means darling or dearest." He tucked a strand of hair behind her ear.

Faye's heart exploded in her chest, and, unable to control the urge, she rose up on her tiptoes and kissed him despite being in the middle of the square. He must have been on the same wavelength because he pulled her close and returned the kiss.

"You go first, I'll join you in a few minutes," he instructed as he ended the kiss.

Faye nodded and wandered toward the restaurant in a daze, thinking that even when things were strained between them, he had still called her liefje.