Under Contract

by Jeffe Kennedy

  “You had this catered?” She asked the question in a tone of faint astonishment.

  “You didn’t think I’d cook, did you?”

  “Actually, yes. When you said ‘eat by the pool,’ I envisioned a barbeque grill and hot dogs.”

  “I wanted this to be special, but if you’d rather do that, I—”

  “No.” She shook her head, glossy hair swinging around her jaw. Turning, she put her hands on his chest and rose up to give him a light kiss. “I’m being ungrateful. This is beautiful. Extraordinary. Thank you.”

  “You’re welcome. Happy birthday.” He wanted to say more, but the time wasn’t right. Not yet.

  “Aren’t you worried about scarring our young minds?” Carly asked, wrinkling her nose, but avidly interested, he thought.

  “You’ve never seen a man and woman kiss before?” He gave her a mock astonished look and she giggled. “I’m astounded.”

  “Can we have champagne?” Josie asked her aunt, eyeing the bottle on ice longingly. “Just a taste?”

  “I have sparkling cider for them,” he told her and Celestina chewed her lip, thinking. It must be difficult for her, deciding not only on her own standards, but thinking about what her late sister would have wanted. A heavy burden she carried.

  “A little bit,” she decided, then winced slightly at the girls’ squeals of delight. “Our parents let Ara and me have wine on special occasions by this age,” she told him, sounding a bit defensive.

  “You don’t have to justify it to me.” He signaled the waiter to pour champagne and distributed the crystal flutes. “Tonight is a very special occasion. To Celestina, whose presence on this earth and in our lives is a gift beyond price.”

  Carly and Josie raised their brows and exchanged a look, while Celestina blushed. The girls clinked glasses and sipped, then whispered to each other.

  “Don’t whisper in front of people,” their aunt told them. “It’s rude.”

  “Okay.” Carly’s smile brightened and she pinned him with a look of sparkling mischief that reminded him so exactly of Celestina’s that he braced himself. “So, are you totally rich or what?”

  “Carly!”

  The girl gave her aunt a look of wide-eyed innocence that fooled no one. “What? You said not to whisper.”

  “You have better manners than that.” She turned to him, painfully embarrassed. “I’m so sorry.”

  “Don’t be.” He put a hand on her back, soothing her. At least here he knew the answers. “Yes, I am totally rich.”

  “We’re totally poor,” Josie confided and Celestina groaned under her breath.

  “I’ve been poor,” he told them, catching Celestina’s surprised glance from the corner of his eye. “Seriously poor. The kind where I didn’t have a coat to wear to school in the winter. It sucked. I wanted to make sure never to be that poor again.”

  The girls exchanged a look, a mix of avid curiosity and guilt on their faces.

  “We’re not that poor,” Josie said.

  “We’re not poor at all,” Celestina corrected. “We get by just fine. We have a place to live and food to eat.”

  “And you go to an excellent school that is quite expensive,” he added, though Celestina narrowed her eyes at him.

  “How do you know about that?” Carly frowned.

  “Duh, because they talk to each other. It’s what you do when you date.” Josie gave him a keen look. “You know a lot about us, huh?”

  “Some.” Boggy ground here. Not, however, unlike dealing with a forthright business associate who wanted to mine him for information.

  Josie nodded. “So you know our mother died.”

  “Yes. I’m very sorry. My mother died when I was young, also. It’s a grief that never quite fades.”

  Celestina shifted under his hand and sipped from her champagne. Likely wondering why he was telling them so much. Things he hadn’t told her.

  Twin expressions of sorrow dimmed the girls’ faces. “Yeah.” Carly sighed, darted a glance at her aunt and lifted her chin. “So we want you to know that Antina is all we’ve got in the world. We won’t let you take her away from us.”

  “Oh my God—Carly!” Celestina gasped.

  “He should know.” Josie glared at him. “Even if he’s rich and we’re poor, we have rights, too.”

  Celestina rubbed her temple. “Okay, I—”

  “Everything is all right,” he interrupted her. “This is between me and Carlotta and Josefina.” In truth, he’d anticipated something like this, knowing Celestina and her pride, along with her warning about the pending interrogation. He’d made several decisions going into this. He looked from one to the other, both clutching their empty flutes, chins lifted in regal defiance. So like their aunt. So easy to see where she’d come from. “I understand that you’re a package deal with Celestina. Any decisions she and I make about a future together will absolutely involve you. I promise right now we’ll consult with you and take your preferences into account. Is that acceptable?”

  “This is not something we need to—”

  “No, Celestina. Your nieces asked me and I’m answering.”

  Josie and Carly leaned their heads together. They touched fingertips, then fluttered their fingers away, like butterflies taking wing.

  Celestina gave him a rueful smile. “It’s a twin thing.”

  He could see it, in the way the girls seemed to have a kind of wordless communication, totally in sync with each other. A deeper insight into what Celestina had lost, with the death of her own twin. Amazing she’d held up as well as she had.

  “That’s acceptable,” Carly informed him.

  “Good. Then, as this is meant to be a birthday celebration, perhaps it’s time for Celestina to open her gift.”

  Chapter Twenty-Eight

  Everything seemed to be moving at extra speed. The girls dropping that bomb on Ryan—who’d responded in a way she had not at all expected. What was he up to? The amazing decorations, the champagne that tasted like scented air, the incredible food.

  Everything.

  He refilled her flute and pressed it into her hand, brushing her cheek with a kiss. “You’re supposed to be having fun.”

  “I am having fun.” She was just totally overwhelmed. Carly and Josie had happily ensconced themselves across the table, digging into the oysters with enthused gusto, their ultimatum forgotten. “Thank you for—” she tipped her head in their direction “—what you said. I guess they needed to hear it. Even if...” She trailed off, not certain how to say “even if everything between us is a sham” without the girls catching on.

  “I think it’s just as well you didn’t finish that sentence.” Ryan gave her a serious look. “I meant everything I said. Now—” he raised his voice, “—I know it’s Celestina’s birthday, but it’s also a special occasion of getting to meet you both—so I thought you should have a little something, too.”

  He handed Carly and Josie gold-foil-wrapped boxes, with silver bows three times the size.

  They squealed in delight. “Told you this could be an awesome gig!”

  Celestina shook her head in dismay, but let it go, especially as Ryan seemed to be not only unoffended, but amused by the girls’ antics. She’d never quite seen Carly and Josie act this way—or not in years. They were wide-eyed with excitement over the fabulous house and everything Ryan had come up with. And maybe even crushing on him a bit.

  As for Ryan, he showed a genuine interest in the girls she hadn’t anticipated. Oh, she’d known he could break out the charm, but he’d also seemed to know just what to say to them to gain their trust.

  She should have known, as he’d done the same with her.

  The girls oohed and ahhed as they opened the velvet jewelry boxes, the glittering flash of jewels catching the light. Sh
e narrowed her eyes at Ryan and he gave her a cheerful grin, patting her hand, though she hadn’t said anything. They were matching earrings, one with pink stones and the other with pale green.

  “Steampunk!” Josie exclaimed.

  “These are totally cool,” Carly agreed in the same breath.

  “They’re both set with tourmalines,” Ryan explained. “I didn’t know what colors you liked, but we can swap out the stones for different shades or something else entirely if you prefer.”

  Steampunk. Of course he’d remember that offhand remark.

  The girls briefly discussed trading and Tina held her breath, waiting for the squabble to break out. Finally they decided to have both, each taking one of each color, happily fastening them to their ears where they dangled, delicate brass cogs and clockwork.

  “Your turn, Antina.” Josie beamed at her.

  “Here’s yours,” Ryan told her, nodding at the remaining package on the table. Also jewelry-sized, but long.

  With some trepidation, she took it up, wondering how much he’d spent and firmly setting that thought aside. He watched expectantly, almost boyishly hopeful, so she resolved to act delighted no matter what it was.

  As she opened the box, the rainbow glitter of diamonds on black velvet took her breath away. “Oh, Ryan...”

  “Don’t say I shouldn’t have,” he warned, but he looked delighted.

  She took it out, a tennis bracelet of diamonds set in platinum, a charm shaped like a small fish dangling off of it, with delicately chased script that said Celestina.

  “Look on the back,” he said quietly.

  On the back side, in exactly the same script, it said Arabella.

  For the second time in a few minutes, tears stung her eyes and she blinked them back.

  “So you’ll always be together.” Ryan took it from her and fastened it on her wrist, the diamonds moving sinuously like light on water. “And so you won’t be tempted to sell it,” he said for her ears alone, making her laugh.

  “That is really, really nice,” Carly whispered and Josie nodded, looking a little weepy also. Then Josie dug around in her bag.

  “We got you something, too. Though it’s not anywhere near as fancy,” she said, handing over a shoebox wrapped in what looked like leftover Christmas paper.

  Unbearably moved, she held it. Just happy to have something from them. “You guys didn’t have to—”

  “It’s very thoughtful of them,” Ryan corrected, slipping the girls a titch more champagne each.

  “Not too much—they have school in the morning.” But she said the reminder automatically, opening the box and finding the old photograph inside. Her and Ara, posing in their sparkly dance-team outfits, their hair identically long and brilliant carefree smiles on their faces. The twins had found an old frame and decorated it with glitter pen writing that scrolled around the edges, saying CelestinArabella, over and over, with little fishes in between. Just the way they’d written their names when they were girls. “This is amazing,” she whispered.

  “It was in some of Mom’s stuff,” Josie explained. “She used to keep it on her dresser.”

  “I remember—though I forgot all about it.”

  “We should probably go through the boxes,” Carly said. “They’re all just sitting in the basement.”

  “Yes.” Tina wiped her tears away, thinking of those stacks of cardboard boxes someone—she couldn’t even recall who—had brought over from Ara and Steve’s house sometime after the funeral. “It’s probably time for that.”

  “May I?” Ryan asked and she handed him the photo. He studied it. Then shook his head. “I’m not sure which one is you.”

  “We did that on purpose. Not like these two. Ara and I, we always dressed alike, wore our hair exactly the same. We pretended to be each other all the time.” She laughed, feeling some of that old happiness they’d shared. Ara had delighted in tricking people.

  “You never fooled us,” Carly said, but she sounded uncertain.

  “We never tried. You were the only people Ara never wanted to trick. She loved being your mom and she didn’t want you for a moment to think anyone but she was your mother.” She kind of faltered on that, given how things had worked out. From the owlish looks on the girls’ faces, the same thought occurred to them.

  Ryan lifted a glass. “A toast then. Happy birthday, Arabella. You were well loved and are fondly remembered.”

  Grateful for it, for his unexpected sensitivity and ability to say just the right thing, Tina murmured a “Hear, hear” and they all clinked glasses. Ryan suggested they eat, so they did, feasting on fresh lobster and exquisitely tender tournedos of beef. Then the waiter wheeled out a cake with fondant made to look like a streaming fountain—a close replica of the ones she’d designed for Ryan’s offices downtown. Funny how she’d almost forgotten how beautiful they were—along with that self she’d been back then, that she’d lost when Linda sent her home. Almost as if she’d been on vacation from her real life.

  * * *

  Celestina blew out the candles and they all ate cake. Then the girls asked if they could swim and, grabbing their backpacks, went to change into their bathing suits.

  “You’re good with them.” Ryan started to pour her some champagne.

  She covered her glass with her hand. “No more—I have to drive still.”

  “I’ll have Ernesto take you home. Unless you’d rather I don’t know your address.”

  She tilted her head slightly, as if surprised. “I’m sure you could look it up easily enough.”

  “Yes, but I haven’t.” Needing to touch her, he tucked a wing of hair behind her ear. “I don’t want anything from you that you haven’t freely offered.”

  “What’s all of this about, Ryan?”

  “All what?”

  “Don’t play games. This wasn’t for show, to prove anything to the world or keep up appearances.”

  He bit down on the irritation that kept wanting to rise up. This evening should be perfect for her and he wouldn’t spoil it by starting a fight. “Maybe I’m proving something to you.”

  “What?”

  “Myself, perhaps.” He held up the champagne bottle in question. Waited. The girls came whooping out of the house and cannonballed into the pool. “Ernesto can bring you in the morning to get your car. You could use the gym here, whatever you like.”

  With a resigned shake of her head, she held out her glass and let him fill it. “I’m already buzzed, so I’ll take that ride home. The girls will be over the moon at the treat.”

  “Like I said—you’re good with them. Good to them. They’re lucky to have you.”

  She gazed out at them splashing around in the pool and he turned his chair to watch also. Where they’d seemed disconcertingly grown up earlier, with their old eyes and party dresses—new, they’d confided with delight—now they looked and sounded like children. The transition from girl to young woman and back left him a little dizzy. Getting to know them and be part of their lives would make for an interesting challenge.

  He liked challenges, particularly the ones Celestina brought into his life. One more reason to put the next phase of his plan into motion. Treat her right.

  “I don’t know that they’re lucky to have me, but I’m all they’ve got.” Celestina transferred her gaze to him. “It was good of you to put up with the inquisition, especially since we both know this isn’t a long-term deal, like they’re assuming.”

  “I don’t know that at all. That wasn’t in the rules anywhere.”

  Her lips parted and she looked confused—and maybe a little afraid. “You can’t mean that. Don’t muddy the waters now.”

  “They’re already muddied. You and I are as muddy as people get. And, as you pointed out, we’ve been wading around in each other’s emotional bogs already.”
He took her hand, toying with the bracelet. It looked incredible on her, reflective of all her liquid luster. “Maybe that’s what I’m trying to prove—that we can have more than the sex and the games. We could have dinners with the girls and tease them about their boyfriends and nag them about their homework.”

  “What exactly are you suggesting, Ryan?” She didn’t sound happy. More...aghast, if anything.

  “You all could move in here. There’s plenty of room. Sort of a trial run. Another pilot, of a larger project.”

  She sat in stunned silence, her mouth opening slightly over words she didn’t quite speak. “Um...what?”

  “Move in. Then you wouldn’t have to go back and forth. It would be more economical, too.” There. Very logical and rational.

  She shook her head slightly, as if clearing water from her ears, and frowned at him. “You want me to uproot my nieces and move them in here, with the sex room and everything. Upend their lives on a whim.”

  “It’s not a whim.” He kept a tight rein on his temper. “I considered all the parameters and I’m confident this can work.”

  “One of those decisions you made ahead of time.”

  “Yes. Exactly.”

  “What other decisions have you made about me, Ryan?” Now she sounded pissed. This was not at all going how he anticipated.

  “You know, a lot of women would be perfectly happy to move in here and enjoy the money. I have more than enough to share.”

  “Fine then—go find one of them.”

  “I want you. Carly and Josie are great. We could make a good home for them. You said your neighborhood is crap. Don’t give me the thing about uprooting them—they already go to a private school. All that will change is their address—for the better, I might add—along with plenty of people to look after them and take them where they need to go.”

  “Ryan.” She turned her hand to grip his. “This is an incredible offer, but we barely know each other—”

  “That’s not true. You know me better than any other person alive. I haven’t gotten where I am by being indecisive. I’ve weighed the odds and our options. This can work.”