Be Mine Forever (Brothers From Money #2)

by Shanade White

  “Stephen I-“ Sophie started to say.

  “Please,” he said, urgency in his tone.

  Sophie opened her mouth and then closed it again, rolling her eyes. She covered the phone and spoke to Tony.

  “He’s begging us to have lunch with him and his restaurant partners tomorrow.” Sophie said.

  “Do we want to?” Tony asked her.

  “Probably not but I guess it couldn’t hurt,” Sophie shrugged.

  “It might cut into shopping,” Tony warned.

  “Ha! Like your really expect me to believe that bothers you,” Sophie laughed.

  “Tell him we’ll drop by for tea around 11am,” Tony said.

  “Good call, then we don’t have to stay long,” Sophie agreed.

  “Exactly,” Tony said. Sophie put the phone back to her ear and conveyed the same to Stephen.

  *****

  Solomon knocked tentatively on the cottage door and waited to see who would answer. He’d left Benjy with his grandfather while he came to say goodnight to Kat and Sam. She’d been acting weird all day ever since he said the L-word and he needed to know that everything was copacetic between them. Sam opened the door and then went back inside without looking at Sol.

  “Hey Sammy. What’s cooking?” Sol called after him.

  “My name is Sam,” he replied climbing back onto the chair and continuing with his coloring.

  “My mistake, Sam. What are you up to?” he asked coming to lean over the boy and examine his picture. It was a picture of a building that Sam was coloring purple, and the surroundings that Solomon assumed was sky and grass was colored black.

  “Creepy,” Solomon commented.

  Sam ignored him and continued to color. Solomon looked up as he heard footsteps come into the room.

  “Hey Kat,” he said still leaning over Sam.

  “Hello. Sam, it’s time for bed.” Kat said.

  “Was it something I said?” Solomon asked straightening up.

  “I don’t know what you mean,” Katarina said looking at him with a frown on her brow.

  “I mean you’ve been acting weird all day!” Solomon said irritably.

  “Don’t shout,” Katarina said.

  “I’m not shouting. I just want you to talk to me.”

  Katarina sighed and looked at him, “I have nothing to say. I’m fine. We’re fine. I don’t know what you want from me.”

  Solomon gave a helpless shrug at a loss for how to respond to that.

  “I gotta go. Benjy’s waiting for me,” he said getting up and heading for the door.

  “Solomon!” Katarina called. Solomon stopped but didn’t turn around.

  “I’m…sorry,” she said sounding helpless as well. Solomon turned to see her face looking distressed and confused. His own face softened in response and he came to her and enveloped her in his arms.

  “It’s alright,” he whispered in her ear. “We’ll get through this; whatever it is.”

  Katarina huffed a laugh but held on tight to him too. Solomon pulled back and looked her in the eye for a long moment then bent forward to place his lips gently on hers.

  “Goodnight,” he said.

  “Goodnight,” she whispered back, eyes closed. She opened them though, to watch him leave. When he’d closed the door behind him, she exhaled sharply sinking to the ground with her head in her hands.

  “God, Katarina what is the matter with you?” she asked herself bumping her fisted hand against her forehead in frustration. She’d been having episodes where she just felt a hot wave of fear suffusing her whole body every time she thought about Solomon and how she felt about him. And then he’d said ‘I love you’ and it was like all her dreams and nightmares came true at once. She looked at her autistic son obliviously coloring in his book. How did one do this anyway? How did one balance a child whose life was an all consuming cycle of crisis management with a man just getting his life together? Was it even fair to expect anything to come of this? Katarina just wasn’t seeing the light at the end of this tunnel. But she wanted to…she really wanted to.

  “Sam come on, let’s go to bed,” she said.

  Sam stood up and put down his coloring pencil that Solomon had obtained for him when he came back from New Orleans. In spite of having been kidnapped and held by goons gunning for a family heirloom, and getting his memory back all in one fell swoop; Solomon had not forgotten her child. He’d made a promise to Sam and he’d kept it. How could Katarina not love him? If only for how well he treated her son?

  She stood up and followed Sam to the bathroom. He didn’t like to be touched and preferred to carry out his ablutions by himself – but she preferred to watch so that she could be sure he did it right. She watched him brush his teeth, 48 strokes exactly; twelve horizontal, twelve vertical, twelve along the top of his teeth and twelve circular motions. He was very precise and did it exactly the same every time. Then he washed his face, used the toilet, washed his hands and took himself to bed after filling a glass with water for his bedside in case he got thirsty in the night. She followed him to his room and tucked him in and then sat by his bed until he fell asleep. She hummed softly to herself, just so that she could feel like she was doing some nurturing. She knew she should probably be grateful Sam was so self sufficient but despite knowing it was part of his condition, she couldn’t help feeling like an inadequate parent. Especially since he and Solomon seemed to have developed an instant bond that she’d been striving to forge with her son since his birth.

  ‘Is that it? Am I jealous?’ she wondered in disbelief. She looked out the window toward the house. The lights in Solomon’s room were on she could see but he’d drawn his curtains so she couldn’t see him. She drifted over to the window, leaning on it and staring up.

  “Solomon,” she whispered longingly to herself.

  *****

  “Grandpa, can I talk to you?” Solomon whispered as he peered into Benjy’s nursery where his grandfather was sitting in the rocking chair with a newspaper in his hand, keeping an eye on Benjy as he slept. Or just being with him. After all Benjy was down for the night and they had baby monitors. But sometimes it just felt good to sit by Benjy; peaceful like. He’d noticed that his grandfather liked to do it, and Solomon liked to do it as well. Even Sam could be found now and then, coloring books spread on the floor of the nursery as he lay there coloring while Benjy slept in the cot.

  “Sure come in,” Elijah said folding his newspaper and pointing to the couch. Solomon came in and sat down, bending his head down as he thought about where to begin. Elijah didn’t say a word, just waited for him to speak.

  “I told Katarina I loved her,” Solomon began.

  “And do you?” Elijah asked

  Solomon looked at him in disbelief, “Of course I do. Why would I say that if I didn’t?”

  Elijah shrugged. “Men lie”, he said with irony.

  Solomon had the grace to laugh but then stopped fairly quickly. “Anywho, the point is, I told her that I loved her and then she started acting strange.”

  “Oh?” Elijah said hand rising to support his head on his knuckles as he studied Solomon’s face.

  “Yeah. First of all, I say ‘I love you’ and she says ‘thank you’. And then she walks out of my room. Before that she was doing her best to-“ Solomon stopped abruptly and Elijah could have sworn he was blushing.

  “Her best to what?” Elijah asked.

  Solomon looked at him, eyes wide but he didn’t say anything.

  “Oh,” Elijah said after a while and smiled slightly. “Have you tried to ask her what she’s thinking?”

  “Of course I have; all she said was ‘I’m fine’…in that tone that doesn’t give you any openings to go anywhere. You know?” Solomon said in frustration.

  Elijah gave a small laugh, “I was married for almost fifty years. Of course I know.”

  “Then help me!” Solomon burst out.

  “You just have to have a lot of patience and wait it out. You’ve done all you can, there is n
othing else that you can do now. Just wait.”

  “What if-“ Solomon began.

  “Don’t play that game. Nothing good ever comes from it,” Elijah interrupted.

  “What game?” Solomon asked mystified.

  “The ‘what if’ game,” Elijah elaborated.

  Solomon sat back on the couch, thinking intently. Then he nodded his head and stood up.

  “I’m going to bed,” he informed his grandfather.

  “You do that son,” Elijah said. “Have a good night now.”

  “You too Grandpa,” Solomon replied walking to the cot to kiss Benjy before leaving the room.

  *****

  Sophie and Tony woke early and went for another walk in Central Park, taking a ride on the carousel while they were at it. They had breakfast in a little café that reminded Sophie of the Central Perk in the sitcom Friends and she pretended she was Phoebe and Tony was Mike. They had fun making up crazy conversations about having rats for pets as opposed to llamas and by the time the driver came for them they were laughing fit to burst.

  “Where to?” Tony asked Sophie. She turned to him and smiled.

  “How about Chanel?” she said.

  “Cool. Driver? Take us to Chanel,” Tony told the driver.

  “If we’re going to see that Michael Jackson show tonight, I need a new outfit,” Sophie explained.

  “Whatever you need honey,” Tony replied with a shrug and a smile.

  “You don’t have to come with me. Is there something you want to do? Visit the inn maybe?” Sophie asked.

  “Nope. This trip was all about you. So we’re going shopping.” Tony said.

  “You’re too good to me,” Sophie leaned in to kiss him. It was supposed to be just a peck but Tony opened his mouth and her tongue slipped in and their mouths seemed to have minds of their own about how they wanted this to go. Heartbeats rising and breath coming short, they began to wonder if they really needed to go shopping right now.

  “Maybe we should just go back to the house and…er…sleep in,” Sophie suggested. Tony caressed her cheek smiling lovingly and looked into her eyes, his soft and happy looking.

  “We promised we’d go see your friend at 11am. Its 9:30 now so we just have time to get maybe one outfit before we have to head to Brooklyn. If we go back to the house, we won’t make that meeting.” Tony said.

  “Ugh. Damned Stephen Jensen,” Sophie grumbled.

  “I know honey,” Tony said nuzzling her neck. “Hey, let’s blow off lunch and the Museum of Modern Art instead,” he suggested.

  “Okay,” Sophie said, her voice higher than usual. Tony was doing something to her neck with his teeth that was simply distracting.

  The car drew up at the Chanel building and a personal shopper was waiting for them. The driver had called ahead to inform them that Tony Romanov and his wife were on the way.

  “Good morning Mr. and Mrs. Romanov. Please come in. My name is Samantha Winchester, and I’ll be your personal shopper this morning. Can I get you anything? Coffee? Tea?” the girl said as she led them to a viewing couch.

  “Uh nothing thanks, we just had breakfast. But bring on the show. We’re looking for evening wear. Something suitable yet comfortable for a date,” Sophie said.

  “Any particular preferences?” Samantha asked.

  “Well yes I do have some. I like azure blue, and I prefer things that button down at the front,” Sophie said putting her hands up to touch her breasts in illustration, “Breastfeeding.”

  Samantha nodded and went to whisper to some girls. They went off and came back to model some outfits for Sophie. She chose a few that appealed to her and went off to change.

  “Put on some music Tony. Here comes the montage,” she said smiling seductively at him over her shoulder as she disappeared into the changing room.

  Tony sat back with a contented smile to await her.

  Chapter 5

  It was an accident that Peanuts McGee was the head of the New York Chapter of the Bloods. For one thing she was more Black Irish than Black, but the Bloods had been looking to expand their territory and Peanuts had contacts they needed. She’d purveyed that to get herself a seat on the board and then engineered a corporate takeover. The Bloods had followed her because she offered them the one thing that made the world go round; more money. She’d not only expanded territory but also their rackets. This included a string of restaurants acquired by the simple expedient of making loans to the owners and then calling in the debt. Those who could not pay got the business wrenched out from under them quite ruthlessly. In this economy, that was quite a few restaurants. But their expertise was extortion, not management and Tony Romanov could maybe help with that. They’d been looking around for someone with the right credentials and word on the street was that Tony had ties to Russian Mafia anyway. That meant he wasn’t averse to consorting with criminals. She’d been thinking about cutting Stephen Jensen loose. He was dead weight with an over-inflated opinion of how far his looks could get him. But if he could deliver this, perhaps she’d reconsider.

  “What time are we expecting the Romanovs?” she asked Lucas as she straightened her tie. She liked men’s suits; they suited her angular frame to a T and people tended to take her more seriously. She could do nothing about her age or her delicate features, but she could project the right image with how she chose to present herself. A business woman, but a dangerous one, not to be trifled with.

  “They said 11am,” Lucas said hands behind his back in an ‘at ease’ stance.

  “Where’s Stephen?” Peanuts asked.

  “Waiting in the lobby with the rest.”

  Peanuts nodded, “Good. Everything ready?”

  “As ready as can be.”

  *****

  Sophie and Tony walked into the Pirates Café at exactly 11am and looked around for Stephen. He was waiting at a table, seated with two other people; a woman and a man. The woman was dressed in a severe black pin stripe man’s suit, with a bright orange tie around her neck. It was the only color in her outfit and should have looked ridiculous but somehow didn’t. Her hair was pulled back in a bun and she wore no jewelry apart from a diamond ring on her middle finger. The other man was dressed all in white from his fedora to his shoes. He looked like a throwback to 1940s Chicago gangster and Tony disliked him on sight. They all three rose as he and Sophie approached. Stephen stepped forward with a wide smile and took Sophie’s hands in his, kissing first the left and then the right.

  “So glad you could make it,” he said.

  Sophie smiled and nodded and Stephen turned to look at Tony with a smile and put his hand out to be shook.

  “Tony, nice to see you again,” he said. Tony stretched his lips in the parody of a smile but said nothing. Stephen indicated the booth behind him.

  “This is Peanuts and this is Lucas,” he said pointing to the man and the woman. “They’re my..er..partners,” Stephen continued.

  “Peanuts…and Lucas?” Sophie said fighting an amused smirk, “Nice to meet you.”

  “Please,” Peanuts said, “Join us.”

  Sophie and Tony exchanged looks and then Sophie slid into the booth followed by Tony. A waitress was at their side as soon as they settled in, smiling at them and holding out menus. Sophie took one but Tony just shook his head and asked for coffee. Sophie studied the menu looking for something light she could eat. She didn’t want to be rude.

  “I’ll have an Irish coffee with a muffin, thank you,” she said handing back the menu. The waitress smiled and went off.

  “So, this is our set up here,” Peanuts said. “What do you think of it?”

  Tony looked around the place. The ambiance was dark with booths instead of chairs placed in rows around the room. There was an abundance of plant life everywhere and the room was dark with the daylight obscured by blinds and climbing vegetation. There was a bar at one end of the room and a kitchen at the other end. Waitresses were rushing about dressed in shades of green. There wasn’t so much a uniform as a colo
r scheme to their clothes. The bartender was busy even though the sun was yet to breach the yard arm. Several men were lounging about at the bar, having a drink. The restaurant portion was less busy. There were only about five other people having meals or snacks and they were nowhere near the group at the booth.

  “It’s not that busy is it?” Tony commented.

  “Not right now, no,” Peanuts said leaning toward Tony. “Our busiest times are the evenings.”

  “I see,” Tony said.

  “So? What do you think?” Peanuts asked again.

  “Well, I can hardly comment on anything except the ambiance can I? I haven’t even tasted the coffee.”

  “I’ll be honest with you Mr. Romanov. My…partners and I were hoping that we could pick your brains.”

  “Oh?” Tony’s brow went up but he didn’t look surprised.

  “Yes. Could we talk seriously?”

  Tony shook his head regretfully, “I’m sorry. I’m not here for business. My wife and I are on holiday. Perhaps you can call my assistant and make an appointment.”

  Peanuts and Lucas exchanged glances. Some sort of communication seemed to go from one to the other and then they both turned to Tony.

  “We’re sorry to hear that. We had hoped we could come to some sort of arrangement today.”

  “Well, man proposes, God disposes. We’re late for another appointment so…” Tony said standing up and pulling Sophie to her feet.

  “Thanks for the coffee,” Sophie called behind her as Tony hustled her out of the building, “Whoa there buddy I’m comin’ no need to pull me like this,” she protested to Tony.

  “Sorry,” he said as he pulled her into the car. “I just think we need to get out of here now.”

  “Why? Are they following us? Do they wanna kill us or what?” Sophie asked.

  “I don’t know and I’d prefer not to find out,” Tony said indicating that the driver should go.

  “Soo…what are you saying? Those were gangsters?” Sophie asked.

  “Let’s just say that the way they were acting, it seemed suspect.” Tony said. “I wasn’t sticking around to find out exactly what they wanted from me.”