But what if, she thought. What if maybe, just maybe…
A breeze whispered over her neck, and an unreasonable dread shivered through her. She closed the door, wincing again at the bell’s clanging, then glanced at her watch. Rachel would be in her office already, and even though Tina knew they needed to talk, she didn’t dare take the time now.
Hurrying down the hallway, she stuck her head around the corner and cringed at the sight of the long customer line. Her mother was working the register while her aunt helped fill orders. Billy, the counter clerk Tina had just hired, was working the coffee counter.
She wondered briefly where Jason was, then realized he was probably already preparing to go to Los Angeles with his band.
Terrific. One more straw on the camel’s back.
At least Yana had come in to help this morning, Tina thought. That would save the day from being a complete calamity. Tina caught her aunt’s attention and gave her an is-it-safe-to-enter look. Yana nodded, then pressed a finger to her lips.
Sucking in a breath to calm her nerves, Tina walked behind the counter and grabbed an apron.
“Katina.” Her mother frowned at her. “Where have you been?”
“I’m sorry, I—” She glanced at her aunt, who shook her head.
“Never mind.” Mariska cut Tina off with a swipe of her hand. “We will talk about this later. Take the register while I package Mrs. Green’s brioche.”
A crash from the kitchen, then mumbled cursing, had Mariska shaking her head. “There will be no living with that man today.”
“I’ll go talk to him,” Yana said, then winked at Tina. “He’ll be fine.”
Tina swallowed the lump of tension in her throat, grateful for the temporary reprieve. Even though this was not looking like the best of days to have a father/daughter talk, she’d made a promise to Reid, and for both their sakes, she was determined to keep that promise.
It was another fifteen minutes before the morning rush finally thinned out, and with only two customers in the bakery, both of them sitting at tables, and her mother and Yana in the kitchen, Tina knew she had to “seize the moment,” as the saying went. It was time for her, and for Rachel, to tell their parents the truth. It was time for them to realize that their daughters were not children anymore, but adults.
“Billy, watch the counter,” she said to the new clerk. “I’ll be back in a minute.”
She was already heading for Rachel’s office when the bakery door opened and Reid walked in.
No! she wanted to say. You can’t be here yet. She was torn between throwing her arms around him or throwing him out.
When he walked straight toward her, her heart stopped.
For a moment she almost thought he was going to kiss her, but he didn’t, just looked at her and smiled.
Her insides turned soft and warm.
Quickly she looked at the customers to see if they’d noticed who had walked in. When it appeared they hadn’t, she grabbed his hand and pulled him into the hallway out of sight.
“Reid—”
His mouth caught hers, and for a moment she leaned against him, her pulse quickening as she returned the kiss. Oh, he smelled so good, a woodsy aftershave, and he tasted like mint. She wanted to kiss him all over.
Somehow she managed to come to her senses and stepped back.
“You shouldn’t be here now,” she said, still breathless from his kiss.
“I know.” Sighing, he shoved his hands into his pockets. “I couldn’t help myself.”
In spite of her nerves, she smiled, then folded her arms and took another step back before she did something she’d regret, like wrap herself around him and kiss him again.
“This isn’t a good time.” Keeping her voice low, she glanced over her shoulder toward the kitchen. “I’m not sure what’s going on, but my father’s on the warpath this morning.”
“Have you told him about us?”
She shook her head. “I got to work so late I didn’t have a chance, and he’s been in such a mood, I think it’s better to wait.”
“Why don’t you and I go now?” he said quietly. “Together.”
“It’s not that simple.” She closed her eyes and hugged her arms tightly around her. “You don’t know what it’s like when—”
“Katina.”
At the sound of her father’s voice in the hallway behind her, Tina’s heart dropped. Slowly, very slowly, she turned and faced him. The look of fury on his face turned her blood to ice.
Ivan’s gaze snapped to Reid. “You. In my kitchen.”
“Yes, sir.”
Tina touched his arm as he moved past her. “Reid,” she whispered. “You don’t have—”
“It’s all right,” he said with a nod. “It’s time.”
Heart racing, she followed Reid and her father into the kitchen, where her mother and Yana were dusting powdered sugar on cooled nut cookies. “Dad—”
“Quiet.” Her father pointed a finger at her. “This is not your concern, Katina.”
Not my concern? Too stunned to even respond, she simply stared at her father.
“Were you with my daughter last night?” Ivan demanded.
“Yes, sir.”
“Ivan, keep hold of your temper.” Wiping her hands, Mariska stepped closer to her husband. “We should discuss this calmly.”
“Calmly!” He broke into a string of Hungarian phrases that Tina had never heard before and couldn’t make out. “You think I should be calm when our daughter spends the night out with this man?”
“With all respect, sir,” Reid said without raising his voice or batting an eye. “I’d like to say—”
“Please.” Tina looked at Reid. “Let me explain.”
“How can you explain for your sister?” Ivan narrowed his eyes as he looked at Tina. “When she gets here, she will speak for herself.”
When she gets here? It took a beat to sink in. They were talking about Rachel, Tina realized. And what did they mean “when she gets here?”
“Rachel’s not here yet?” Tina asked carefully.
Mariska bottom lip quivered. “She did not come home last night, or to work this morning. She did not even call.”
Tina looked from her father, who had his beefy arms folded over his wide chest, then to her aunt, who shook her head.
“This is unbelievable.” Tina looked up at the ceiling and sighed, then squared her shoulders. “Mom…Dad, Rachel’s fine, but she didn’t spend the night with Reid.”
“The man just admitted it,” Ivan shouted, then glared at Reid. “I demand to know where my daughter is.”
“She’s right here. With me.”
All heads turned at the sound of Jason’s voice. He stood at the back kitchen entrance, his arm locked securely around Rachel’s waist.
“She was with me last night,” Jason said, meeting Ivan’s eye.
Uh-oh. Tina heard her mother gasp, then watched her father’s face turn deep red and his eyes bulge. Here it comes.
“We got married.” Beaming with happiness, Rachel held up her left hand to display the gold band on her third finger. “I’m Mrs. Jason Burns.”
Rachel’s announcement seemed to suck the air out of the room. No one spoke, no one moved.
“I love your daughter.” Jason looked at Rachel and smiled. “And she loves me. I want to spend my life with her.”
“Please be happy for us,” Rachel said, her eyes filling with tears. “Please. I love him so much.”
Breath held, Tina waited for her parents to say something, anything, but the shock hadn’t worn off yet. They were still frozen in place, their eyes wide.
Maybe this wasn’t going to be such a good time to tell her parents about Reid, after all, Tina thought.
It was Yana who moved first. Wiping her hands on a towel, she moved across the kitchen and wrapped her arms around both Rachel and Jason. “May you be blessed with happiness, health and many children.”
“Well, that’s the rest of the good news.” Ra
chel hugged her aunt back, then looked at her parents timidly. “We’re going to have a baby.”
Gasping once again, Mariska clutched a fist to her chest. Ivan went from red to purple.
A baby? Rachel was having a baby?
Her parents forgotten for the moment, Tina rushed to her sister and new brother-in-law and threw her arms around them. “When…how…”
“I wasn’t sure until yesterday.” Rachel wiped at her tears. “That’s why I didn’t get a chance to tell you, and then last night, when you went with Reid and I—” Rachel bit her lip when she realized what she’d said.
“Stop!” Ivan’s bellow rattled the pans. “Everyone stop right now.”
They all froze.
His fists on his hips, Ivan stomped across the kitchen and narrowed his eyes at Rachel. “You got married to Jason and are having a baby.”
Rachel nodded hesitantly.
Ivan swung a look at Tina. “And you were with this man—” he glared at Reid “—last night.”
Tina swallowed the lump in her throat and nodded.
A muscle twitched in Ivan’s jaw. He turned slowly and looked at his wife. “How could this happen?”
“What’s happened?”
It was Sophia who spoke. She stood in the kitchen doorway, took in the look on everyone’s faces, plus the way Rachel and Jason were wrapped around each other, then arched a brow and said, “Oh.”
Calmly, so calmly it frightened everyone, Ivan removed his apron and walked out of the room.
No one moved or spoke for a full ten seconds, then Yana let out a breath and said, “Well. I’d say that went well.”
“My baby.” Eyes overflowing with tears, Mariska opened her arms and rushed to Rachel. “I am going to be a grandmother.”
And then Mariska was hugging everyone, including Reid, though she did grab his arms and frown at him for a moment before she sighed heavily, then hugged him again.
“Reid.” Tina touched his arm. “I’m going to go talk to my father.”
“I’ll go with you.”
“It’s better if I go alone right now,” she said, shaking her head. “Please.”
He sighed, then nodded. “I’ll be next door.”
She found her father in the garden, standing by the small pond, staring down at the rippling water. The morning air was beginning to warm as the sun rose higher, and somewhere overhead in the branches of a magnolia tree, a songbird called to its mate.
He didn’t turn when she approached, and she wasn’t certain if he hadn’t heard her, or if he was avoiding her. She stood quietly, several feet away and watched him, realized how long it had been since she’d truly looked at her father. He had always been a big man, strong, with shoulders broad enough to carry the world, she’d thought growing up.
Looking at him now, with those shoulders slightly bent and a distinguished touch of gray at his temples, her heart swelled with love. She couldn’t bear it if he turned away from her, or from Rachel.
She stepped closer, was about to speak when he said, “Do you remember when we built this pond, Katina?”
His question stopped her. “I was ten,” she said after a moment. “We lived upstairs, over the bakery.”
“I mixed the cement, you and your sisters placed every rock exactly where they are now.”
Nodding, she moved beside him. “You took us to the riverfront fair and let us each win a fish at the ping-pong toss.”
“You named yours Gilbert.” He turned then. “But you called it Gil.”
She stared at him in wonder. “That was fourteen years ago. How could you remember that?”
“You are my baby,” he said evenly. “You, your sisters. All of you. How can I forget?”
Tears welled in her eyes as she met his gaze. When he opened his arms, she moved into the comfort there. She couldn’t remember how long it had been since he’d held her like this. Since she’d wanted him to.
“How can you, and Rachel and Sophia, how can you do this to me?” he said, his voice edged with anger. “To your mother.”
Her heart sank. She’d wanted so desperately for him to understand and to accept she wasn’t a child anymore. Lifting her head, she looked up at him, searching for the words.
“How can you grow up?” he said more softly, then touched her cheek and shook his head. “It is not right.”
Relief poured through her. “I love you.”
“And do you love him?” he asked.
She hesitated, then slowly nodded.
Her father sighed. “Does he love you?”
“I know he cares for me,” she said. “But his family, our lives, are so different. I don’t know if there’s a place for me there.”
“Ah. I see. This can be a problem.” It was a long moment before her father spoke, as if he were carefully considering what Tina had said. “When your mother married me, your grandfather never spoke to her again.”
Confused, Tina looked up at her father. “But I thought he died when Mom when a teenager.”
“Your mother was eighteen, I was nineteen when I asked for her hand.” Ivan’s mouth pressed into a hard line. “A common man marrying a woman whose great-grandmother was a countess. He thought I was arrogant.”
Tina had never heard there was a countess in her lineage, but as intriguing as it was, she realized this wasn’t the time to ask. “You are arrogant.”
“And you are impudent,” he said, frowning. “But that was not the only reason he would not speak to your mother.”
“Then what was?”
Ivan met his daughter’s gaze, then sighed heavily. “Come sit, Katina,” he said softly. “It is time I tell you the truth.”
Reid paced the length of the back office in the campaign headquarters, wondering what was taking Tina so long. There hadn’t been any explosions next door yet, nor had Ivan charged through the door breathing fire, so at least that much was a positive.
He wasn’t used to waiting and it was driving him crazy. In fact, the operative word here was crazy. Everything about this entire situation was insane. A smarter, wiser man would have stayed away, he thought, would walk—no run—away. There were bound to be endless complications, and who the hell needed complications?
“Not me,” he said to himself, then turned to pace the length of the office again. “I like things simple and easy,” he told himself, and glanced at his wristwatch.
So what the hell was taking her so long?
He supposed she had her hands full at the moment. With her father finding out she’d spent the night with a man, then Rachel getting married and being pregnant, Reid imagined the dust was still flying.
What he found odd was that he hadn’t wanted to leave, that he’d wanted to stay and be a part of all that dust. And that was really crazy.
Turning to pace again, he shoved his hands into his pockets. Dammit, where was she?
He started for the door, then stopped himself. He couldn’t go back over there. Not yet. He’d give her another half hour, maybe even forty-five minutes. It wasn’t as if he didn’t have anything to do. He had five messages to return, one from Ian warning him that Jasmine Carmody had been snooping around at one of D&D’s coffeehouses, the rest were from his shipping office regarding a lost container coming in from the Maximilian Paper account overseas. He knew he should handle that problem first, before he went back to the bakery.
He reached for the phone, punched in his office number, then slammed the phone back down.
Dammit!
He was heading for the door when he heard the light knock. Annoyed, he threw it open. “What!”
Startled, Tina took a step back. “I…I’m sorry. I can come back late—”
Grabbing her arm, he dragged her inside his office, kicking the door closed as he pulled her into his arms.
She stiffened when he caught her mouth with his, then relaxed and slid her arms around his neck. Her lips parted and he flicked his tongue over hers, a rough, deep, demanding kiss. Possessive. He could have tasted her
forever like this, held her forever, but he finally, reluctantly, lifted his head and gazed down at her. “I had to do that first.”
Her lips were still damp and rosy from his kiss, so tempting. He bent his head again.
“No.” She placed a hand on his chest and he could feel her fingers trembling.
“You okay?”
“I…I don’t know what I am.”
Her voice was so distant, so strange, it worried him.
When she stepped out of his arms and turned away, he clenched his jaw. “Look, I know this is hard on your parents and it’s a lot for one day, but dammit, we aren’t kids. Just because they don’t want you to see me—”
“No.” She turned back, leveled her gaze with his. “That’s not it at all.”
What he saw in her eyes, the bleak emptiness, made his gut twist. “Then what?”
She sighed heavily, then folded her arms close. “When my father was a teenager, he was an apprentice in his country. He worked at the Castle Marcel under a man named Wilheim, who was the head baker.”
“Why are you—”
“Please.” She put up a hand. “Just listen.”
Though he thought he might explode, Reid pressed his lips tightly together.
“There was no king or queen at the castle,” Tina said. “Just a duke. But that’s not relevant. Wilheim is.”
When she paused, it took Reid every ounce of willpower he had not to rush her, but clearly she was struggling to gather her thoughts.
“According to my father,” she finally went on, “Wilheim hated him, humiliated him every chance he got, publicly and privately. After four years, when my father turned nineteen, he’d decided he’d had enough and left. Wilheim lied and told the constable that my father had stolen Castle Marcel’s secret recipes, recipes that had been passed down for generations. There was a warrant issued for my father’s arrest.”
The Cinderella Scandal (Dynasties: The Danforths Book 1) Page 12