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“You know I love staying with you.” She squeezed her aunt’s hand back. “We’ve always been very close.”

“That is because your mother, my sister, was ... well, let’s just leave it at that.”

“You did right by her, Martha,” Grim said. “The pancakes this morning, I thought I had tasted just a little slice of heaven. This food here is amazing. Honestly, I think if she cooks for me regularly, I am going to have to start hitting the gym. Also, the guys back at the club are going to be so jealous.” He chuckled.

This warmed her heart. Not that the guys were going to be jealous, but because he liked her food. It was a little payback for all he’d done for her, and she was truly grateful.

They finished their food, and Grim rubbed his stomach as if to say he was full. She brought out the double chocolate frosted fudge cake she’d made yesterday. It always tasted better after a time in the fridge to allow everything to set and mingle.

Grim asked for a thin slice, and then held his fingers wider apart, until he got a nice thick slice with a dollop of vanilla cream. She thought it was adorable the way he tried to go for a slim piece. He let out a moan, as did her aunt, and she knew the cake was a hit.

Once dessert was done, she and Grim got to the dishes. Her aunt tried to help, but she knew the older woman had an eventful day, so she encouraged her to go lie down and not worry about the dirty dishes.

“You’re an amazing cook,” Grim said, tackling the drying up.

Betty didn’t like the dishwasher. Her aunt owned one, but she loved the mindless activity of washing the dishes. It tended to help clear her head.

“Thank you.” She felt her cheeks heating up at the compliment.

“You’re not used to being complimented, are you?” he asked.

She turned to look at him, a little shocked.

“Uh...”

He chuckled. “Be honest.”

“My aunt compliments me a lot.”

“Not your parents?”

“No, not my parents.”

“Do you see them?” he asked.

“No, not at all. The last I heard they were traveling the world. My dad is a banker, and my mom, for a short time, was a model, and then she blamed me for ending her career too early.”

“What a bitch,” he said.

Betty couldn’t help but laugh. “Kids were not really her style. As soon as she could, she got nannies, but then they were always too much of a temptation to my daddy, so she shipped me off to Aunt Martha. She took care of me. She didn’t have to, yet that is exactly what she did.”

“She’s a good woman.”

“Some people find her grumpy and a little particular, but she knows what she likes, and she has kept and invested her money well, and she also enjoys it.” She knew at times it was a bitter pill for her own mother to swallow.

Aunt Martha invested the inheritance that was left to them, while her own mother used it, played with it, and inevitably lost it. Her aunt and her mother were not on speaking terms. In fact, she knew her mother hadn’t even phoned in the year she was kidnapped. Not to talk to her or ask her why her channel no longer had any contact. For a short time, she could fool herself into thinking her mother cared in her own way, but that year of being away, she’d dropped all sense of pretense.

Her mother didn’t love her and blamed her for being the reason she lost her modeling career. In turn, her mother chose every moment to comment on her weight or find fault with her as a person. It was better to not have someone like that in her life.

She didn’t miss her mother. She couldn’t miss something she never really had, and the truth was, Aunt Martha was more of a mother to her than her own was.

“She’s a good woman.”

“Did you have a good day?” Betty asked, attempting to direct the conversation elsewhere and not talk about her aunt, which might end up with them talking about her and her past.

“Yeah, it was pretty good.”

They finished the dishes, and she turned to look at Grim.