That made two of them.

“You got me a kitten?”

He grinned. “Damn, the surprise is spoiled. Open it. You don’t know what color or what kind, yet.”

Faith wasn’t sure what it was about the kitten that undid her when nothing else did. The rest could be part of keeping the lie going, but getting her another pet was personal and considerate, a gift no one in the family would expect. It was him making an effort to co-exist with her or maybe something deeper.

She tore through the wrapping and lifted the lid to find a white Persian ball of fluff staring up at her with too-innocent blue eyes. The kitten squeaked.

“Oh my gosh. It’s so cute!”

“So you like her?”

“I love her! Thank you!”

Leo looked taken aback by the sheer joy, and it occurred to her, he’d never seen her truly happy before now.

* * *

Later that evening, as Leo savored his coffee and cannoli, his mind flashed to the dungeon. He’d wanted to take more time, make more welts. He’d wanted to make his willing victim stay displayed for him while he sipped a glass of wine and admired the marks he’d left. He wanted to enjoy it at his leisure, with the gag firmly in her mouth so she wouldn’t speak and destroy the moment. He wanted to pretend it was Faith. Why couldn’t he have Caprice’s masochism and Faith’s sweet spirit combined into one woman?

By now it was clear Faith was submissive, but she wasn’t kinky. Caprice was kinky, but she wasn’t submissive. The universe was playing a cruel joke on him.

After dinner, the family retired to the game room, where there was a larger flat screen, as well as a poker table and a pool table, and a couple of free-standing arcade games: Pac Man and Donkey Kong—the only two Leo had ever gotten into. Yes, he was that old school.

The kids fought over the TV and who got to hook up their video game equipment, which game they would play, and who got to play. One faction: the girls, claimed that the boys had gotten to hook up their game system in the family room that morning, and so it was their turn. The boys claimed this was a bigger screen and they had a racing game that would look awesome on such a large screen and the girls had a stupid game that would play fine on any stupid screen.

Leo stepped in the middle. “How about we watch a Christmas movie, something you all can enjoy?” He wasn’t keen on hearing either group yell at the screen all evening.

“No, that’s lame,” Michael said. “Can we go swim? We brought our suits.”

Leo smiled and shook his head. “Of course you did. Go, then.” In truth, he was happy to have some of the noise dispersed to another part of the house and the kids out of his hair for a while.