Heart of Ice

by T. B. Markinson

  “Aren’t you cutting it a little close, Toby?” Laurie made a show of looking at her watch.

  He pu ed his chest out. “I’m right on time to slay my presentation. I see the Matador likes to save the best for last.”

  Laurie and Jack exchanged knowing looks. Toby was every bit his usual cocky self, though his cologne seemed much too heavy. He’d probably doubled the dose to mask the cloud of alcohol that habitually clung to his person. From what Jack

  had gathered about Othonos in their brief interaction after the presentation, he would not be impressed.

  “A word of advice”—Laurie patted Toby’s arm—“don’t go in with guns blazing.”

  “Please,” Toby sco ed, shoving past, flicking his hand for his subordinates to fall in line.

  When the door closed, and he was out of ear shot, Jack, Laurie, Andy, and Marian laughed.

  LATER THAT EVENING, the team gathered at Laurie’s house, along with Jack’s mother, for the dual purposes of toasting the day’s accomplishments and celebrating Laurie’s birthday. A long table and several chairs had been set up in the back garden beneath a canopy of grapevine interspersed with twinkling fairy lights. The evening was mild, and as the group sipped champagne, the scent of roses hung in the air.

  As Jack emerged from the house and walked up the slate path, wearing a slinky red dress and carrying a layer cake covered in lifelike frosting flowers, all eyes were on her.

  There was only one set she cared about, though. She placed the cake in front of Laurie and looked into pale blue eyes that glimmered with love.

  “Happy birthday.” Jack gave Laurie a quick kiss, mindful of the audience, mostly her mother. They’d have more time for that later, alone.

  Beaming, Laurie raised a glass of champagne. “After fifty years, I can honestly say I have no idea what the future holds, but I can’t imagine facing it with anyone else. All of you are vital members of my team, but more than that, each and every one of you has become like family to me. I couldn’t be prouder.”

  After clinking glasses, they all sipped their champagne, except her mother, who drank hers down quickly and poured another, being the type of person who always made sure to get the most out of free drinks. She scanned the table expectantly. “So, is anyone going to tell me how it went?”

  “It went well,” Laurie said in her understated way. “We should know in a few days.”

  “Did you give it to him?” Jack’s mom looked anxiously at her as she twisted a cocktail napkin in her hands. “Did you tell him what I told you to say?”

  “I asked him if he’d be in town,” Jack assured her, “but unfortunately, he had to leave—”

  Her voice trailed o as a limousine pulled up on the street beside the garden gate. Behind Jack’s back, footsteps crunched in the gravel, and her mom broke into a grin.

  “Silvio!”

  A moment later, Jack’s mother flung herself squarely into the arms of one of the richest men on the planet. To the amazement of not only Jack but everyone else in attendance, instead of being alarmed at being accosted by a tiny, redheaded Irish woman, he picked her mother up several inches from the ground and spun her in a circle.

  As if struggling to maintain her composure, Laurie rose from her chair. “Mr. Othonos, what a pleasant surprise.”

  “I thought you would be on your way to the airport by now,” Jack added.

  Silvio shrugged, his usual confidence tinged with a hint of bashfulness. “That was the plan, but then I got to thinking, why?”

  “Because you have pitches in the morning?” Jack supplied.

  Silvio waved his hand dismissively. “But what would be the purpose? I’ve already made up my mind, and besides,

  how could I leave Boston without giving my sweet Eileen this?”

  Reaching into his breast pocket, he pulled out a small velvet box and handed it to Jack’s mother, whose eyes brimmed with tears of joy. Jack held her breath as her mother opened it, afraid she might pass out if it contained a diamond ring. Instead, there was a jagged piece of shell, similar to the one Jack had delivered that afternoon, only this one had been edged in gold and dangled from a delicate chain.

  “Oh, Silvio.” She dabbed her eyes with one hand and held her hair o her neck with the other as the man clasped the gift around her neck. With one finger, she caressed the surface of the shell. “You still have my heart.”

  “We found it on the beach in Hyannis Port, a seashell shaped like a heart,” Silvio explained to the others. Laurie gestured to an empty chair beside Eileen, then handed him a glass of champagne. “Only it had cracked in two, not unlike my own heart when this beautiful woman told me she wouldn’t come to Greece with me at the end of the summer.

  We each took a piece, to remind us of the other. I kept mine all these years, and today, it’s finally whole again.”

  “Glad to know I’m not the only sentimental fool,” Eileen added, her voice choking up.

  Only after the elderly couple had gazed lovingly at each other in silence for quite some time did the rest of what Othonos had said register with Jack.

  “Did you say you’d already made up your mind about the proposal?” Jack held her breath, her heart pounding in her ears.

  It took a moment for the dreamy expression on the Greek’s face to clear. “Yes, but we can talk about the details another time.”

  “The details?” Jack asked, exchanging a wide-eyed look with Laurie.

  “Do you mean to say that you’ve chosen Camelot Associates to manage your investments?” Laurie asked in her most professional manner, though Jack could tell she was nearly bursting inside.

  “Yes, of course!” Silvio clapped a hand on his knee.

  “Holy fucking shit!” Jack exclaimed in the least professional way possible, running her hands over her head.

  “Holy fucking shit!”

  Jack’s mother cleared her throat loudly. “Language, Jacqueline.”

  Andy squealed, jumping up and pulling Marian into a hug, and then Jack and Laurie in turn. “I love you guys.”

  “Cake!” Jack blurted, at a loss for anything else to say.

  Laurie cocked her head to the side.

  “It’s your birthday.” Jack reached for the long serving knife. “We have to have cake. Now.”

  “I think I’ll survive a minute or two, considering we landed our dream client.”

  “Nonsense. You don’t turn fifty every day.” Since her cocktail dress lacked pockets, Jack rooted around in her bra for the single candle she’d stashed there. Retrieving it, she poked it into the center of the cake. “Mom, lighter?”

  “You know I gave up smoking,” her mother said sti y.

  Jack shot her a dubious look, until finally her mom relented and pulled a lighter from her purse. “I only keep it on hand for emergencies.”

  “Gotcha. You never know when you’ll have a birthday cake emergency since they never fall on the same date.”

  Shaking her head, Jack lit the candle, then launched into a shaky singing voice. “Happy birthday to—”

  Everyone joined in, including Othonos, who sang half the words in Greek. When they were finished, Laurie went to

  blow out the candle.

  Andy held her back. “Wait. You have to make a wish.”

  Laurie laughed o the suggestion. “I don’t have any wishes.”

  “None?” Jack studied Laurie thoughtfully, knowing she was holding back. She knew exactly what Laurie, deep down, wanted most. It was time to let her know that Jack intended to make her wish come true. “So, are you saying I bought all those boxes for nothing?”

  Laurie frowned. “What boxes?”

  “The moving boxes.” Jack sucked in her cheeks to keep herself from hooting as Laurie’s jaw dropped. “You do still want me to move in with you, don’t you?”

  “Are you saying you will?” Laurie’s face was half hope, half trepidation, as if she couldn’t quite let herself believe the good news.

  “I am.” Jack broke into a broad, too
thy grin as joy radiated from Laurie’s face. “Now, are you going to make a wish and blow out that candle so we can have cake?”

  “I don’t have to.” Laurie licked her fingers and pinched them to the wick, extinguishing the flame. “I already have everything I could possibly wish for.”

  “You better not be getting mellow in your old age,” Jack said, brushing her lips against the back of Laurie’s neck in a way that promised much more to come. The night was young, and the rest of their lives stretched out in front of them, sparkling with promise.

  E P I L O G U E

  STANDING IN FRONT OF THE WALL OF WINDOWS THAT ENCIRCLED THE

  hotel’s seventeenth floor ballroom, Laurie surveyed the lights of the city of Boston below, twinkling like a treasure chest filled with jewels. The entire financial district was laid out at her feet, like the spoils of war. My domain.

  “Admiring your conquest?” As if reading her mind, Jack slipped into place beside Laurie and wrapped an arm around her waist. “You’re really queen of the castle tonight.”

  “It was a team e ort,” Laurie demurred, but she couldn’t hide the pride in her tone.

  “With one incredible woman at the helm,” Jack said, pulling her close.

  “Two incredible women,” Laurie corrected, pausing to revel in the nearness of Jack’s body. If someone had told her a year ago she would still be this turned on every time Jack touched her, she would’ve thought they were insane. “None of this would’ve happened without you.”

  Laurie turned her back to the window and shifted her gaze to the well-dressed crowd of people sipping glasses of champagne and nibbling appetizers from trays as a string quartet played. If there was any question of how thoroughly Camelot Associates had dominated the world of impact investing in its first year, one only had to look at tonight’s

  guest list, which read like a who’s who of international finance.

  There’d been such an overwhelming response to the company’s first anniversary celebration they’d had to book the hotel’s largest room. In fact, the only two notable absences from the Boston finance world were Carmen, who’d made up a thoroughly unconvincing excuse for skipping the party, and Toby, whom the board of directors of Emerson Management had sent on a mandatory sabbatical to the same island where Laurie had once been exiled. They’d both been invited because it wasn’t Laurie’s style to burn bridges, but neither’s presence was missed.

  Across the room, Andy got to his feet and clinked a spoon against his champagne flute. As the roar of conversation dimmed to an anticipatory low buzz and then fell silent, Laurie’s stomach clenched.

  “I told him I didn’t want to make a speech,” Laurie whispered into Jack’s ear. But instead of sympathy, Laurie’s partner flashed a conspiratorial smile that made Laurie draw a sharp breath. “What are you two up to?”

  Jack shrugged in a way that utterly failed to make her look like an innocent bystander. “Maybe he wants to say a few words.”

  “Sure he does,” Laurie muttered, taking a step back to position herself behind Jack, preparing to use the younger woman as a human shield.

  “Friends and colleagues, if I could have your attention.”

  Andy tapped his glass again, the distinctive ring of crystal filling the room. When the crowd went silent, he picked up a microphone from the table. “One year ago, Camelot Associates opened our doors with a single client under our belt. Tonight, thanks in great part to the vision of our two founding partners, we’re not only celebrating our first anniversary but also the signing of our fifteenth client.”

  Applause shook the room, but Laurie’s focus was on the double doors behind Andy, which opened to reveal two servers pushing a cart, on top of which was a gargantuan three-tier cake covered in so many flaming candles Laurie had a clear mental picture of the room catching on fire.

  “Jack…” she said through gritted teeth, but her warning was met with a sound that could only be described as a witch’s cackle. “I told you all I didn’t want to make a big deal of it.”

  “You didn’t think we’d listen, did you?” came the evil woman’s reply.

  Standing beneath a spotlight in the center of the dance floor, Andy looked as pleased with the spectacle as Jack clearly was. Damn those two. No, make that three, Laurie amended silently as Marian joined Andy on the other side of the cake. So much for being at her company’s helm. This was a full-on mutiny. The worst part of it was Laurie’s eyes were stinging with joyful tears. She was going to have to pretend extra hard on Monday to be angry with everyone for disobeying her direct orders.

  Andy brought the mic so close to his mouth that, for a second, Laurie had a terrifying vision of him bursting into song. Thankfully, her premonition didn’t come true.

  “Tonight is not only Camelot’s anniversary. It also happens to be Laurie Emerson’s erm-herm birthday.” The crowd laughed as Andy intentionally mumbled as he pretended to reveal her age. “Come on up here, Boss. I think everyone would like to sing to you.”

  “You’ll pay for this, Andrew.” Laurie shook her fist but did as she was asked and headed to the center of the room.

  “Don’t believe a word of it,” Jack called out at the top of her lungs, sending the blood rushing to Laurie’s cheeks.

  “She loves to hog the spotlight.”

  This elicited another round of laughter from their guests, which doubled in volume as Laurie broke from her usual no-nonsense persona long enough to stick her tongue out at Jack.

  When she reached the cake, instead of taking the mic from Andy, she fanned herself with one hand while shielding her eyes with the other, as if overcome by the bright light and heat from all the candles. Her impromptu comedy pantomime brought down the house. There was no denying it. In the year since Jack had moved in, Laurie the Hatchet had become downright playful.

  She’d prepared a speech for the occasion, naturally—and delivered it like the pro she was as soon as her guests finished serenading her with a very o -key rendition of

  “Happy Birthday.” She relished every minute.

  Another important thing Laurie had learned in her year with Jack was that the more she said she didn’t want a big fuss made over something, the more likely it was Jack would take whatever it was and run with it at ninety miles an hour.

  After so much dread the previous year about turning fifty, her fifty-first year found Laurie feeling bubbly inside and light as a feather. She was a new woman, firmly convinced her best years were still ahead of her. Laurie’s lips twitched slyly as she looked out at the sea of faces, wondering if Jack had ever caught on that Laurie had secretly been hoping for something special to mark her birthday and her newfound lease on life.

  The rest of the evening went by in a blur of handshakes and well wishes, until, finally, the ballroom emptied of its guests and only Marian, Andy, Laurie, and Jack remained.

  Laurie gathered her team around a high round table that had been cleared of its used glasses and napkins but still had a trio of tea lights sputtering in the center.

  “None of this would’ve happened without all of you.”

  Laurie’s heart swelled as she looked at each person in turn.

  “You’re the best team I could’ve hoped for, and I’m so proud of all we’ve accomplished.”

  “Does that mean you’re not going to fire anyone?” Andy made a show of nervously adjusting his collar, and everyone laughed.

  Laurie leaned in and lowered her voice to a stage whisper.

  “I think it’s safe to say Laurie the Hatchet is gone for good.

  And to prove it, I want all of you to take tomorrow o .”

  “Tomorrow’s Saturday,” Marian pointed out in a deadpan tone. “Very generous.”

  “I said I wasn’t going to fire people anymore,” Laurie joked, “not change my entire personality. But I’ll tell you what; why don’t you take the day after o , too?”

  “Saturday and Sunday?” Marian pressed her hand to her chest. “You’re too kind.”

&nbs
p; “Sorry to interrupt these important negotiations,” Jack said, placing a hand on Laurie’s shoulder, “but there are two people who want to wish you happy birthday.” She turned her iPhone so Laurie could see the screen, where Jack’s mom and Silvio Othonos were waving to her from the deck of a yacht with a sparkling body of blue water behind them.

  “Hello, Birthday Girl!” Jack’s mom called out at twice the necessary volume while waving vigorously. Her grin quickly turned into a frown. “Uh-oh, wait a minute. Your birthday was yesterday.”

  “No, Mom,” Jack corrected, pressing into Laurie’s shoulder to close the gap. “It’s tomorrow where you are. It’s still today here.”

  “Are you sure? It’s like I’m a time traveler!” Eileen exclaimed, her expression a picture of childlike delight. “I’m still not used to this jet-setting lifestyle of mine.”

  Chuckling, Laurie leaned toward the screen. “Hey, Eileen.

  How’s the south Pacific?”

  “Paradise. I highly recommend it when you retire.” Her eyes widened. “Not that I’m implying you’re close to retirement age or anything like that.”

  “It’s okay,” Laurie assured the woman who was much closer to her in age than both of them sometimes remembered. “Besides, I don’t think I’ll ever retire.”

  “Oh, great,” Jack said with an exaggerated moan. “I’ll be working until I die. Any room on that fancy boat for me?”

  “Any time,” Silvio said, finally venturing to get a word in over the much more talkative Eileen. “But what’s this I hear about Ahmed signing with Camelot? I’m not sure how I feel about not being your only billionaire client anymore.”

  “You’ll always be our most important, Silvio,” Laurie assured him. “You’re family.”

  “Come on,” Eileen said, plucking at Silvio’s sleeve. “Let’s leave the young folks to celebrate.”

  “Now you’re trying to say I’m old?” Silvio looked at Eileen with mock indignation. “I think we should take this discussion back to our quarters, and I’ll show you how young and vigorous I still am.”