Peggy poured herself a little more tea and sipped it before going back to her job of cleaning his other arm, the cloth getting filthier as she worked up to his shoulders. "I know that you and him didn't... it wasn't what Howard said but he took it all so badly. Steve was your father's friend, reminded Steve of Bucky, I think. And I respected Howard but he was hard to ignore, the things he said and did."
She wrung out the cloth again and cupped Tony's chin delicately as she cleaned his neck. "I'm sorry that he was what he was to you. You shouldn't have had to deal with that as a child." she swallowed and looked at her work instead of his eyes. It was hard for her to believe that the dedicated Howard would do that to his own son but she didn't doubt Tony either. Something broke Howard in those years.