by Tinnean
I was having my second cup of coffee of the day when my cell phone rang. I checked the screen, and while I didn’t recognize the number, I did realize the area code was for Los Angeles. I answered, thinking it might be Valentine.
“This is Mann.”
“Mr. Mann, I’m Paul Stark. You don’t know me—”
“You’re a friend of Mark’s.”
“Oh.” He seemed startled.
“I met you a few months ago here in my uncles’ home.”
“Uh… yes, you did. I wasn’t sure if you’d recognize my name.”
“Of course I would. Mark’s spoken of you frequently. How are you?”
“We’re fine.”
“I’m glad to hear that.”
“I wanted to offer our condolences. Vince told us about the loss of your family friend.”
“Thank you. Alyona was more a second mother to me. She’d become very frail in the last year or so, so it wasn’t unexpected, but…”
“I understand.”
“Her family appreciated the floral arrangement you sent.”
“Vince is our friend, and you’re important to him, so it was the least we could do.”
“Thank you,” I said again. I felt my face heat up. It pleased me to know Mark mentioned me to his friends. “It was very kind of you. Now, what can I do for you?”
“I was calling to ask if you’d like to join us for dinner. I know Vince said to give you some time to wind down, but this is the only free day I have before shooting on the film starts, and I thought it might be a good idea to let you know what’s going on.”
“I’d enjoy that, but I thought you were taking Valentine to Disneyland.”
He sighed. “That was the plan, but the filming schedule was pushed up, so we’ll have to wait until the movie wraps.”
“All right. Where and when?”
“Falling Water, at, say, seven thirty? We’ll have the reservation in Spike’s name.”
“Excellent. I’ll see you then.” I hung up, then called Mark and left a message when I got his voicemail. “I’m seeing Valentine and Paul this evening for dinner. I probably won’t be home before ten West Coast time, so I’ll call you tomorrow. Don’t get yourself killed in the meantime, okay?” And before I hung up, I murmured, “I love you.”
After Armand broke my heart—or so I’d thought—when I was fifteen, I’d never thought I’d say that to another man, but now I had no intention of letting an opportunity pass me by.
~*~
I’D DONE ALL manner of things with my uncles, but for some reason, shopping hadn’t been one of them.
After breakfast, I offered to drive the Maserati—a sweet handling car if ever there was one. However, Bryan announced he’d do the driving. We were going to Hunter’s Closet, a little shop he’d come across it when he and Tony had first moved to the Hollywood Hills.
“I’ve been happy with their line of clothing,” he told me as we climbed into his Ferrari. “And there’s a shoe store a few doors down where they sell jogging shoes. If you’re going to be in LA for a number of weeks, you may as well dress like a native.”
“That sounds like a plan.” I was looking forward to the experience.
It didn’t take long for us to arrive at Hunter’s Closet. Bryan parked at the curb, and it took a couple of tries for me to get my fingers unclamped from their grip on the sides of the passenger seat.
“Are you all right, Quinn?”
“Yes, thanks.” When had my uncle become such a cowboy behind the wheel? I gave him my most innocuous smile, and we got out of the little red sports car. He seemed to have a penchant for the color red.
Once inside the shop, I could see what drew him to it. The clothes displayed on headless manikins ran the gamut from formal to business attire to casual, and shelves and drawers contained shirts and underwear.
I was drawn to the cotton and linen trousers and short-sleeved shirts with a tiny logo on the breast of a horse and rider in the act of jumping.
“Mark’s going to be surprised to see me in this,” I couldn’t help crooning as I modeled one of the outfits before a mirror. He’d bought me a pair of jeans which I wore on occasion, but try as I might, I never felt totally comfortable in them.
“I’m surprised to see you in such casual wear.” Bryan smoothed his hands over my shoulders and tugged lightly at the short sleeves. “You look good. In fact, this makes you look no older than twenty-five.”
“Excellent. I wouldn’t want Mark to trade me in on a younger model.”
Bryan closed a hand on my arm before I could return to the fitting room. “Would he do that to you?” He appeared genuinely concerned.
“No, he wouldn’t. I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have been flippant.” I met Bryan’s gaze. “He would never leave me.”
“You’re that certain? You’re not just thinking that because you believe he’s your one?”
“I am, and I’m not. He’s an extremely loyal man.”
He nodded. “All right. Get changed. Once you’ve paid for these, we’ll go next door and select a few pairs of jogging shoes.”
“A few pairs?”
“You’re going to need them in various colors to match your shirts or trousers. And we’d better hurry, or your uncle will think we’ve been abducted.”
I bit back a laugh and tossed him a salute, then returned to the fitting room, changed back into the clothes I’d worn there, and took my selections to the register to pay for them.
II
TONY TOOK ONE look at the number of bags we carried and simply shook his head. “I don’t know who the worst influence on whom is.”
“You just say that because you’ve never gone shopping yourself.” Bryan turned to me. “He used the same tailor from the time he returned from the war until he followed me out here.”
“I could say the same for you.” Tony lightly cuffed Bryan’s shoulder. “Why don’t you put your purchases away? I’ll have lunch ready by the time you’re done.”
“I’m having dinner with Valentine and Paul,” I informed him.
“In that case, I’ll make sure it’s a light lunch.”
“Thank you.”
“And you’d better have this.” He gave me a key to the front door, and I fastened it to the key fob for the Maserati.
As Tony promised, lunch was a light one, chicken salad on a croissant and fruit, and as we ate, they spoke of Alyona, telling me stories from the years I’d either been too young to remember or else had been away from home.
“She made the most amazing sandwiches,” Bryan said. “That year Libby was caught sneaking out after hours to see a boy…” Libby was his ex-wife’s daughter. “That on top of Jefferson having gone missing, well… I was a mess, and I went to talk to Portia about it. Alyona took one look at me—I’d been drinking on a Sunday afternoon— and she made me a roast beef sandwich on Russian bread.”
“Why wasn’t I informed of this?” Tony demanded.
Bryan gave him an impatient look, reminiscent of the time they’d treated each other with chilly politeness. “There was no need for you to know. It was my household, my problem.”
“But you felt you could go to Portia about it.” Tony’s brows beetled, and I could see he wasn’t going to let it go.
“Anthony—” Neither was Bryan, for that matter.
“Do you remember when the entire family came down with the Hong Kong flu?” I hurried to interject. “That was in the late sixties. Alyona nursed all of us through it, then waited until everyone was back on their feet before allowing herself to succumb to it.”
“She was a strong woman,” Bryan agreed.
“She was.” Tony went to Bryan, murmured something in his ear, and Bryan smiled at him and squeezed his shoulder.
“I’m glad she got to meet Mark,” I said, relieved to see the argument had been averted.
“What did she think of him?”
“She liked him.” Before we’d left from our visit with her this past spring, she’d called me back into
her bedroom, hugged me, and whispered how happy she was I’d found my one.
I’d known that, but Mark still seemed surprised that I’d been willing to take him as my lover... my partner. Well, the heart chose where it would, and I was pleased my heart had chosen Mark.
~*~
AFTER WE FINISHED lunch, after I rinsed the plates and put them in the dishwasher, we went out back and sat near the koi pond under the warm California sun.
“That’s new.” I observed what looked like a tiny wooden house off in the corner. It had numerous windows with flower boxes and a Dutch door with a latch that kept it secured. A portion of the roof was glassed in, so even if it wasn’t used as a greenhouse, the sunlight would still be able to stream in.
“It’s actually a storage shed. Cisco put it together during his downtime.” Bryan cleared his throat. “We needed a place to store the equipment for the koi pond.”
I strolled over, peered in a window, and began to laugh. They might have told Cisco that was the purpose of the shed, but it was filled with all manner of little-girl toys. I had a feeling the skylight would make it an excellent place to play on rainy days.
I returned to where my uncles sat in Adirondack chairs and made myself comfortable. With so much having happened of late, I decided to bring up the topic that concerned me.
“There’s something I wanted to talk to you about.”
“Are we enjoying not being in the intelligence community any longer?” Tony supplied.
“Yes.” I wasn’t surprised he knew exactly what I meant. Between the two of them, they had almost ninety years combined service in the NSA and the CIA, and everyone had been surprised they’d walked away from it.
“I am.” Bryan gave me an innocent grin. “I’m enjoying the California sun, as well as working at the studio. Nothing I do is likely to get anyone killed.”
“I am also.” Tony crossed his legs and lounged in his chair. “I wasn’t sure if I would, but I had no intention of letting your uncle come out here and be at the mercy of all those pretty boys in West Hollywood.”
“You’re bisexual, Uncle Bryan?” I’d never given much thought to his private life. He’d been married and divorced, but it had never dawned on me the reason he was always alone was because he was concealing his sexuality.
Color darkened Bryan’s cheeks, and I felt heat rise in my own face.
“I beg your pardon. That’s none of my business. What about you, Uncle Tony?” He blushed as well and cleared his throat, and I apologized again. “I’m sorry, I meant—”
“I keep busy,” he interrupted. “Both Bryan and I often go riding, and since we’ve finished remodeling the house, I spend my time while he’s at the studio catching up on all the reading that had to take a backseat while I was working.”
“Do you enjoy it? I know Uncle Bryan says he’s pleased to be the advisor for the TV show, but do you miss DC?”
“Are you worried about becoming bored?”
“I am, yes.” All my adult life I’d been involved with the intelligence community.
“Actually, I don’t miss the infighting.” He tugged on his lower lip. “I understand you’ll be remodeling Mann Manor. That will keep you occupied.”
“And you wrote a book.” Bryan grinned at me.
“I did. Thank you for having your friend read it.”
“Whatever we can do for our favorite nephew.”
“I’m your only nephew.”
“Don’t pick nits,” Bryan said loftily.
“Very funny,” Tony said. “I think I’ll go lie down for a little while. And before you ask, I’m fine. Just a little tired. Go feed the fish, little brother.”
Bryan smiled wryly. “Yes, big brother, but I’ll check on you later.”
Tony grunted, rose from his chair, and strode back to the house, belying his claim of being tired.
Bryan’s smile became fond, and then he turned to me. “Come along, Quinn.”
We got some pellets from the shed, and while we offered them to the koi, Bryan told me how he cared for the fish. After a while, though, he became silent. I knew him well enough to be aware he had something on his mind.
Instead, he asked, “Was there something else you wanted to bring up?”
“As a matter of fact… Mark mentioned something the other day that got me wondering.”
“Yes?”
“You’re aware of what happened with his partner in ’93.” Before then, Mark had flown under the radar, and no one knew much, if anything, about him.
“I am. I think everyone in the intelligence community at the time was shocked by his reaction. It was… savage.”
“It was,” I concurred. “The thing is, something else happened while he was in Columbia.” I studied my fingernails, then raised my eyes to meet my uncle’s. “You’ve also noticed Mark only drinks from an unopened bottle? I think that ties in to this.”
“Interesting. Do you want me to look into this for you?”
“No, I think I’ll do that myself.”
“Will you fly down to South America?”
“If the filming on Val’s movie finishes in time. I need to be back to Alexandria before the end of August. Mark and I are going to his agent’s wedding.”
“It won’t be legal.”
“It won’t matter.” I wasn’t surprised my uncle was aware Mark’s agent was marrying another man.
“Will you tell me something, Quinn?”
“Of course.”
“How are things going with you and Mark?”
“Very well.”
“Truthfully?”
“Truthfully. I’m very happy with him. The only thing I could wish for is to marry him.”
Bryan looked wistful. “It would be nice, wouldn’t it? Would you want children also?”
“Yes. That was why Tony married Cara Mia.”
“Although it didn’t work out.”
“No. Still, she lives on the grounds, and he can have vicarious children.” In addition to Sunday, Cara Mia’s first child, she and Cisco were expecting later in the year. I glanced at my uncle and observed his saddened expression. “I’m sorry none of your babies survived.” I’d have liked to have had cousins while I was growing up. Unfortunately, his wife had miscarried almost every pregnancy except for one. That infant had been born prematurely and was the closest they’d come to a term birth.
“That damned factor X.”
“Yes.” While I was a carrier, Bryan and Mother both had the deficiency. That was how we’d discovered DB was a blood relation, because he had the deficiency also. Among other things.
“It might have been for the best,” Bryan said. “When Johanna decided to walk away from our marriage, she just took her own children with her.” She’d never given Bryan the opportunity to bond with them. “It would have destroyed me if she’d tried to take our little boy.”
The family wouldn’t have permitted Johanna to leave with Bryan’s son. Grandfather had still been alive at the time, and he had never been a man to be toyed with. She would have been fortunate to leave with the alimony Bryan had afforded her in the divorce settlement.
I touched Bryan’s shoulder, hoping to convey my support, and his expression lightened, and he smiled.
“But then there was you, Quinn, and being involved in your childhood more than made up for not having children of my own.”
“Thank you. What about Tony?”
Bryan glanced at me from the corner of his eye. “He liked you very much also.” He laughed when I poked his shoulder. “I’m sorry. I couldn’t resist. Tony…” He shook his head. “He was married to the NSA.”
“Are you saying that was his one?”
“No.” His smile was a small, private one, and it was obvious he didn’t intend to say anything more, so I let it go.
“Lately, I’ve been giving a good deal of thought to the possibility of having children.”
“What would you do? Adopt? Surrogacy?”
“Whichever way was availabl
e to us. I don’t think it’s feasible, though.”
“Why not?”
“Aside from being a carrier for factor X—how would I feel if my child fell in love with someone who either had the deficiency or was a carrier? Their child would then have to deal with the same problem down the road, and I won’t do that to them.”
“There’s something else, though.”
“Yes. Mark doesn’t want children. He keeps bringing up Miss Priss.”
“Your mother’s cat? But why?”
“He came across the kitten shortly before Valentine was kidnapped. When Mark had to leave on the spur of the moment, Theo agreed to watch her for him, but afterward, Mark asked how could he care for a child when he couldn’t even take care of a pet?”
“Do you think that’s really behind his reluctance?”
“You mean because of his mother’s abuse? It’s possible, I suppose, but I’m more inclined to think it’s because of his nature. If he can’t do something perfectly, he won’t do it at all.” I gave a final pellet to a black, orange, and white koi, then turned to meet my uncle’s gaze. “I think he’s wrong, and I say that not simply because I want children. I’ve seen him with the young man who owns the building where he used to live. I’ve heard him talking with Val. He’d make an excellent father.” And even if the children didn’t have my DNA, they’d still be mine, because they’d be Mark’s.
“Uncle Bryan! Uncle Quinn!” A little girl’s cry caused us to exchange smiles and turn to face the bundle of energy tearing across the side of the property toward us.
“Sunday, wait!” I ran toward her and caught her up before she neared the little bridge that spanned the koi pond. “You don’t want to fall in.”
She planted a kiss on my cheek. “I knew I wouldn’t.”
“And why is that, munchkin?” I pinched her chin, something Alyona used to do when I was little.
“You’re here.”
I laughed and shook my head. Bryan joined us, and she held out her arms to go to him. He took her from me, kissed her cheek, and then set her down.
“Where’s Daddy?” he asked her.
“Here I am.” Cisco came jogging up. He nodded somberly. “It’s good to see you, Quinn. I heard about Ms. Novotny. I’m sorry for your loss.”