Authors: Jean Stone
“But you knew Alexis was here?”
Joe nodded. “Then Dell told us how Alexis and Marina never got along.”
Charlie looked at the woman, the woman who had once cared for them and protected them. Dell averted her eyes.
“The day Alexis arrived, one of my men started going through the hotel trash,” Joe continued. “We came up with magazine clippings—clippings that matched the cutout letters of the ransom note.”
“Oh, God, Jenny,” Charlie cried. “Nicholas was with you in that awful place.”
Jenny closed her eyes. But through her long, dark lashes, behind her creamy, white lids, Charlie saw her daughter’s pain. “He fed me food from Burger King,” Jenny finally said. “Then he put that scarf in my mouth so I couldn’t talk and left me there.”
Charlie moaned. She went to Jenny and hugged her, hugged her with all her might. Slowly, Jenny put her arms around Charlie and hugged her in return. Hugged her, and started to cry. Cry the way she had never cried in front of
Charlie—a vulnerable, trusting cry. Charlie stooped and wiped her daughter’s tears. “What happened, honey? How did he get you?”
“I …” Jenny began as her crying eased and she clutched her mother’s hands. “I had a fight with Aunt Tess.”
Tess groaned.
Charlie stroked Jenny’s hair, wanting to tell her to stop talking, that it didn’t matter, that they were together again and everything was going to be fine.
Then Jenny pulled away and sat on the floor, nestled in the corner by the cabinets. She patted her knee and Grover went to her. He lay down and rested his chin on her lap. Jenny scratched the top of his head and spoke without looking up. “I was awful to Aunt Tess,” she said quietly. “Anyway, I came back here and went into my bedroom. I was looking at her scrapbooks.…”
Charlie shot a look at Tess, then Peter. “Then what, honey?”
Jenny shrugged. “Then I heard someone downstairs. I called to Aunt Tess. But she didn’t answer. Then this big man came into my room.…”
“Nicholas,” Peter seethed under his breath.
Jenny moved her hand to the dog’s side and drew her feet in under herself. “Daddy, he told me he was in business with you. He said I had to go with him, that something … something had happened to Mommy.” She looked up at Tess. “I’m sorry, Aunt Tess. I forgot to lock the door.”
Tess shook her head.
“How did he get the Fabergé?” Joe asked.
Jenny dropped her eyes. The dog snuggled closer. “He saw it,” she said as she patted Grover again. “I remember he laughed. I told him I didn’t think we should take it.” She shrugged her narrow shoulders in childlike innocence.
Fourteen, Charlie thought. A grown-up body, but still a little girl inside.
“He knew what it was right away,” Jenny continued, then raised her head and looked around at everyone. “How did he know?”
No one responded, then Peter said, “He’s from another country, honey. Not far from Russia, where the eggs originated.”
“He knew it was valuable then.”
Peter nodded. “What I can’t figure out is why he smashed it.”
Tess cleared her throat. “Alexis told Marina they did it for effect. Can you imagine? Destroying a Fabergé for ‘effect’?”
Joe held up his hand to interrupt. “I think the reality is that a Fabergé would be difficult to fence on the black market. Nicholas didn’t exactly travel in the art circles, and Alexis would have been too visible. The bottom line is, the egg was worthless to them. They had other motives.”
“That lady who found me, Mom?” Jenny asked. “Is she your friend from college? The one in the picture at graduation?”
Charlie bit her lip. “Yes, honey.”
“Where did she go?”
Silence filled the room. Finally, it was Tess who spoke.
“Marina had to return to Novokia,” she said. “But she came to the hospital to see me before she left.”
“She did?” Charlie asked with surprise.
Tess nodded. “She offered me a job. Can you imagine? I am going to design the collection of bottles for her company’s first fragrance. Now, if the Blackburn Gallery wants me, they’ll just damn well have to wait.”
“Oh, Tess,” Charlie said, “that’s wonderful news.”
“Speaking of news, do you believe that Marina’s sister had the nerve to put the egg in one of the gift boxes I use for my ornaments? She said she thought it was a ‘nice touch.’ She actually made Nicholas sneak into my studio and steal it. God.” Tess shook her head then looked around the room. “Hey, has anybody fed Grover?”
“That damn dog doesn’t deserve food,” Joe said as he brushed his navy pants. “All he’s done for the past three days is drool all over me.”
“What can I say,” Tess said, “I love him. He’s the only male in my life to drool over
me.
”
“Maybe that’s because you’re such a pain in the ass,” Joe said. “I bet you can’t even cook. All these years you’ve known Dell, and I bet you can’t even cook like she does.”
“Nope, I can’t,’ Tess admitted, “and I have no intention of trying.” ’
“Well, I can,” Joe said. “In fact, maybe next week I’ll make you chicken pie.”
Tess frowned. “Maybe next week I’ll be in Novokia. Going over bottle designs.”
Joe opened the door. “In that case, we’ll make it the week after,” he said. “Come on, Aunt Dell, let’s leave these folks alone.”
It wasn’t until after Joe had closed the door behind them that Charlie noticed a small smile creep across Tess’s face.
“And as for you, Jenny,” Charlie said, “I think it’s time you went to bed.”
Jenny kissed Grover’s head and pulled herself from the floor. “Are we staying here?”
“For tonight,” Peter said. “We’ll go home tomorrow. Tess has work to do. And we have to figure out how to spend three million dollars, now that I’ve decided to resign from Hobart Textiles.”
Charlie looked at him in disbelief.
“I’m sure my brother will be more than glad to take over. Besides, it’s time I did something on my own. I was thinking it might be more fun to open a chain of women’s fashion boutiques,” he said. “We’ll make it a family business. Our own family.”
Charlie beamed.
“Are we going to keep living at the manor?” Jenny asked.
Peter glanced at Charlie, then back at Jenny. “Maybe we’ll sell it. Maybe we’ll sell it and build a brand-new house.”
“What about Bluebell?”
“We’ll make sure we have an extra bedroom for Bluebell.”
Jenny smiled wryly.
Charlie closed her eyes for a moment. When she opened them, she was smiling at Peter. “I have a special request,” she said, filled with new knowledge—tender knowledge—of what really matters in life.
“Anything.” Peter was smiling back at Charlie.
“Can we make a detour on the way home? Can we see my folks in Pittsburgh?” She had spent too many years pretending to be happy living in luxury, too many years denying herself the comfort of the overflowing run-down O’Brien home.
“Pittsburgh?” Jenny asked, her voice raised now in small anticipation. “We haven’t been there in centuries.”
“Then Pittsburgh it is,” Peter said. “Before another century passes.”
Jenny turned back to Charlie, and for the first time in a long, long time, Charlie saw the animation—that precious gift of life—light up in Jenny’s eyes. “How many aunts and uncles do I have? I forget. And how many cousins?”
“I’m sure I’ve lost count,” Charlie said. “Now get to bed. We’ve got a long drive ahead of us tomorrow.”
Jenny smiled again, then quietly left the room, leaving behind the aura of youth and hopeful dreams that things would be better … tomorrow. And now, Charlie was determined to make that happen.
“I’ll be up in a minute to tuck you in,” Charlie called after her.
“Mom, I’m a big girl. I can put myself to bed.” The little girl had vanished; the young adult had returned.
Charlie looked at Peter, then turned her head back toward the stairs. “I said I’ll be up in a minute. In fact, we’ll both be up in a minute. Your father and me.”
Tess set Grover’s bowls on the floor and wrung her hands. The burn on her chest ached but her mind had never been more clear. In the chaos of the last few days, Tess realized how close she’d come to ending it all … ending it, the way she’d tried to do so long ago. And she knew now that if she’d succeeded back then, she would have relinquished her pain but also great joy—joy of watching Jenny grow up, joy of knowing love from Dell, joy of hope for the future, the hope that Marina had given back to her. And with this latest joy came the most wondrous thing of all: the return of that small dot of light inside her—her own special light—that glowed once again as she thought of the exquisite design she would create for Marina’s fragrance bottles … a design of cotton candy pink, adorned with gold lace and tiny opalescent simulated pearls.
The darkness had lifted; her light had returned. And Tess would never again smother it with shadows of unworthiness. Instead, she would seed it, nourish it, and allow it to shine … shine forth on whatever life held in store.
No one
can make you happy unless you are happy within yourself
, Dell had told her so long ago.
Jenny would be leaving with Charlie and Peter tomorrow; there was no way to know if she would ever return. But Tess knew it was time to stop living her life through her ten-week-a-year child, and it was time to get rid of her guilt once and for all.
“Before you go upstairs,” she said to Charlie and Peter, “there’s something I’d like to talk with you about.”
Peter pulled out a chair and sat down.
“First of all,” Tess began, “I’d like to thank you both for standing up for me. For not believing I had anything to do with Jenny’s kidnapping.” Charlie started to say something but Tess quickly hushed her. “You have always believed in me, even when you shouldn’t have.” She walked to where Charlie stood and lightly touched the white hairline scar on her forehead. “I still have a lot of guilt over this.”
“Tess …”
Tess shook her head. “It’s okay, Charlie. Finally, I am going to get help. I’ll be seeing Dr. Mendleson three times a week. It’s a start.”
“Your problems began a long time ago,” Peter said. “Way back when we were kids, you always tried so hard. It was like you were trying to be someone you weren’t.”
Tess smiled. So Peter had noticed her after all. Her mother would have loved it.
Charlie took her hand. “We’ll always be here for you, Tess.”
“Thank you,” Tess answered through the lump in her throat.
“On one condition,” Peter added. “That you be here for Jenny. She’ll need you to be part of her life when she comes to Smith.”
She sunk her teeth into the inside of her lip and let their love flow into her. Then Charlie put her arms around Tess and hugged her tightly, so tightly the pain from the burn oozed in her flesh. But the hurt—at last—no longer mattered.
Marina stared out the window of the 747 as it glided over the Atlantic. Beside her, Alexis slept. Marina wondered
what punishment King Andrei would have in store for her sister, the fragile little creature who had conspired to kidnap and—Alexis had thought—kill Jenny. Betrayal.… Betrayal from Alexis, betrayal from Nicholas all for the sake of money and power. Marina wondered if she would truly ever understand. However, she was not surprised that Alexis had not told the police Jenny’s true identity. It would not, after all, have been in her sister’s best interest for anyone else to know that Jenny was the firstborn of the firstborn. Besides, it was certain that neither Charlie nor Tess nor even Dell would have confirmed Alexis’s accusation, which would, instead, have made Alexis look an even greater fool.
Marina thought about her sister’s three boys, and her husband, Jonathan. Whatever the king decided, Marina was certain he would do everything not to bring shame to the family. Alexis would be protected; wrongly, perhaps. But perhaps no more wrongly that Marina had been protected from having the world discover about Jenny.
Royal privilege
, she thought,
in lieu of freedom.
Marina smiled as she wondered if Jenny would attend Smith. She wondered if Jenny would ever take a government class, with Edward James as the professor. She knew that Jenny would never know that Edward was her real father. Only Marina would know. Only Marina, and no one else. She closed her eyes in a silent prayer of thanks that Edward had not been involved in Jenny’s kidnapping, that Edward would remain her one, pure love, unknowing and unscarred.
And then Marina thought of Dell, how she had mistaken Dell’s odd ways for distrust. She had been so unfair to Dell, right from the beginning, from so many years ago. And yet Dell had been instrumental in helping them nail Alexis.
“How did you know my sister was capable of doing this?” Marina had asked Dell after Joe left the hotel with Alexis.
“A long time ago,” Dell told her, “Viktor told me about Alexis. Viktor was angry at the way she treated you. You were a goddess to him. He didn’t want anyone to hurt you.”
Marina had thought for a moment. “Viktor really did love me, didn’t he?”
“Yes,” Dell had said, “Viktor loved you very much.”
As she watched the gray clouds hang, seemingly unmoving, beneath them now, Marina thought of Viktor, and of all
the men who had followed. After Viktor, Marina had never allowed herself to trust any man but Edward James. In all these years of using men, distrusting men, Marina realized she had never given any of them a chance. Even her husbands had not had a chance, for Marina had been unable to trust even them.
And yet Viktor had loved her. Loved her enough to give his life for her.
Perhaps, she thought, as she closed her eyes and listened to the hum of the jet engines, there would be someone else she could trust. Perhaps not. But no matter what the future held, Marina knew it was time to look at herself differently. Not as a woman without a man, but as a woman, whole, even though alone. Whole, complete, fulfilled. Maybe once she had achieved that—and only then—would she dare to think of men again, would she dare to risk the possibility of raising a child. She sighed and let herself relax, thinking of the one man who knew her need to be complete within herself. Jorge—the man who shared her passion for her country. The man who accepted her, who encouraged her, and who, despite his insistence that he was not interested in marriage, sent a different message each time she saw the spark in his green, green eyes.