Cross My Heart

by Celeste O. Norfleet

  “Good morning, Gnat,” Mikhail said politely, reminding her of the manners she’d obviously forgotten. “How are you and the boys? I’m fine. Thanks for asking.”

  “Don’t ‘Good morning, Gnat’ me. I’m furious with you. And stop calling me that. I’m not that little girl buzzing around her older brothers and cousin anymore.”

  “I can see that,” he said, sipping his coffee calmly.

  “Well?” she asked, looking around his office then out the huge hurricane-glass window behind his desk. Even in her angry state, the spectacular waterfront view took her breath away. The small private marina was a panorama of serene pleasure.

  Mikhail was a man of leisure most days, or that’s how it appeared to outsiders. His office was in the crow’s nest atop his home. He owned a small compound of oceanfront bungalows nestled around a lush serenity garden and a private beach. He also owned several high-end tour and fishing boats moored on his private docks.

  “Well, what?” he asked, seriously bewildered.

  “Well, is he really here about the foundation grant or what?”

  He shrugged. “I have no idea.”

  She exhaled loudly. “The newspaper entertainment section this morning said that he’s been moored here at the docks for the past week and a half. If he’s here about the grant, what took him so long to find me?”

  “Contrary to what others believe, I’m not totally privy to everything my patrons do while they’re here in Key West. As for David Montgomery’s yacht, it left port early this morning.”

  “But I just saw him at Nikita’s place. I’m supposed to have a meeting with him this afternoon,” she said exasperatedly.

  “Whoa, whoa, calm down,” he said, holding his hands up in surrender. “Sit, relax, chill.” He got up and poured hot tea into a cup from a carafe on his credenza and offered it to her. “Here, have some chamomile tea. I know it’s your favorite.” She looked at the cup of tea, refusing to touch it, so he sat it on the desk in front of her. “Okay, I can see how you might be upset by all this.”

  “Don’t try to placate me with tea and banal euphemisms.”

  “I wouldn’t do that,” he said.

  “And don’t patronize me, either.” She glared at him for a moment then collapsed into the chair. A few seconds later she took the tea, blew gently and sipped. The hot liquid eased down her throat as the spicy sweet aroma seemed to calm her. She sighed loudly. “I’m sorry. I’m just so tired and anxious. The center’s funding from the city and state fell through.”

  “Nat, if the center needs additional funding, why didn’t you just say so? I can…” he began as he opened his center drawer and pulled out his oversize checkbook.

  “No, absolutely not. I’m not taking money from my family,” she insisted.

  “But you obviously need it.”

  “Yes, I do. But I’ll find a way to get it.”

  “Stressing yourself isn’t going to change anything. I know how much you want the teen center to succeed, and I know how much you love your work. Now, the reason I didn’t tell you that David Montgomery has been in Key West for the past two weeks is because he hasn’t been. His assistant and his yacht were here. He only arrived recently. Apparently, he’s been doing a lot of traveling. He’s here on personal business and asked for my discretion. He wanted privacy and I gave him my word.” She nodded. His reasoning was irrefutable. Once Mikhail Coles gave his word, it was binding. “Okay?” he asked. Natalia looked at her brother suspiciously, deciphering his exact wording. “Okay?” he repeated, expecting an affirmative answer from her.

  “Do you know why he’s here?”

  “No.”

  “But he’s here for a reason, correct?”

  “Yes.”

  “And that reason involves me?”

  He paused a moment. “I wasn’t specifically aware of that. Are you sure?”

  “No. But it seems that way. And you know nothing about it?”

  “No, nothing,” he said honestly. “Are we finished with the third degree or is there more?”

  She paused a few seconds and pursed her lips purposely. “We’ll see,” she said evasively.

  “And stop trying to psych me out. It’s not going to work,” he said.

  She smiled. He knew her tricks all too well. Even before she became a family psychologist with the police, she had an uncanny way of looking deeper and seeing in people what others usually missed.

  “You’re just lucky I’m not still armed as a deputy sheriff or I’d have winged you when I first saw that photo of David Montgomery in the newspaper this morning,” Natalia joked.

  “I’ll bet you would have. But then you’d have to answer to Granddad and the rest of the family.”

  “Believe me, I’d be doing everybody a favor,” she teased. He chuckled in response. “Still, you should have told me that he was in town. And, yes, before you say anything, I know that you have celebrities coming here all the time and you never divulge that they’re here, but I am your sister and…”

  “It’s what I do, Nat—discretion above all. You know that. Now, if you’ll excuse me, a certain international singing sensation and a very well-known political guest will be checking in and I’d rather you not be around when they do.”

  “Who are they?” she joked, knowing he’d never tell.

  “Come on, get out of here. I need to get back to work. How are my nephews?”

  “Fine, and getting bigger, but then you wouldn’t know that since you haven’t been around in a few weeks.” She stood and walked with her brother to the office door, then down to her car.

  “Do me a favor and tell them that Uncle Mikhail’s gonna stop by and take them out this weekend.”

  “Sounds good, but you’ll have to pick them up at Stephen and Mia’s place. They’re babysitting this weekend,” Natalia said.

  “Why? Where are you going?”

  “Nowhere special. I’m going to catch up on some paperwork, then paint the kitchen on Saturday. Niki and I are talking about hanging out on Sunday, but we’ll see.”

  “So Mia and Stephen volunteered to babysit, huh?”

  “Yep. They asked if they could have the boys this weekend. I said yes. But if I didn’t know any better I’d say they were in parenthood practice mode.”

  “You think so?” Mikhail asked.

  “Anything’s possible, right?”

  They talked a few more minutes, then his cell phone rang and he answered. He said yes, nodded a few times, glanced away and then looked back at her just before ending the call.

  “I need to get back to work,” he said, then kissed her cheek.

  Natalia nodded. “Sure, okay. I’ll catch up with you later.” She waved as he quickly headed back to his office. Smiling, she shook her head. Mikhail was so predictable, but there was no way she was just going to let it go, as he’d suggested. Plus, his lame assertion that the yacht left this morning was pathetic. Of course he’d never lie to her, so she was sure that the yacht did indeed leave, but he never said that David Montgomery was on it.

  She smiled as she got into her car and headed back to town. She had a full day’s work to complete before four o’clock.

  Chapter 5

  Natalia had a hundred things to do and only a few hours to get them done. Still, she managed to arrive at the Keys Gateway Hotel ten minutes early. She walked in, stood in the massive marble lobby and gathered her thoughts. She was nervous, and few things made her nervous. Apparently, meeting with David again was one of them. She stopped at the front desk and asked for his room. The clerk called his suite, then escorted her to a separate bank of keyed elevators. He pressed a button then stepped out, allowing the doors to close with her inside. As soon as the elevator doors opened again, a petite woman with a cropped pixie haircut and a crooked smile eyed her suspiciously.

  “Ms. Coles?” the woman asked. Natalia nodded. “My name is Pamela Ray. I’m David’s personal assistant. I’ll take you to his suite now.” She stepped into the elevator beside her, in
serted a key and then pressed a button to the penthouse suite.

  “I read your proposal. It’s very ambitious. You have some really good ideas. I could have seriously used a program like that when I was growing up in Compton, in L.A.”

  “Thank you. I’m proud of the program and extremely excited about the possibility of expanding the center.”

  “Is that all?” Pamela asked.

  “Yes,” Natalia answered, curious about the odd question.

  “Then I’m sure it’ll happen.”

  “I hope so,” Natalia said cautiously, while wondering if everyone associated with Tinseltown was short a few lightbulbs.

  The doors slid open a few seconds later. Pamela got out and walked to one of the two double-door suites on that floor. She slid a key card through the narrow slot then escorted Natalia inside. David was sitting on the sofa on his cell phone, surrounded by a number of paperbound booklets. He looked up and smiled as soon as they entered and ended his call a few seconds later.

  “Thank you, Ms. Coles, for meeting me. Please, come in,” he said. “May I offer you a refreshment? Coffee or tea, perhaps? Pam, would you get Ms. Coles something from the food bar?”

  “No, I’m fine. Thank you,” Natalia said easily as Pamela walked over to the sofa and began going through the piled booklets on the coffee table.

  “Did you receive my flowers?” David asked.

  “Yes, I did. Thank you. They were beautiful, but unnecessary.”

  “Actually, they were. I needed to apologize for my behavior yesterday. I was jet-lagged and exhausted. I wasn’t quite myself.”

  “And who are you now?” she asked. Pamela chuckled.

  David smiled. He was beginning to enjoy her quick wit. “I suppose I deserved that.”

  “Yes, you did.”

  “All’s forgiven, then?” he offered with his hand extended to shake. She nodded, shaking his hand and feeling that something more was passing between them. “Please have a seat,” he said to Natalia. “We’ll get started in a few minutes.” Natalia nodded and sat down to wait as David and Pamela finished their business.

  “Is this the pile you want to consider?” Pamela asked.

  “Yes. You can send the others back. I’m not interested.”

  “What about these two scripts?” Pamela asked.

  “I’m undecided. You can leave them here for the time being and I’ll read through them again. Maybe something will hit me on the second read.”

  With her arms loaded down, Pamela looked around and then back at David. “Is that it?”

  He nodded. “That’s it.”

  “Okay. You have an early morning publicity call for an AM talk show and a few radio call-ins after that. They’re all standard, so no big deal on content. Oh, and don’t forget to look over the contracts Lenny sent over. He needs them back ASAP. I’ll express mail them tomorrow.” He nodded on all points. “All right, that’s it,” Pamela said. “Have a good evening. See you later, Ms. Coles. It was nice meeting you. Before I leave, are you sure you don’t want to try the lemon-mint iced tea? It’s wonderful and it comes with these pastries called Delectable Delights. They’re like eating a slice of heaven.”

  “No, thanks,” Natalia said just before Pamela left, closing the door behind her.

  David walked over and sat down on the sofa beside Natalia. “So I guess we should get started,” he offered. “As I said, I want to discuss your program more thoroughly. I read through the material you gave me yesterday and I have to say that I’m very impressed. You’re a social worker, right?”

  “Actually, I’m a family psychologist. I work with the sheriff’s office and volunteer part-time at the hospital. That’s how I came up with the idea for this program. Hopefully this will lead to more programs so more children won’t continue to slip through the cracks.”

  “That’s very admirable, but putting something like this together is going to take a lot of work and dedication. What does your husband think about this?”

  “I’m not married, if that’s what you want to know.”

  “But you do have a child?”

  “Yes, I have two boys. One is three years old and the other is nine months old. Is that going to be a problem?” she asked defensively.

  “It depends. I’ve seen personal concerns become increasingly distracting and eventually have a detrimental effect on a potentially gifted career. It would be disappointing to see a very promising program fail because of personal issues.”

  “Not with me.”

  He shrugged. “It’s just that you mentioned that you have plans this evening and I just want to make sure that the gentleman friend with whom you’re dining understands the commitment involved.”

  “I assure you, that’s not an issue and if you want to know anything more about my personal life and with whom I dine, just come right out and ask me. Getting this grant is important to me and if answering these questions will help, I’m happy to do it.” She watched him almost smile, revealing he’d been found out. “I’m sorry, I thought you were serious about this project.”

  “I am serious,” he affirmed, his expression hardening again. “The question is, Ms. Coles, are you? Can you handle putting this together plus everything else?”

  “Without a doubt,” she said.

  “Excellent, then we’re on the same page,” he said, watching as she tilted her head knowingly. “You’re very intuitive.”

  “And you’re very perceptive.”

  “My foundation’s credibility is on the line here,” he said. “Correction. Children’s lives are on the line here.”

  He nodded, conceding her point. “You do speak your mind, don’t you? I like that.”

  She nodded then pulled out her notes, a leather-bound ledger and the proposal. “Shall we get started?” They began and talked for nearly an hour, exchanging ideas and considering each other’s suggestions. David was impressed by her focus and commitment and she was amazed that, along with his natural business sense, he seemed caring and compassionate. As they finished, she smiled to herself. He noticed.

  “You’re smiling. Any particular reason?”

  “I guess I should apologize for calling you self-serving and narcissistic.”

  “You didn’t call me that.”

  “Yes, I did. You just weren’t in the car at the time. It was when I was on my way to the nursery school yesterday.”

  He smiled and nodded. “Touché. Speaking of which, no more emergencies with your son, I hope,” he asked.

  “No, he’s fine. He’s three and he’s such a little character. If there’s trouble to be gotten into, he’s there.”

  “That sounds about right for a three-year-old,” he said, thinking about some of the stories he remembered his grandmother telling about him at that age.

  Natalia shook her head and smiled brightly. “He’s always into something and it looks like his little brother is going to be just like him. Do you have any children?” she asked, then caught herself. “That was too personal. It’s none of my business.”

  He wasn’t prepared for her question but, always quick on his feet, he answered a split second later. “No problem. I’ve been around friends with kids that age. They can certainly be a handful.”

  She realized that he didn’t answer her direct question, but she let it go, assuming that stars of his caliber preferred to keep their personal life, well, personal. “It looks like we’re done here,” she said. “Or is there something else you’d like to know?”

  “Actually, I’d like you to tell me more about yourself. Excuse the expression, but when doing business I like to know exactly who and what kind of person I’m getting into bed with.”

  “I understand completely. What do you want to know?”

  “Whatever you’d like to tell me.”

  “Okay, I’m twenty-nine years old. I worked as a deputy sheriff while I was getting my psychology degree. I’m an excellent marksperson. I’m currently a psychologist and social worker working with my grandfather,
the sheriff. And I guess that’s it.”

  “Not quite. You’re intelligent, insightful, poised and disciplined. You apparently have a huge heart when it comes to children. And you’re also very beautiful.”

  “Thank you,” she said softly.

  “You’re welcome,” he replied as a tense moment passed between them. It seemed like the air around them was suddenly charged with electricity. “Tell me about your family.”

  “My mother and father live here in Florida. I have two sisters: Nikita, a pastry chef whom you met, and Tatiana, a news correspondent in London. I also have two brothers: Dominik is a doctor and Mikhail owns a small business on the docks. I’m the middle child. What about you? I obviously know your onscreen persona, but what about the real you?”

  “Fair enough. I’m thirty-two years old. I was born and raised in Compton, California, surrounded by gangs, drugs, prostitution—you name it. I never knew my father. My sister and I were raised by my mother.” He stopped. There was no way he was going to tell her the whole truth.

  “You have a sister?” she asked with added interest.

  He nodded. “She was six years younger than me. She was brilliant—way smarter than me. I took care of her as we were growing up. Then I turned my back for a second and she was gone. She was killed years ago, before any of this happened.”

  “I’m sorry,” she said softly, sensing his anguish. Instinctively, she reached out and gripped his hand. “You know, she would be very proud of you right now. Everything you’ve accomplished is obviously a testament to your love for her and your devotion to her memory. Your career, your foundation, the people you’ve helped all attest to that.”

  He nodded as he looked at Natalia, smiling. No one had ever said that to him before. It felt good because in his heart he knew it was true. Brenda would have been very proud of him.

  “Thank you for saying that.”