Vanished Without A Trace (32 page)

"Alon!" Karina scolded.

"What?"

"Do not play innocent. Wait, let me think." Karina thought Alon had definitely read her mind well. He gave her some reason to meet Daniel again. She wanted to see if he had changed after his new status and to know if the relationship between them was just like before, or if it would have changed too. She needed to find out for herself once and for all if Daniel wanted her or she should make herself completely detached from him. "Alon, I will make an effort to come. I hope I can make it. I've been out of the country long enough, and I have a company to manage after all." Even though she knew she would come, she preferred to leave it in doubt so if Daniel was interested in her, Alon could not promise him anything.

"You should know I invited only ten people to the wedding. Mr. Fisher offered to pay for flights for guests that will come from the country, but I insisted on a small wedding with Natalie."

"And I’m one out of ten people?" She was surprised.

"Yeah, well, honestly, after the last time I canceled the wedding with Natalie, I do not have many people to invite anymore."

"Alon, don’t create any embarrassment. Shame on you if I fly for twelve hours and in the end you canceled the wedding."

"Are you worried?” Alon asked sarcastically, "Natalie's mother is not willing to come at all. She did not believe we were going to get married. She thought that it was another trick to get Natalie back. Well, Karina, I'm waiting for you here. I must go. As you know, I'm starring in Daniel’s drama series. There are a lot of interviews."

55

Karina settled at the hotel, and she was glad for the opportunity to be back in America again and meet Daniel. Although she arrived two days before the wedding and stayed at a hotel where Gideon and Alon stayed, she preferred not to update them about her arrival. She went for a walk in Central Park. There was a concert of the Philharmonic Orchestra of New York, and Karina decided to stay and listen. Then she walked to Fifth Avenue and bought herself a beautiful dress that suited the special occasion. The blue dress high lighted her large and beautiful eyes and her feminine body curves. At the back of the dress was a triangular outcrop, with a special kind of lace that covered part of the neckline. The edge of the dress was doubled, which gave Karina’s height a taller look.

On the day of the wedding, Karina took a cab to the synagogue and purposely arrived fifteen minutes late. Alon noticed her and motioned her hello, which made some of the guests look back. Daniel did not bother. Karina sat quietly behind Daniel, who sat next to his father. She thought about Alon, the wedding coward, who had a respectable wedding with few guests. Karina looked at Daniel from behind. He was wearing a handsome black suit. She was not used to seeing him dressed in suits and found him as handsome with the suit just as he was in a T-shirt and jeans. When she heard the applause after Alon broke the glass, she realized she was much busier thinking than what she thought.

After the ceremony, Gideon approached Karina and kissed her on the cheek. "When did you arrive?"

"Two days ago."

"Why didn’t you let us know?" Gideon was surprised while he introduced her to his wife. Karina shook the hand of the smiling woman. Gideon continued to talk while she kept looking at Daniel, who was standing next to Alon and talking with him. It seemed their relationship had tightened during the last two weeks.

"Come, Karina, meet Natalie," Alon called her.

Daniel turned his eyes instinctively fast. She noticed his eyes were wide open. He was completely surprised. He approached her and pinned her to him tightly, allowing her to feel the warmth of his body and smell the cologne emanating from him, "I asked Alon if you were coming. He said you might not be coming. Are you here with Odi?"

She responded with a smile.

He touched her curls, "These are the curls that I love so much." He lifted the curls from her eyes. "I always thought that with these hiding your eyes, you were choosing the wrong man."

Alon joined them, gave Karina a hug, and introduced her to Natalie.

Karina kissed Natalie on the cheek, glancing at her dress. "Very nice dress!"

"You would not believe it. I bought it an hour ago on Fifth Avenue. I thought it is safer to buy it as close as possible to the ceremony, in case of any cancellations. You should have seen the saleslady when I told her I am getting married in an hour. She gave me something from the display."

Everyone laughed. Alon tried to make another joke on the same thing, which caused Natalie to throw the bouquet on his head in anger. He took the bouquet and handed it to Karina.

"It will be yours soon." Daniel thought she must first get a divorce from the rat.

When they left the synagogue, Daniel rushed to Karina, "You, come with me."

"There is no room," Fisher reminded him gently, but on second thought he added, "Actually, it’s okay. I'll go separately."

"No, I'll go with her in a taxi," Daniel said, "I want to be with her alone for a while. We have a lot of things to talk about." And without waiting for Karina’s answer, he put her in the back seat of the taxi that stopped next to them.

"What’s happening to the company in Romania?” Karina asked, trying to check with him about the company and about her, "Do you still want the company or do you want to sell it?"

"I do not intend to leave anything that has something to do with you, Karin. You can’t get rid of me so easily," he said, holding her hand.

"How will you manage it?" She asked.

"We'll make small changes. Mikhail is pretty talented. He could get along without me. In any case, this is not a one-way conversation. I want to open a company with you here in the U.S., but we'll talk about that later. I still need to visit Romania several times. I promised to do something for someone who is so dear."

Karina looked at him inquiringly.

"I want to open a place in Sultana’s name. I still don’t know what it would be, but I already have a name: ‘Sultana’s house’. She was a real mother to me, the closest to what is called a Mother." He paused for a moment and thought about Neta. "There is somebody else who paid a lot because of Kowalski. I can’t turn back the clock, but perhaps I can compensate somehow for the injustice that has been done."

When they reached the house, they entered a room which was impressive in size and taste. In the middle of the room was a table set for thirty people. Karina's place was near Gideon and Alon, Daniel was next to his father and the mother on the other side of the table. Without hesitation, Daniel pulled his chair and sat beside Karina.

After dinner, all the guests went to another room, where there was an impressive bar. Daniel stood at the balcony of the room, one hand on his pocket and the other hand was holding a glass of wine. Beside him, was his father and two other men, but his eyes were focused on Karina, who was sitting next to the bar. Real beauty, he thought, even now she turned thirty-three. He wanted to go to her, but his parents did not leave him for a moment. They constantly approached him to introduce new people to him.

Finally, he found a moment to get close to Karina. He hugged her from behind. "Hello to the most beautiful woman in the world," he whispered in her ear and put his face close to hers.

She looked at him with an expression of happiness on her face. "Everyone is looking at us. You should keep a low profile right now."

"Odi is not here. What are you afraid of? If I were him I would not let you get away from me for so long."

"Oh, it’s good I do not live with you," she babbled, "By the way your mother is coming close."

"She saved you from the jaws of a wolf." he said, and was dragged away by his mother. She pulled him by the hand while he kept looking back at Karina with a smile, that asked for mercy. All these introductions exhausted him. His mother did not pay attention to the woman sitting with her son. She rambled in between the crowd with excitement, dragging Daniel after her. She had no problem to relate to Daniel as if they had never parted. She went back to being a mother in the most natural way.

Gideon approached Karina. "We have interview invitations for the whole month, tomorrow morning until late night hours."

"When will you have time to work if you have interviews all day?"

"In each interview here, I am closing a month’s worth of income for the company."

"That much?" Karina wondered.

"This is America, lady."

"Do you also want us to arrange an interview for you?" Alon asked, feeling like an important person who was linked to the media.

Karina pursed her lips in disgust, "No." she replied. She was not built for exposure.

Alon heard a background song he really loved and asked Natalie to dance with him. Gideon was forced to invite his wife, despite the slight disability in his feet and the fact that he did not like to dance, leaving Karina alone in the bar. Her eyes looked for Daniel, but when she didn’t find him, she took her glass of wine and went looking for him. She found him on the balcony with a beautiful young woman. They were standing on the ledge, embracing each other. Karina felt bad, wondering if she even knew Daniel. She suddenly had a flash of memory of Daniel and the girl in his house that morning. She went back to the bar and after half an hour she said goodbye to everyone except Daniel and went away. She knew she would be separated from Daniel, and Tom, the son of David Fisher, probably never be hers.

The next morning, Karina went down late for breakfast at the hotel. Gideon and Alon had already started the meal and asked her to join them. "When will you go back to the country?" She asked, "Or have you decided to settle here?"

"Look, we are actually getting a pretty warm and worthwhile welcome here. While you were sleeping in your suite, things happened that forced us to stay here," Alon laughed.

"Like what?" Karina asked, sipping her coffee.

Alon threw her the newspaper. On the first page was a picture of Gideon and Alon, as candidates for People Of The Year title. There was also an article about a fund to be established in Amos’ honour.

"Oh, what about me? What did I win?” Karina asked jokingly.

"You won Daniel, the entire jackpot. Our prize is a poor man's lamb compared to yours." Alon said, and made everyone laugh, "What’s really going on with you and Daniel?" Alon asked.

"Nothing, we are good friends."

"What are you talking about, ‘just friends?’ You can send a spaceship to heaven with the heat and charge between you every time you meet. Give me your phone," Alon asked and Karina handed it to him. "I will call your friend. It’s been an hour that I’ve been trying to call him, but he is not answering. Alon dialed Daniel’s phone number and immediately handed the phone to Karina. "You will see, in two rings he will answer it."

"Are you asleep?" She asked when she heard his sleepy voice.

"Not anymore. Where did you go yesterday?" Daniel asked.

"I saw you with someone who was mumbling on your shoulder and I did not want to disturb." Karina said.

"Oh, a cousin. She was telling me a few things about my childhood. This caused her a slight excitement. She's fine now. Look, I will take a shower and come pick you up in an hour."

"No, I can’t ..." Daniel hung up the phone.

"He hung up the phone in your face?" Natalie asked.

"No, he will come to pick me up." Karina smiled and saw the big smile on Gideon and Alon’s faces as well.

An hour later, he was already waiting at the entrance of the hotel, he held her hand and they went for a walk down Fifth Avenue, enjoying browsing the cafés where tables were arranged along the sidewalks. "Here, I sat for the first time with my new family." Daniel said, as they passed near the coffee shop full of people, "My father insisted I taste the best coffee that ever existed."

"You've waited in a line this long just for a good coffee?" Karina asked, while she noticed a crowd of people at the entrance of the door. She even noticed some celebrities waiting like everyone else.

"Personally, I wouldn’t have waited, but they thought I should not give up on the coffee here, even if you have to wait for a few minutes, hours or whatever. But for the record, we entered without waiting on the line."

"Was it worth?"

"Not so much, but it was two days after I was reunited with them, so I complimented the coffee and the place."

"How are you adapting yourself to your new family?"

"It’s pretty hard. I feel they are taking control over my identity. They call me Tom, while actually, I am Daniel, that’s who I have been all these years. I need to say mom to a woman who is a stranger to me while in my head, Julia was my mother. I know now she is not my real mother, but she had been my mother for twenty five years, even though she only acted as my mother for two and a half years." He was silent. It seemed things were difficult for him, and he continued, "What’s happening is that, my real mother is hurt I keep calling her Mary. She is always correcting me, but I think I may never internalize it. That’s it, I skipped this step."

"But I noticed you call your father ‘Dad’ without a problem."

"It's easier, because I had no father. He is not taking anyone's place. My mother, however, is taking the role of Julia. I sit all night long and feel it hurts me about Julia. I'm not mad at her. I can’t even listen to people who talk bad things about her. It's crazy, you can’t believe it."

"It will take time before everyone is able to internalize the facts, until you are able to know each other well." Karina said.

"Yes, the day of the party, my cousin, the woman you saw, sat next to me and spoke to me as if we had never parted. I embraced and encouraged her, but for me she is an ordinary woman just like any other woman I see on the street. It didn’t work. They were always kept the hope someday I would be back because I existed in their mind. I, however, did not know they existed.

Karina felt sorry for all of them. Finding his family was absolutely not the end of the story.

"But I’m trying to internalize the facts at my own pace. Most of the time I fulfill my parent’s desire and live with them, but when I feel I need my space, I run to the hotel. Who lives with their parents at my age?" He joked when he saw his words brought Karina sadness.