Oceans Between Us (A Cinderella Romance)

by Taylor, Helen Scott

  She sat on the edge of his dressing table and wrapped her arms around her slender body. She looked as though a strong wind would blow her away. "Freddy's arranged for me to do a couple of cable shows."

  "Which ones?"

  Rachel shrugged and twisted her rings on her fingers.

  "You should call him, cara, find out the details. You don't want to miss the dates."

  She pulled her phone out of her bag. "Will you come with me, Dino? I never know what to say in interviews."

  Dino released a breath. He would get sucked back into Rachel's life if he wasn't careful. "If I can. Remember I'm rehearsing for La Bohème and we're on a tight schedule. The first performance is in two weeks."

  "We're still touring together when you finish?"

  "That's what Freddy says."

  She looked down and worried her lip with her teeth. "Have you forgiven me about the baby, Dino? I didn't mean to make you angry. I only did what Freddy said you'd want."

  She looked so forlorn and miserable that Dino stepped forwards and pulled her into his arms. She clung to him like a child. Dino cursed Freddy anew for interfering in their lives. He wanted to tell her she should have spoken to him and not believed Freddy's advice, but that would upset her more and achieve nothing. Although he still hurt at the thought of his lost son, it was time to let go of his anger over the adoption. He kissed Rachel's hair, the smell of her perfume so familiar. "It's all right, cara. I know you tried to do the right thing. I'm sure our son is happy with his adoptive parents."

  As if he'd said the magic words, Rachel smiled, her face lighting up. She gave him a quick kiss on the lips, taking him by surprise, then tottered back on her heels and grabbed her handbag from the dressing table. "I'll call Freddy tomorrow. Let's go and celebrate."

  Dino frowned, wary of her sudden change of mood. "Celebrate what, cara?"

  "Being friends again, of course."

  As long as that was all she expected of him, Dino thought, as he slipped on his jacket.

  Rachel clung to his arm as they walked and told him about her flight and the show she'd been working on in London. They stepped through the stage door to be met by a small crowd of photographers. Camera flashes went off in their faces. Only long training kept Dino smiling. In front of the cameras, Rachel bloomed like a rose in the sun. Flicking back her hair and pulling up the collar of her faux fur coat, she smiled coyly.

  "How are the rehearsals for La Bohème going, Mr. Rossi?" someone shouted.

  "Very well. I'm looking forward to opening night."

  "Are you performing in the opera as well, Ms. Tanner?" a woman asked Rachel.

  Rachel clung to Dino's arm and giggled. "I'm just here to keep Dino company."

  The photographers all laughed. "Then he's a lucky guy!" one of them joked.

  "Well, I'm hungry, so if you don't mind, we'll be on our way," Dino said tightly, wanting to get away before Rachel said anything else that might come back to haunt him later.

  The crowd parted and, with a burst of camera flashes, Dino ushered Rachel to the waiting limo. They returned to the hotel where they were both staying and agreed to meet in the lobby in an hour. Dino showered and changed. As always happened when he had quiet moments alone, his thoughts turned to Maria. He tried to imagine her here with him and found he couldn't. She would be like a fish out of water in the big city. She'd hate the photographers and the lack of privacy. However much he missed her, it was best she had not come.

  He picked up his phone and scrolled through the photos he had taken of Maria in Mevagissey. The ache of missing her clenched tight as a fist squeezing his heart. He had programmed the Crow's Nest telephone number into his phone. Numerous times since he left Cornwall, he'd thought of calling her. But what would he say? That he missed her and wanted to be with her? He would only upset her. She deserved to be loved by a man who would put her before his career.

  "Argh!" Dino tossed his phone on the bed and pinched the bridge of his nose. Why was life so complicated? It would be much easier if he fell in love with Rachel, a woman who shared his lifestyle and understood what it involved. Perhaps he should forget Maria and give Rachel a second chance? But even as the thought entered his mind, his heart dismissed it.

  Dressed for dinner, he went down ten minutes before he was due to meet Rachel and perused the boutiques in the hotel until he found one selling postcards. He selected a card and bought a stamp. Then he withdrew from his wallet the credit-card sized picture of the Crow's Nest that had contact details on the back. He copied the address onto the postcard and simply wrote, 'Missing you' and signed his name.

  "What are you doing, Dino?"

  He'd been so absorbed that Rachel's voice behind his shoulder made him jump. "Nothing," he replied automatically.

  "Who's that for?" Rachel reached around him and tried to pick up the card, but he pushed it in his pocket while he tucked the guesthouse business card back in his wallet.

  "Come," he said, trying to distract her. "Where would you like to go for dinner?"

  She mentioned a very expensive restaurant that would almost certainly be booked solid, but Dino wasn't about to disappoint her. He'd find a way to secure a table. As they left the hotel, he slipped the postcard and a tip to the doorman. "Mail this for me, please."

  Then he escorted Rachel to a cab and prayed he could walk the fine line of keeping her happy while maintaining his distance.

  ***

  Maria went down for breakfast to find her mother bustling around the kitchen. She stood in the doorway with a vague sense of discomfort. Having the kitchen to herself had become familiar. Now she was back to the role of daughter sharing her mother's space.

  "Morning, darling, do you want toast or cereal?"

  An Amazon cardboard sleeve lay open on the table with two CDs beside it. Maria grabbed it and checked the address. "Mum, you've opened my package. Don't I get any privacy in this house?"

  "Don't be overdramatic. It's only a couple of music discs."

  "That's not the point, is it? You opened my mail."

  Her mother rolled her eyes heavenwards. "Tea or coffee?"

  "Coffee, please." Maria sat and read the invoice from the package. "What happened to the third CD?"

  "Oh, I listened to it before you came down. It's still in the player. Do you want me to turn it on?"

  "Not right now." She didn't want to share Dino with her mother.

  "That young Italian certainly has a lovely voice," her mother continued. "I wouldn't have thought his music was quite your sort of thing, though. What made you order it?"

  Maria's cheeks warmed and she silently berated herself for being stupid. "Chris's friend Tina loaned me the show songs disc. I liked it, so I bought the others as well."

  "Strange coincidence. I read an interview with Dino Rossi and his girlfriend Rachel Tanner in the in-flight magazine on the way home from Florida. They sound like a lovely couple. They met when he was her mentor on that talent show she won a few years ago."

  The last thing Maria wanted was to hear about Dino's beautiful girlfriend. "Where's Dad?" she asked, changing the subject.

  "Gone to Truro to bank the cash that friend of yours left and run errands."

  Maria ate her cereal and read the track lists on the CD covers, then checked out the booklets inside with the song lyrics and pictures of Dino.

  The photos made her yearn to see him again. As soon as she finished breakfast, she took advantage of her dad's absence and slipped into the office, closing the door behind her. She booted up the computer and searched for Dino Rossi, pulling up the now familiar list of links. She couldn't go a day without looking at photos of him. Like an addict, she needed her Dino fix. She found her favorite video of him performing and stared rapt at the screen while he sang.

  Everything about him was so familiar, the elegant way he moved his hands, his facial expressions, the tiny gestures he made that tugged at her heart. This was torture, seeing him but not being with him.

  Leaning forwards, c
hin on her hand, she lost herself in memories of him. Suddenly the door opened behind her, and she nearly jumped out of her skin. She scrambled for the mouse and closed down the video, then cast a furious glance over her shoulder at her dad as he riffled through a filing cabinet.

  "All right, love?" he said, finding what he wanted and shutting the drawer.

  "Yes, Dad." He wandered over and kissed the top of her head, then disappeared out the door, leaving it open.

  She was lucky her dad had been the one to walk in and not her eagle-eyed mother who would have noticed what she was watching. Maria flopped back in her chair and stared at the calendar on the wall. Her parents had been home for five days, yet it felt like forever. Before they went away, she hadn't noticed they treated her like a child. But after the month here alone with Dino, she realized she wanted her own space, her privacy.

  "Maria, darling," her mother said, poking her head in the door, "when you've finished, could you come into the kitchen for a few minutes. Dad and I want to talk to you about the future."

  A jolt of excitement shot through her. A few months ago, her parents had started discussing retirement. Maria would be sad to see them leave the Crow's Nest, but she was ready to take over. Already she had a list of changes and improvements in mind. And if she was in control, she could invite Dino to stay if he ever contacted her again.

  She bounded out of her chair and headed to the kitchen. Her mother refilled the coffee cup Maria had used at breakfast and then sat, facing her. "Dad and I had lots of time to think on the cruise. We've worked hard over the years, especially in the early days when the Crow's Nest was open in the winter. When you were little, we only closed for two days at Christmas. We had to work 24/7 to pay the mortgage. But all that's behind us. It's time to wind down."

  Maria tamped down her bubbling excitement. "So you're retiring?"

  "I think so, love." Her dad smiled, but he looked sad. "We'll be sorry to leave the place, but Mum's keen to travel, and we want to do it before we get too old to enjoy ourselves."

  "I think it's a wonderful idea." Maria gripped his hand and squeezed. She knew her dad was a homebody at heart like her, and leaving the Crow's Nest would be more of a wrench for him than for her mum.

  "I'll take good care of the place for you. You know how much I love it."

  Her mum and dad exchanged worried glances, and foreboding shivered through her.

  "I know we talked about taking out a loan on the place to realize some of its value, but we've taken financial advice. That's not going to work."

  Everything inside Maria froze. "What do you mean?"

  "We're selling, love. The Crow's Nest is our pension."

  Maria's hand went to her heart. Her chest burned as though all the air had been sucked out of her lungs. "I don't want to leave," she whispered. "This is my home too. You can't just sell it. Please."

  "I'm sorry, love," her dad patted her arm. "The truth is we need the money. Mum wants to go on a world cruise, and it doesn't come cheap. And if we're going to buy another home, we must sell this one."

  "What do you expect me to do?" Maria's voice rose on a note of panic. The guesthouse was her safe haven.

  "It'll be good for you to move on," her mum said. "You need to get out and see the world, meet a young man, make something of your life."

  "But I planned to run the Crow's Nest with my husband, raise my kids here like you did."

  "What husband?" her mother asked softly.

  Maria bit her lip.

  "You've been down here burying your head in the sand since you broke up with Tom. There's a world out there, darling. That's where you'll meet a husband. Not here."

  "I've been out in the world," Maria said defensively. "I spent three years at college. And I went to Austria with Tom."

  "Three months in Austria is not seeing the world," her mother replied.

  Tears blurred Maria's vision, and she blinked them away. "But this is where I want to spend my life."

  Maria's mother reached out and stroked the hair back behind her ear. "If we let you hide down here, we won't be doing you any favors. This is for your own good."

  Maria held tight to her wildly fluctuating emotions. Shouting and screaming would not convince her parents she was a responsible adult capable of running the guesthouse. "Look," she said in a controlled voice, "give me a year operating the place alone. I'll show you I can make a go of it. I'll bring in enough profit to fund your trips."

  "But not enough for us to buy another house." Her mother gave her a sad smile. "It's all decided, darling. We have two commercial real estate agents coming around this afternoon to give us a valuation." She reached across the table and pulled a stack of realtors' details out from under a newspaper. "When Dad went into town this morning, he signed us up with some agents to look for a new home."

  Maria's last shred of hope unraveled. They had made their decision. Nothing she said would change their minds. She'd lived her whole life at the Crow's Nest. Porthale was her home. She had no idea where to go...unless she followed Dino. But even if she were brave enough to go to New York alone, she didn't have the money. Her parents had never paid her a wage, they simply paid her living expenses. All this time, they had treated her like a child, and she hadn't realized until now.

  Her dad picked up a catering magazine and placed it on the table before her. "There are five pages of job advertisements in the back. Why don't you take a look? I'm sure a young woman with your qualifications and experience will find something in no time."

  "We'll give you money for a deposit on a flat," her mum chipped in. "You'll enjoy being independent."

  Maria stood, her chair scraping on the floor tiles with a grating screech, and headed to the office. She shut the door behind her and leaned back against it, her hand over her eyes. What was happening to her life? First Dino arrived and tied her emotions in knots, now this.

  She plunked down in the office chair and halfheartedly searched for flights to New York. There were none from the local airports, which meant traveling up to London. After doing a rough cost calculation, she tossed down her pencil in disgust. The only way she could go to New York was if her parents paid the costs. Anyway, she couldn’t travel all that way alone, and by now Dino had probably forgotten about her.

  Chapter Eight

  After Maria's parents had been home for a week, she went down to breakfast to find her mother looking at a postcard. "Who do you know in New York, darling?"

  Her mother turned the card over to read the message. Maria darted forwards and snatched it from her hand. A quick glance at the front confirmed it was a picture of the Metropolitan Opera House. With a thundering heart, Maria checked the back.

  Dino hadn't written much, but what he had said was enough. He missed her.

  She collapsed in the chair, a hand over her mouth and tears of joy in her eyes, momentarily forgetting her mother's curious appraisal. "Is that from a boy?"

  "A man, Mum. He's a man."

  "So who is this mystery man?"

  "Someone who's important to me. Look, can I have some money?" Maria finally tore her eyes away from Dino's handwriting to meet her mother's worried gaze. "I want to go to New York to see him. I'll need to pay for travel up to London, the flight, a hotel, and probably other stuff I haven't thought of yet."

  "Well, I don't know." Her mother frowned. "Isn't this a bit sudden, darling? When did you meet him?"

  "I don't ask for much, Mum. I've worked for nothing more than board and lodging for years. That must give me some credit to call on."

  "We paid you a bit more than board and lodging," her mother said indignantly. "What about your car and your clothes?"

  "Yes, I know. I'm not saying you didn't look after me. But I couldn't save for a holiday. You told me to see more of the world. Well, I want to see New York."

  "Let me have a chat with your father. We're talking about a few thousand pounds, I expect. That's not small change."

  It was considerably less than her parents had sp
ent on their recent four-week cruise in the Caribbean.

  She went to the office and started searching for flights that left in the next few days, hoping for a late deal. If Dino was missing her, that meant he wanted to see her. At the thought of traveling to America, memories of Austria rose into her mind, but she pushed them aside. She would not let her fear stop her going to see him. She would not let the men who'd attacked her ruin her life.

  ***

  Maria pulled her suitcase out the doors of New York's JFK international airport with Chris at her side. Maria's mum and dad had been reluctant to fund her trip, but Chris had found a four-night deal and loaned Maria the money on the condition she could come along. Maria was too focused on Dino to think about the shopping blitz Chris planned, but she was grateful to her sister for the loan and the moral support. Maria felt light-headed with fatigue after traveling for hours, but the thought of seeing Dino fizzed through her like a large dose of caffeine.

  They climbed into a yellow taxi and told the driver to head for the Metropolitan Opera House. Maria shut her eyes and was lulled into a daze as the vehicle slid through traffic while blues music played softly on the radio. They had been driving for nearly an hour when Chris squealed with excitement. "Oh my God, look. I can see the Empire State Building." Maria peered out and anticipation ticked in her chest, her body a mass of jangling nerves. Soon she would see Dino again. Or she hoped she would. She hadn't let herself dwell on the problem of making contact with him.

  Finally, the taxi drew to a halt at the bottom of some wide, shallow steps that ran the length of the Lincoln Center plaza. "We're here, ladies." The taxi driver pointed across the open space to a spectacular building with five massive arches along the façade.