“And my son gets a better life,” Karen said, catching on.
She laughed, her brown eyes clearing up considerably. The time for weeping was past. A celebration was in order.
“David!” she called.
David, in the middle of serving swordfish to an elderly couple, finished with his unique flair and then hurried to Alana and Karen’s table.
“Did I hear one of you goddesses beckon me?”
“I did,” Karen said happily. “Champagne, David. The best you have and make it ice cold.”
“You’re a woman after my own heart,” David said, beaming.
Amused, Alana watched as David made haste to do Karen’s bidding. Then her eyes rested on Karen’s face.
“You’re not anything like I imagined you would be,” she told Karen.
“You aren’t, either,” Karen said. The apprehensiveness was now replaced with self-confidence. “But I need to say this, even though I know we have come to an understanding: I’m sorry. I’m sorry for the pain I inadvertently caused you. For the sleepless nights. Worrying where your husband could be. I wouldn’t wish that kind of hell on anyone.”
“Thank you,” Alana replied sincerely.
David returned with the champagne. After placing a crystal wineglass in front of each of them, he pulled out the cork. The sound reverberated around the room, and diners applauded. There was something about champagne that put everyone in a festive mood.
He poured the golden liquid into the glasses, pausing to allow the bubbles to settle, then he placed the bottle in ice, moving the ice bucket close to Karen. “Don’t let it tickle your noses,” he said, as he departed.
Karen raised her glass. “To the future,” she said.
“Without Michael,” Alana added.
“May we all live happily ever after.”
“And to your son,” Alana said, smiling.
“May he grow up to be nothing like this father,” Karen declared prayerfully.
“Amen,” Alana intoned.
They touched glasses and drank deeply.
“Can we eat now?” Alana said afterward. “I missed breakfast this morning.”
Karen laughed as she picked up her fork and dug in. “My mother’s going to have a heart attack when I tell her what happened today.”
Chapter 8
With a macabre sense of humor, Alana realized that if the house on Nob Hill suddenly blew up she would lose everyone she loved in one fell swoop.
She was standing in the alcove between the kitchen and the ballroom, watching the festivities, which were in full swing. Margery, with Daniel at her side, was laughing at something the mayor had said. Alana smiled. She was sure Margery was warming to Daniel in spite of her protests to the contrary.
Couples danced to the melodious tones of a twelve-piece orchestra. Bree and Pierre, standout performers, were the center of attention. Georgie, with Brian Chandler, her attorney boyfriend, took the spotlight off the thespian couple with their version of a hip hop tango. The crowd cheered.
Feeling a hand at the small of her back, Alana leaned into Nico’s warm embrace. His arms went around her trim waist, and he bent his head to plant a kiss on the curve of her fragrant neck.
“What are you doing back here?” he said. “You should be out there with me, putting Bree and Georgie to shame.”
Turning to face him, Alana smiled. He looked so handsome in his tuxedo. “Let them have their fun,” she said, more than content to remain where she was: in his arms.
Admiring the silver lamé gown she was wearing, which fell three-inches above her knees, had spaghetti straps, soft folds at the bustline, and plunged downward in the back all the way to her waist, Nico sighed. “Everyone should see you, just once, in this.”
Turning to wrap her arms around his neck, Alana clasped her fingers together as she kissed his chin. “I wore it for you.”
“And I’m a grateful man,” Nico told her seriously. He kissed her lips. “But you’re not getting away with being a wallflower tonight.”
Taking her by the hand, he led her into the ballroom.
“Alana,” Georgie, wearing a red beaded gown in honor of Saint Valentine, called from the dance floor. “Get over here, girl, and show us how to salsa. Miami style.”
“You’ve been challenged,” Nico said, his warm brown eyes looking at her with such sensual vibrancy that Alana felt her body tingle with excitement.
They assumed the stance, her right foot sliding forward on the hardwood floor. Nico removed his coat and flung it into the audience. He saw Toni catch it in midair and smile gleefully at him.
The band went into an upbeat Latin number, and Nico executed a movement which reminded Alana of a matador. Then his hand was reaching for her, and they moved with sensual fluidity as they made the dance their own.
“Oh, my,” Margery commented to Daniel from the sidelines. “I haven’t witnessed anything that blatantly sexual since...”
“You and I were together the last time?” Daniel said hopefully, his arm going around her waist as he pulled her close to him.
Margery lay her head on his chest. “I do miss you, Daniel. But I...”
“But you’re afraid I haven’t changed,” Daniel finished for her. “It’s okay. Take your time. I’ll be here.”
Margery closed her eyes and relaxed in his arms. She loved Daniel. She had never stopped loving him. She was no longer that trusting young woman whom he’d taken for granted years before. But some things were still worth the risk.
“Okay, Daniel,” she murmured.
His heart beating double-time with pure joy, Daniel gently kissed Margery on the lips. Tears sat in his golden-brown eyes when he looked down into her beloved face. “I’ll spend the rest of my life making you happy.”
“We’ll spend the rest of our lives making each other happy,” Margery corrected him. She smiled into his eyes.
To their left, Toni quietly observed the reunion of her best friend with the love of her life. It’s about time, she thought. She looked away, only to lock eyes with an interesting-looking gentleman across the room. Wasn’t that Spencer Taylor, the famed jazz pianist? He was even more devastatingly handsome in the flesh.
“Georgette,” Brian Chandler said into Georgie’s ear. “This is all very entertaining, but can’t we circulate more? I haven’t even met the mayor yet.”
Looking into Brian’s smooth dark brown, impatient face, Georgie stifled a groan. All Brian thought about was networking. She didn’t think the brother had ever let loose in his entire Ivy League life. She was beginning to think he was only with her because she had access to certain people. People whose friendship she would never dream of using for career advancement.
She cast an envious eye at Alana and Nico. To have a man look at her like that...and have no ulterior motive.
“Georgette?” Brian said again, this time unwilling to be ignored.
Turning on her heels, Georgie walked away from him.
“Georgette, I’m talking to you,” Brian said as he followed.
“Why is it you can’t call me Georgie?” she said petulantly. “Would it kill you to be less formal with me, Brian? We’re not in the office now, loosen up.”
She kept walking. “Brian?” Turning, she realized that Brian was engrossed in conversation with the San Francisco District Attorney.
“Are you glad you came?” Bree asked Pierre as she stood locked in his two strong arms.
“Oh, yes,” Pierre breathed. “It’s everything you said it would be. I’ve met so many influential people. Thanks, babe.”
“You’re welcome,” Bree responded. Somehow the feel of his arms was not the same for her. She had been aware from the start that Pierre wanted to act more than anything. And she also knew, from experience, that two actors trying to make a go of a relationship didn’t often have positive results. But somehow she’d grown fond of Pierre, and that fondness had matured into love. She suddenly had a premonition of them going their separate ways. She shuddered.
>
Pierre’s hold tightened. “What’s wrong, sweetheart?”
“Nothing,” Bree said. “Just hold me.”
Studying Alana and Nico as they danced in the manner only those who had been partners for years did, Bree wished she would someday know that kind of happiness.
The Latin tune was replaced by a Gershwin song, and Genero tapped Nico on the shoulder, wanting to dance with Alana.
Alana waltzed around the room with Genero, complimenting him on his appearance and the fine job he’d done supervising the party.
Genero shrugged off her compliment. “It was nothing any culinary genius couldn’t have pulled off. I wanted to talk to you about your aunts...”
“Oh, no,” Alana cried. “Not again.”
Genero gestured toward a lovely, petite African-American woman in her early twenties, dancing with the commissioner.
“They set me up with her,” he said. “She’s a chef at The Beverly Hills Hotel.”
From his expression, Alana couldn’t tell whether he was pleased or not.
“Well, was it a hit or a miss?” she asked, her brows knit together in worry.
Genero grinned impishly. “She’s wonderful.”
“Then why aren’t you dancing with her?” Alana asked, relieved. “Go ask her to be your Valentine. Must my aunts do your courting for you?”
Laughing, Genero bent his dark head to quickly kiss Alana on the cheek. “Are you sure you and Margery aren’t blood relatives?”
Left without a partner, Alana made her way off the dance floor. As she wove her way through the crowd, she spotted Gina to her left dancing with her fiancé, Gary Nunn. Gina waved to her, a wide grin on her pretty face. Earlier in the evening, Alana had noticed her showing her favorite actress how to do the Electric Slide.
“Excuse me,” Alana said as she bumped into a tall man.
Clovis looked down at her. “Alana, hello. You remember my wife, Alice?”
“Of course,” Alana replied, smiling at the handsome, stout woman who was a foot shorter than her husband. “How are you, Alice?”
“Winded,” Alice said, laughter in her deep brown eyes. She was wearing a simple white gown that fell to her ankles. It gave her a sophisticated, elegant appearance. Clovis wore a basic black tux. Alana noticed he’d trimmed his mustache.
“Well, you both look fantastic,” Alana complimented them.
Alice blushed. “Thank you, Alana.”
“Enjoy yourselves,” Alana said as she left them.
She made it as far as the very alcove she’d been standing in before Nico had pulled her onto the dance floor where she was waylaid by Maria and her husband, Carlos.
“I think you all outdid yourselves on the food, Alana,” Maria told her. “Everything was delicioso.”
Carlos kissed Alana on the cheek. They hadn’t seen one another in some time. He was kept busy by his job as district manager for a fast-food chain.
He was around five-ten, dark-skinned and the epitome of the doting spouse. He was always affectionate with Maria. After greeting Alana, his arm was back around Maria’s waist, drawing her close to him. They were both wearing black: Maria in a short, sleeveless sheath that clung to her ample curves and Carlos in a tailored tuxedo.
“Thank you,” Alana said cheerfully. Reaching up, she removed a leaf from Maria’s hair. “Where’d that come from?”
“Oh, my,” Maria said. Tinges of red appeared on her cheeks. “We just stepped outside for some air.”
She and her husband lovingly gazed into each other’s eyes.
“The air must be especially good tonight,” Alana joked. “See you guys later. Have a great time.”
She turned around to continue walking toward the buffet tables and nearly stepped on Pierre. Bending to pick the poodle up, she tried to calm his trembling. He had been dodging dancers, more than likely attempting to locate his mistress.
Cuddling him, Alana rubbed his small head. “Poor baby. Who let you out of the bedroom?”
Undoubtedly, prying guests had been upstairs. After looking around the bedroom, they’d thoughtlessly left the door ajar.
“You could have been trampled on,” Alana complained. Searching the room for Nico, she saw him dancing with Margery. She would take Pierre back upstairs, then go and convince him to take her home. She liked to party as well as the next person, but tonight on their very first Valentine’s Day as a couple, she wanted him all to herself. They still had unfinished business to settle.
“All’s well that ends well,” Margery said happily as she and Nico did a passable two-step. “You and Alana will get married and give me plenty of grandchildren. Then this old childless soul will never be lonely again.”
“As for being old,” Nico began. “You will always have a timeless beauty and as for being lonely, I believe Daniel is more than willing to take care of that problem.”
Margery smiled up into Nico’s handsome face. “You’re such a sweet boy. I’m so pleased my darling Alana has finally awakened from her slumber and found you.”
Toni politely smiled as Spencer Taylor told her of his recent concert dates in Boston. She felt her right foot going to sleep as he droned on about the many celebrities who had come backstage to congratulate him on his splendid performance. It was a pity that a man of such pulchritude should be a brain-numbing bore.
“You are familiar with Charles Edward Waters, the frozen-food king? He is possibly the wealthiest black man in America. He told me he thought my playing equaled the great Duke Ellington’s.”
Don’t believe everything he tells you, Toni wanted to warn him, but didn’t. She vigorously shook her leg, trying to get the blood circulating in it.
“You’re right,” Spencer Taylor said. “Here I am bending your ear when we should be dancing. Shall we?”
It was as good a way to awaken her sleeping member as any, so Toni accepted.
* * *
Barry White sang of love from afar on the Stingray’s compact disc player as Alana and Nico cruised through San Francisco’s streets. The full moon looked as though it was suspended directly above the Golden Gate Bridge.
The ball had been a resounding success. Alana expected to read about it in the society pages of tomorrow’s paper. Now Margery could rest on her laurels until she started planning her wedding. Alana had a feeling she and Daniel were more in love than they were when they were first wed nearly twenty-five years ago. She was happy for them.
Nico reached over and gently massaged the back of her neck. “How do you feel? Tired?”
“A little,” Alana replied softly, enjoying the feel of his strong fingers on her skin.
“Too tired to go to my place? I have a surprise waiting for you there. We haven’t had the chance to celebrate our first Valentine’s Day together yet.”
“What kind of a surprise?” Alana asked, turning in her seat to look at him.
“It won’t be a surprise if I tell you what it is,” Nico countered, his deep voice husky.
He stopped the car at a red light, and Alana moved closer to him and planted a warm kiss on his cheek. Nico pulled her into his arms. “Do not do that unless you are willing to pay the price,” he warned her provocatively.
“Would you shut up and kiss me?”
“And she’s rude too,” Nico joked as his mouth descended upon hers.
They were interrupted by the sound of blaring car horns. The light had changed to green.
Alana got back in her seat, fastening her seat belt. Nico hit the accelerator and shifted into second, then third.
“You’re going to make me get a ticket yet,” he grumbled, looking sideways at her with a smile on his full mouth.
Nico’s house was located in the North Beach section of San Francisco in a neighborhood that had once been the home to the city’s wealthiest citizens. Today the area was populated by middle-class families who wanted a nice place to rear their children.
It was a bi-level bungalow with big airy rooms that allowed the breezes from the Pacifi
c to circulate throughout. When he’d purchased the house, three years ago, Alana had helped him decorate it. They had compromised between his love for leather and her desire to bring nature inside by going with contemporary furnishings in Italian leather for the living room with natural wood accents.
As they stepped into the foyer and Nico engaged the alarm, Alana laughed softly. “I see Mrs. Bailey was recently here.”
“I’m not as bad as I used to be,” Nico said, defending himself. “Mrs. Bailey comes in only once a week now and she doesn’t have to berate me for leaving my shoes in the middle of the room anymore.”
Nico switched on the lights, slightly dimming them. They sat together on the brown leather couch in the living room.
He grasped one of her hands in his, squeezing it gently. His dark, thickly fringed eyes looked down at their entwined hands.
“I need to know something before we go any farther, Alana.” He peered into her eyes. “That day when we were swimming in the lake and you got a cramp and went under and I went in after you. Later, when we were certain you were out of danger, you looked at me in such a way...I can’t begin to describe it. Did I imagine that look?”
Alana’s heart thumped fiercely in her chest. She never dreamed he had noticed. She had fought to subdue her emotions. For months before that fateful summer day, she had been trying to deny that she was falling in love with Nico. Then after a harrowing experience in the water, she could no longer hide from it. She loved him. She had felt so guilty.
“If I had known Michael was seeing Karen, I would have left him then,” she said now. She touched his face with her free hand. “I loved you so much, Nico. But I couldn’t hurt Michael. In all his life, he never had anyone who stuck by him. I couldn’t abandon him.”
Nico knelt before her, holding both her hands in his. His bedroom eyes bespoke his passion. “I know you must have been in torment,” he said. “We were both in our own unique hell, wanting each other but remaining loyal to Michael who, unbeknownst to us, was doing as he pleased.”
Rising, he pulled her up with him, and they held each other for a long while. “Te amo, Lana. I love you with all my heart and soul, my being.” Looking into her big brown eyes, Nico took her lovely face between his hands. “I’ve never loved anyone else, Lana. I’m telling you this so you’ll know the intensity of my feelings for you.”
Valentine's Fantasy: When Valentines CollideTo Love Again Page 25
