He brushed her lips with his. “The scarf is a lovely temptation. Tonight I intend to take it off and see your hair fall around your face. Now—are you ready to go?”
“Yes,” was all she could manage.
“That is good.” He kissed her again, more thoroughly this time, before he turned around and started back down to the lobby. She prayed her legs would support her as far as the car.
Once they were inside, she gave him directions to Girls’ Village and they were off. “Tell me something, Anatoly. I want the truth now.”
He darted her a serious glance. “This is Karin’s car, in case you wanted to know. If you are asking about Natasha, I can tell you that as of seven o’clock this morning, I am no longer engaged. She will not be coming to America.”
The news on both counts shouldn’t have filled her with so much joy. She averted her eyes. “If that’s a relief to you, then I’m happy for you.”
His hand slid to hers and grasped it. “I think you know how happy I am, Gabriella.”
Maybe it’s better you don’t know how I’m feeling right now, Anatoly.
“Actually, what I wanted to know was why you traded your Russian tapes for that particular hat. Why did you?”
His head jerked toward her. “That’s the serious question you wanted to ask me?”
“Yes.”
“Why are you so curious?”
“Because if you’re trying to be American, then you need to know that the Bronx Knights aren’t a baseball team.”
He frowned. “What do you mean? I saw in the newspaper that they are coming to San Diego to play.”
“They are. But it won’t be baseball.”
“I do not understand.”
“They play stickball.”
“Stickball?”
“Yes. It’s a game that started back East. I used to play it with all the kids on the block. When I got older, I went to the league games and rooted for my favorite team, the Barrio Gents.”
“I like the names. Do you have a cap?”
“I did. But it got lost in my last move. When you take me home, I’ll show you my pennant.”
“That I would like to see. You really know how to play this stickball?”
“Yes.”
His face broke out in a smile. It took her breath away. “You will show me when we get to the park?”
“I thought you were into croquet.”
“We will do both!”
“I’m afraid we don’t have the proper equipment, but I guess we can improvise.”
“That is what I love about you, Gabriella. You are game for anything.”
“Well, we can’t have you running around San Diego in a Bronx Knights cap when you don’t know the fundamentals.”
“It will be exciting with you as the teacher.”
She flashed him a mischievous smile. “Are you a sore loser?”
“What does that mean?”
“Will you get angry if I can do something better than you? Some guys don’t like that.”
“I want you to be better than me.”
“You say that now.”
“I mean everything I say, Gabriella. You are an expert at some things. I am an expert at others. We balance each other. That is the way it should be between a man and a woman who are as perfectly matched as we are.”
The more he kept talking like that, the more she wanted to believe him.
To her chagrin he had to let go of her hand to make a turn at the light. The Girls’ Village facility loomed on the right. He pulled up at the curb.
“Do you want to come in with me?”
He shut off the ignition and put his arm behind her seat. “I want to do everything with you.” In the next breath he kissed the side of her neck. The tang of the soap he’d used in the shower assailed her. “But in case the girls are shy, they might like it better if you introduce us after you bring them out to the car. By the end of the day I will hope they will like me enough to ask me to come in next time.”
Somehow Anatoly always knew the right thing to say and do. “I’ll be back in a minute.”
She fumbled for the door handle, and he came around to her side to help her out of the car. His gaze captured hers. “I will be here waiting impatiently for you.” His hand tugged the end of her ponytail. She felt a finger of delight travel through her body to her toes.
To ward it off, she dashed up the walk to the front doors. The girls were waiting in the lobby on one of the benches.
“Hi!” they both said at once.
“Hi, yourselves! How are the lovely young mothers-to-be today?”
“Okay.” Juanita stared at her. “You look beautiful.”
“Well, thank you.”
“That’s a new outfit, huh?”
She nodded to Sandra.
“Is it for that man you ran into?” Juanita wanted to know.
Gaby chuckled. “Yes.”
The girls exchanged glances and smiled at her.
“All right. Let’s go, but don’t tell him I bought this just for him. He’s going to take us to lunch at the Jukebox Café, and then we’ll go to the park. How does that sound?”
“Cool.”
“Just one more thing. Have you girls ever played croquet?” They both frowned in puzzlement. “I didn’t think so. Listen, when Anatoly sets up the game, will you go along with him? He brought it especially for you because he knows you’re pregnant, and he doesn’t want you to strain yourselves. The thing is, he’s very excited about it.”
They both nodded.
“Come on. I’m starving and I bet you are too.”
TWO HOURS LATER the girls had gotten the hang of croquet. Out of the six games, Max and Gabriella let them win four times. Sandra and Juanita were both good sports and fun to be with. If Gabriella was using them for a front, Max thought, they didn’t seem to know it. In fact, they seemed crazy about her.
So was he. And falling harder every second.
“I think you ladies must be tired, so we are going to rest while Gabriella shows us a game she learned to play when she was a young girl.”
“I’ll have to set it up first. See that monument over there about fifty feet? We’ll use that.”
“For what?” Juanita asked.
“You’ll see,” Gabriella answered mysteriously.
“I’ll be back in a minute.” She’d grabbed four croquet mallets and a ball before she started walking away from them.
That was when Max knew Ms. Peris hadn’t been lying to him about her knowledge of stickball. At least the way it was played on the streets of New York and New Jersey.
With knees raised, he sat on the grass between the two girls. “Do you think some of your friends at Girls’ Village would like to come to the park with us another time?”
“All of them would!” Juanita declared.
“Are there any girls from other countries?”
Juanita nodded. “We’ve got one from India, and another from Mexico.”
“Just last night we got a new girl from Russia. She roomed with me,” Sandra confided. “I asked her if she wanted to come with us today, but she said no. Her English isn’t good like yours.”
Max peeled a banana and began eating. “If she only came recently from Russia, it will probably take time for her to feel comfortable. She is lucky to have you for friends.”
“I don’t think Svetlana can trust anyone,” Juanita commented. “She’s afraid to go outside for fear she’ll get killed.”
“That is very sad.”
Sandra said, “I used to be scared the same way because my stepfather took drugs and used to beat me and my mother all the time. But he finally got caught by the police for armed robbery. Now he’s in jail, so I’m not afraid anymore.”
“That is good, Sandra. Did this Svetlana tell you what happened to her?”
“Yes.” Sandra nodded. “She ran away from her mother’s boyfriend. He and his friends were going to rape her, so she climbed out the kitchen window and ran as hard a
s she could down her alley. She took a bus to a park and then ran to a store where she called Girls’ Village. Gabriella picked her up.”
“How did Svetlana know to call?”
“She learned about it at school. So did I. Gabriella was the volunteer who came to get me when I called Girls’ Village.”
“Gabriella is very courageous, just like you girls. How long ago did that happen to you, Sandra?”
“About six or seven months.”
“Hey!” In the distance Gabriella was waving her hands over her head. “Come on! I’m doing all the work!”
“Let us go, ladies.”
They followed Max over to the monument.
“Okay,” Gabriella said. “You girls sit behind that line where I put the mallet. We’ll pretend there’s a strike box drawn here on the monument. About fifty feet away you’ll see another mallet—it serves as the pitcher’s mound. I’ll have to be the whole team today. Anatoly, you’ll pitch the ball and play the field.”
She handed him the ball, then took the other mallet and stood over by the monument.
He walked to the pitcher’s mound, trying hard not to smile. “Are you ready?”
“As I’ll ever be.”
She crouched in her batter’s stance, holding the mallet by the head. He’d been the star pitcher on his block. Deciding to be kind, he threw a soft underhand. The next thing he knew he heard a whack and the ball sailed at least a hundred feet. The girls cheered and clapped.
“Anatoly? While you field that ball, pretend an imaginary runner has snagged first base. When you’re ready, pitch me another one.”
He found the ball in the grass at the bottom of a tree. Damn, if she wasn’t good.
Next time he’d throw the ball with a little more force.
Even from the distance, he could feel her fighting spirit. He warmed up, then pitched. But he put a little spin on it to throw her.
Whack!
This time the ball sailed at least a hundred and twenty feet, if not more. The girls let out more whoops. By the time he’d emerged from a thorny bush with the ball, he was no longer smiling.
“We have two runners on base now!” she announced. He could hear the smile in her voice.
Will you get angry if I can do something better than you? Some guys don’t like that.
I want you to be better than me.
Like hell—
Making no concessions this time, he threw the ball overhand.
“Steeeriiiiikkkke one!” she called out. “That was a pretty good pitch, Kuzmina. You keep improving like that and you’ll be ready to coach a whole team of girls from the Village. Try it again. Faster!”
Faster? Don’t say you didn’t ask for it.
The ball and bat connected, but he heard a sharp crack.
“Aieee!”
CHAPTER NINE
“OH, NO!” Gaby cried. The stick of the mallet had come apart in several splinters.
Anatoly ran up to her. “Are you hurt, Gabriella?”
She shook her head. “No. But we should be playing with a rubber ball, and I should’ve known better than to use your landlady’s croquet stick for a stickball bat. I feel terrible about this.”
He took the pieces from her hands. “It is my fault. I threw the pitch too hard. Tomorrow we will go to a store together and find a replacement.” His gaze held hers. “You are a magnificent stickball player.”
“You think?”
“How did you get so good? Tell me!”
“I played every night till dark out by Wilson’s garage door. When I didn’t show up because I had to do homework or something, the guys would come to my house and get me.”
His eyes gleamed. “That I can believe.”
“You’re a good stickball player, too. Somebody taught you how to spin your pitch. Fess up, Anatoly. You’ve played the game before.”
One corner of his compelling mouth lifted. “Maybe I told a little white lie.”
“There’s no maybe about it. I bet you play on the beach every chance you get.”
“Not for the past four days.”
No. The past four days they’d spent every possible moment together.
“We will go to the big-league stickball games together, yes?”
She sucked in her breath. “Yes.” I can’t wait.
“Can we go, too?” Juanita asked.
“Speak for yourself. I’ll probably be in the hospital having my baby.”
Gaby put an arm around Sandra’s shoulders. “I’ll come and visit you.”
“We will both come,” Anatoly said. “I have never seen a baby right after it was born.”
“You’re joking! My mom had seven kids. I took care of most of them.”
Gaby felt for the poor girl. “Anatoly never jokes,” she couldn’t resist saying.
He flashed her a wry glance. “I can see I am in a little trouble with you.”
“Quite a bit, actually.”
“Good. I cannot wait to receive my punishment.”
“I’m glad to hear you say that because all the croquet equipment needs to be gathered up before we go.”
“I’ll help,” Juanita said.
As the girl walked with him, Gaby pulled the camera out of her purse and snapped another picture. She’d taken several throughout the day when Anatoly wasn’t looking. She couldn’t wait to get the film developed.
“Come on, Sandra. You’re looking flushed. It’s time to get you back to the car and home.” They started walking.
“Anatoly’s good-looking. Funny too.”
“You’re right on both counts.”
“I think he loves you.”
“In four days?”
“I guess not. But you should see his eyes when he looks at you. Some day I hope I’ll meet a man who looks at me like that. Months ago I decided it would be better to give up my baby for adoption. Seeing you so happy with Anatoly makes me realize I’d like a life like that one day. My baby deserves to be with people who really want it and can take care of it.”
Gaby hugged her hard. “What will you do after it’s born?”
“The counselor is going to help me finish high school, then I’m going to go to college.”
“I admire you more than you know. You’re very courageous, Sandra.”
“I was thinking the same thing about Svetlana.”
“So she talked to you?”
“Yes. After her father died, her mother’s Russian boyfriend took over their apartment. The night she ran away, he touched her where he shouldn’t and told her an important man was going to give her things if she cooperated. She was afraid of being raped, so she climbed out the window and jumped off the fire escape.”
Gaby shuddered. “Thank heaven she was able to get away.”
“She says Russian men are horrible. Maybe her mother is dead by now, but she’s scared to call the police.”
“She said as much to me in the taxi. I’m glad she could talk to you about it, Sandra.”
“I told her what happened to me. She knows she’s safe at Girls’ Village. But I’m afraid she’ll never go outside again.”
“It’s too early to know what the future holds for her. She’s going to get counseling. In the meantime, if you can be her friend, that would be wonderful.”
“I’ll try.”
“I know you will.”
By the time she’d helped Sandra get her swollen body strapped into the back seat, the other two had joined them.
Juanita had been having the time of her life. Gaby had never seen her smile and laugh so much. Anatoly had a way with everyone.
He has a way with you, Gaby Peris.
It was a good thing Hallie would be at the apartment when he took her home. The way she was feeling right now, she could easily toss Dr. Karsh’s two hundred dollars’ worth of sage advice into the surf and watch it get carried out to sea.
TWENTY MINUTES LATER, Gaby had said good-night to the girls. She rejoined Anatoly.
“Thank you for being so
wonderful today. Juanita has a huge crush on you, and Sandra thinks you’re funny. Those are both great compliments coming from girls who’ve had no reason to trust anyone or anything.”
“I liked them, too. It has been a fantastic day. I never want it to end.”
“Neither do I.”
She felt his eyes on her. “You are keeping something from me,” he said. “What is it?”
“Much as I would like to spend the whole evening with you, I can’t.”
“You have work at your office?”
“No, it’s nothing like that. My roommate is back in town.”
Before she could blink, Anatoly had pulled over to the curb. He shut off the engine and turned to her.
“This is the first I have heard about a roommate.”
She swallowed hard. “I’m sorry. Before today I didn’t feel it was necessary to tell you. But since you’ve broken your engagement and we’ve had our first date, you’re entitled to know more about my life.”
“Were you lovers before he went away?” Anatoly sounded quite desolate. Was it the Russian in him coming out again, or was he really upset?
“Anatoly, I said roommate, not lover. Hallie is a woman! She was the first person to befriend me when I moved to San Diego. We hit it off immediately, and decided to room together.”
“Hallie?”
“Yes. I know it’s a rather unusual name. She’s been gone for several weeks. The other day I received a postcard telling me she was coming home tonight. She said it was important that I be there because she needs to tell me something that could affect both our lives.”
He stared at her through shuttered lids without saying a word.
“You don’t believe me?”
“Yes, of course I do. I am waiting to hear if there is anything else you want to tell me.”
She bit her lip. “I wouldn’t believe me, either. You probably think I’m making this up.”
“I will believe what you want me to believe. You say she is there now?”
“Probably.”
“Then I must get you home.”
Accidentally Yours Page 13
