“Yes, you may.”
Regina dropped her backpack and raced to the kitchen. “How long do you think it’ll stay a snowball?” she asked after placing it in the frost-free freezer.
“I don’t know, angel.”
“All winter?”
“Perhaps.” Parris’s voice was soft, her manner distracted.
“Can we make cookies, Mommy?”
Whenever Parris took time off from work she and Regina had made it a habit to bake cookies. Baking cookies and visiting museums together was their way of bonding.
As a working mother Parris had to make many of the sacrifices that other mothers made, but she tried to make the precious time she and Regina spent together quality time.
“What kind of cookies this time?”
“Double chocolate chip raisin oatmeal,” Regina replied.
Parris pulled at a fat silky braid hanging over the red ski jacket. “Now that sounds like a monster cookie. Change your clothes and wash your hands and I’ll get all of the ingredients together.”
Forty-five minutes later, Parris watched Regina as she carefully removed several large cookies from a cookie sheet and placed them on a rack. Her mouth was compressed tightly in concentration and Parris was shocked when she saw the expression. Everything that was Martin Cole swept over her at that moment. Like Martin, Regina loved to cook. He was most comfortable in the board room and in the kitchen.
“I think that just about does it, Mommy.” Regina stepped back and surveyed her handiwork. Large cookies, at least six inches in diameter, were stacked up like saucers in a cookie jar.
“I believe you’re right.” She smiled, knowing she couldn’t avoid the inevitable. She had to tell Regina about her father.
“Do you think one cookie and some milk will spoil my appetite for dinner, Mommy?”
Parris glanced at the clock on the oven. “Not if we eat a late dinner.”
“I’ll fix the table,” Regina volunteered.
Waiting until after Regina set the table, Parris poured two glasses of milk and placed two cookies on a large plate. She sat down at the table and held the child’s hand.
“Regina, I have something very important to tell you.”
“What, Mommy?” She took a bite of a moist cookie, then raised the glass of milk to her mouth, taking a swallow of the cold liquid.
“It’s about your father.”
Regina’s eyes widened as she slowly replaced the glass on the table. “What about him?”
Parris was certain Regina could hear her heart pounding outside of her body. “He’s come for you. He’s here in New York.”
“Why, Mommy?” Her lower lip trembled while her eyes filled with tears. “Is he coming to take me away from you?”
She didn’t know what to expect, but it had not been fear. Why would Regina fear a man she had never met?
Pulling the child from her chair, she cradled her on her lap, holding her close. “No, angel. He’s not here to take you from me. Why does that bother you?”
Burying her face against her mother’s breasts, Regina sniffed back tears. “I don’t want my face on a milk carton, Mommy.”
Suddenly it all came together. Regina didn’t want to become a child who had been abducted by an angry, resentful parent.
She kissed her hair. “Your father would never take you from me, Regina. You’re my child.”
“But…but he’s my daddy.”
How was she to explain that Martin was her father biologically and not legally. She had not listed Martin Cole as Regina’s father on her birth records.
“You don’t have to meet him if you don’t want to. But if you feel you want to talk about him at another time we can. Okay, baby?”
Regina nodded, her arms tightening around her mother’s neck.
Parris held her until she was calm. Somehow she had thought Regina would be pleased to meet her father. She had no way of knowing that the child harbored fears of being abducted by the other parent.
Both of us have our fears, Parris mused. When would it ever end?
Parris had just turned out the lamp in her bedroom when the telephone rang. She answered it before the second ring.
“Hello.”
“Did you tell her?”
Her pulse raced quickly at the sound of the familiar quiet Southern voice. “I said I’d call you when she’s ready to meet you.”
“Did you tell her?” Martin repeated.
“Yes, I told her.”
“And?”
“She doesn’t want to see you.”
“Why the hell not?”
“Because she’s afraid of you!” Parris didn’t realize she was shouting.
Martin’s labored breathing came through the telephone line. “Why should she be afraid of me, Parris? What have you told her about me?”
“I haven’t told her anything except that you’re here in New York and that you want to meet with her. She’s harboring some kind of fear that you’ll snatch her from me and that her face will appear on a milk carton as a missing child.”
“That’s preposterous!”
“Tell that to a nine-year-old who’s told constantly that she shouldn’t talk to strangers…”
“I’m not a stranger, Parris. I’m her father.”
“You’re still a stranger, Martin. She doesn’t know you.”
“And who’s fault is that?”
“If you start with the accusations I’ll hang up on you,” she threatened.
There was a profound silence before Martin spoke again. “Talk to her, Parris. Convince her that I won’t take her away from you. All I want to do is see her. I won’t even touch her if she doesn’t want me to.”
Registering Martin’s plea, Parris found difficulty in swallowing. “Give her time, Martin.”
“How much time?”
“As much as she needs. I’m going to take her away for Christmas, and maybe that will give us the time we need to build the trust she’ll need to confront you.”
“Where would you be going?”
“To Las Vegas.”
Again there was silence from Martin. “I’ll wait for your call.”
“Why don’t you go back to Florida,” Parris suggested. “I’ll contact you there if she changes her mind.”
“I’m not leaving New York until I meet my daughter.”
Parris listened to the break in the connection as Martin hung up abruptly. There was no mistaking his intent, and something told her that Martin Cole would spent the next ten years in New York if he had to, waiting for Regina to come to him.
He was used to waiting. He had already lost ten years waiting for her to become his wife.
Chapter 15
Regina crawled into bed with Parris, waking her up. She opened her eyes and peered over at the bedside clock. It was only five-thirty.
“What are you doing awake so early, Regina? You don’t have to go to school today.” Her voice was husky with sleep.
“I was dreaming too much,” Regina replied, snuggling closer to her mother.
“What were you dreaming about?”
“The man who said he was my father.”
Suddenly she was alert. “What did you dream about him?”
“He was calling me, and he couldn’t find me because I was hiding from him.”
You weren’t hiding from him, Regina, Parris thought. I was.
“What did you do?”
“I let him find me.”
“What happened after that?”
“We were laughing. You, me and my father. All of us were laughing.”
Reaching over, Parris pulled Regina’s head to her shoulder. “Is that what you want, angel? Do you want to laugh with your father?”
Regina bit down on her lower lip. “I do, but…but then I’m afraid.”
“There’s no need for you to be afraid of your father, sweetheart. He’s wonderful.”
“If he’s so wonderful why isn’t he with us?”
“Something happened
a long time ago before you were born and I couldn’t stay with your father. When I left him I didn’t let him know you were growing inside of my body.”
“Why not?”
“I didn’t have the time. Something important happened and I had to leave Florida right away.”
Regina stared up at her mother’s face. “You’re not going back to Florida, are you?”
Parris met her gaze. “No.”
“Does that mean my father is going to live in New York?”
“I don’t know,” Parris answered honestly. “He says that he’s going to stay in New York until he sees you.”
Regina picked at the lacy eyelet trim on the comforter, her sweeping eyebrows furrowed in a frown. She compressed her lips and twin dimples dotted her cheeks.
“I’ll let you know when he can see me.”
Parris nodded, holding her daughter close to her heart. Martin would have to wait until the child was ready, hoping it would come soon. She wanted it over so that she could get on with her life.
It was another three days of waiting before Martin picked up the telephone and heard Parris’s voice. Regina wanted to meet him.
He panicked! He raced out of the hotel and drove his rental car to the nearest mall and bought the largest stuffed bear they had available, but once he returned to his hotel room he had second thoughts.
He couldn’t buy the child’s affections. All he had to present was himself and either she accepted him or she rejected him.
He vacillated about bringing the bear, but in the end left it in the car once he parked in the visitors parking section at Parris’s housing complex.
The bite of the cold December wind chilled him through layers of wool and cashmere. His blood was too thin to withstand the harsh, bitterly cold northeast winter.
He rang the bell to Parris’s apartment, then pushed his gloved hands into the large pockets of his overcoat. The door swung open and he was momentarily stunned by the woman standing before him.
Her hair was curled and caught up in a ponytail that trailed over her shoulder like a dark ribbon. The familiar fragrance of Chanel No. 5 wafted from her body as she moved aside to let him enter. It had taken ten years for her to grow into the sophisticated scent.
“Come in.”
Her velvet voice beckoned him like a specter in a dream. He moved past her and walked into the living room, the heat from a crackling fire behind a decorative screen thawing his chilled body. It was the first time he noticed the room contained a fireplace.
Parris extended her hand. “I’ll take your coat.”
Removing his gloves, he slipped out of his coat and handed it to her. He examined her slender figure as she hung the coat up in a closet.
She wore what he had considered her favorite attire: bare feet and a pair of well-worn jeans with a white long sleeve T-shirt. Her body was still slim, still perfect.
Parris took her time hanging up Martin’s coat, trying to catch her breath. He was as dramatic as the first time she met him. Again he was dressed all in black: a wool turtleneck, slacks and shoes, and she concluded his short graying hair and moustache complemented his handsome face.
His footsteps were muffled in the deep pile of the cream carpeting as he walked over to the fireplace and extended his hands toward the heat.
A slight smile softened her mouth. “How are you surviving the cold weather?”
He turned and smiled at her. “Just barely. How long did it take you to get used to these temperatures?”
She was slightly taken aback by his sensual smile when the attractive lines fanned out around his large dark eyes. He still had the power to make her insides go soft and mushy.
“Just one winter. But if you make it through February you can consider yourself a veteran.”
“I don’t plan to be here in February,” Martin remarked confidently.
That remark reminded Parris why Martin Cole was standing in her living room. “I’ll go and get Regina for you.”
She turn to leave but Martin moved quickly, capturing her arm. “Parris.” Tilting her chin, she stared up at him. Touching her, inhaling her fragrance conjured up memories of their passionate lovemaking; a lovemaking that transcended the limits of sanity. A coming together he had never experienced before her or since she’d left him.
“I don’t want you to leave us alone. I think Regina would feel a lot more secure if she saw us together.”
Parris felt a warm glow flow through her. Martin had unselfishly considered Regina’s feelings even before meeting her. He didn’t want his daughter to fear him; he wanted the child to feel safe. The same way he once made her feel safe.
“Thank you, Martin.”
He released her arm and she made her way to Regina’s bedroom, recalling the time Martin had saved her life, cared for her while she convalesced from her ex-husband’s attempt on her life and protected her until she was forced to leave Florida. If he had known someone had been stalking her she knew he would have taken measures to keep her safe.
Regina sat on a rocking chair, her legs crossed in a yoga position, reading.
“He’s here, Regina.”
She glanced up from the book and laid it aside. She looked younger than nine with her hair plaited in two thick braids falling over her flat narrow chest. She was tall, even though her young body had not begun to show any indication of the onset of puberty.
Parris held out her hand and Regina rose to take it. Hand-in-hand they walked into the living room where Martin stood with his back to the fireplace.
Parris released Regina’s hand, staring mutely at the drama unfolding before her eyes. She could hear the sound of her daughter’s and her former lover’s breathing as they stared at each other.
Martin’s gaze widened. Nothing he had ever experienced could have prepared him for the young child. Her hair was almost a blue-black, and curling around her face where it hadn’t been secured in the thick braids falling over her narrow shoulders. She had inherited his eyes, the curve of his eyebrows and his nose. Even the mouth was his. She bit down on her lower lip and her dimples were displayed.
Martin felt his pulses racing. His daughter was a feminine version of himself! She’s beautiful, he thought. It never mattered whether his thoughts were compromised by vanity, but she was truly magnificent.
Clasping his hands behind his back, he smiled at her. “Hello, Regina.”
“Hello.” Regina’s voice was low and soft.
Martin’s startled gaze shifted to Parris. The child had her mother’s voice.
“How are you?” Regina questioned, still not moving.
Martin could hardly contain himself. “Cold.” He couldn’t think of anything else to say. “I’m not used to cold weather,” he explained.
“Don’t you have winter in Florida?”
He smiled again. “We have winter but it’s not like your winters. The temperature rarely goes below freezing, and when it does it doesn’t stay there for a long time.”
“Don’t you have snow?”
“Hardly ever. Florida is known as the “Sunshine State” because the sun shines most of the time. But in the summer it gets very, very hot. That’s when everyone goes swimming two and sometimes three times a day.”
“I don’t know how to swim yet,” Regina admitted.
Martin walked over to the love seat and sat down, not taking his gaze off his daughter. “Maybe one of these days I’ll teach you how to swim.”
Regina, seemingly drawn to the tall man who was her father, moved over to the love seat and sat down at the opposite end from Martin. Parris took a seat on the sofa.
“Will you teach me in Florida?” Regina continued.
Martin draped one trousered knee over the other, the gesture almost too elegant for a man of his size. He shook his head. “You don’t have to go to Florida to learn how to swim. You can learn anywhere.”
Regina nodded, staring at her folded hands on her lap; she had run out of questions.
Martin glanced at Par
ris, giving her a smile and nod of approval. She had done a wonderful job with the child. She was an excellent mother.
“What is it you like doing best, Regina?”
Regina’s face brightened with animation. “I like to cook. Mommy and I made monster cookies the other day.”
Lowering his leg, Martin leaned forward. “I also like to cook. I used to cook for your mother.”
“Do you want to taste Mommy’s and my monster cookies?”
Martin affected a frown. “These cookies won’t turn me into a monster, will they?”
Regina placed her hand over her mouth and giggled like a normal nine-year-old. “No. They’re just so big that we call them monsters.”
“If that’s the case I’d love to taste your monster cookies.”
Parris rose quickly to her feet. “I’ll get the cookies and make some hot chocolate.” Regina and Martin seemed comfortable enough with each other for her to leave them alone together.
She made her way to the narrow kitchen and opened the refrigerator to take out a carton of milk. The faces of two missing children stared back at her, and she thought of Regina’s fear that Martin would spirit her away from her mother.
Parris hadn’t known Martin very well yet instinctively she knew he would never try to take Regina away from her. He didn’t want the child without her mother.
She heated the milk carefully, then poured it into three mugs filled with powdered cocoa. The mugs were topped off with a froth of whipped cream and placed on the dining area table with a plate of monster cookies.
“Everything’s ready,” she called out to Martin and Regina.
Regina escorted Martin to the table, holding his hand tightly. “See, monster cookies.”
“Good gravy!” he gasped, feigning astonishment. “You expect me to eat all of that?”
“That’s not too big, Daddy. I can finish one by myself.”
Martin and Parris registered the Daddy at the same time and were stunned at how easily it came from Regina. The title had acknowledged that she thought of him as her father.
They sipped the rich delicious hot chocolate and ate cookies while the sky darkened and Parris turned on an overhead chandelier in the dining area. The soft light highlighted the abundance of gray in Martin’s short hair and the rich dark color of his face.
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