Forevermore

  “Look! Snowman!” Olivia called.

  The turn signal clicked a steady beat and Aleksander turned right.

  “Where?” Ava craned her neck, looking all around.

  “Look up.” The little girl giggled with delight.

  Sure enough, a fake snowman glowed from a condo balcony a couple stories up, a smile frozen on its face, a red mitten lifted in a friendly greeting.

  “Oh, cute,” Ava answered.

  They found a parking spot in a lot and piled out of the car.

  The little girl released her father’s hand and skipped ahead, passing Ava in the process, who stood taking in all the cheerful holiday lights of the restaurant. The entire house was outlined in tiny white lights. Strings of vibrant red lights spiraled down the full length of the white porch columns, turning them into fat candy canes. Electronic icicles dripped from the eaves and the motion of the lights made them look as if they were actually melting. The evergreen wreath secured to the front door was huge and welcoming.

  Ava hugged herself and shimmied her shoulders. “Brr…it’s cold.”

  As if it were the most natural thing in the world, he wrapped an arm around her. “We’ll buy you a better coat.”

  “I brought another one.” She smiled at him. “It’s just that I didn’t think it would be that cold. Besides, I’m a tough girl.”

  Aleksander stared at her for a moment. “I’m sure you are.”

  “Daddy! Daddy!” Olivia shouted.

  “We’re coming as fast as we can,” he called back as they hastened their pace.

  Olivia was gazing up at the brightly lit house.

  “It’s beautiful!” Ava said. “It looks like a huge dollhouse.”

  “Yeah,” Olivia said. “It’s my favorite place in Tahoe.”

  “You like it even more than the Heavenly Gondola?” Aleksander asked.

  “It’s my fave place to eat pancakes and ice-cream, Daddy,” Olivia quickly explained.

  “Ah.” Ava nodded. “But first you are eating some lunch, missy.”

  Olivia’s favorite place turned out to be a small, homey restaurant that served American food and had checked tablecloths on all the tables displayed on elevated floors so all of them had a perfect view of the lake.

  As Aleksander gave his name to the restaurant’s PR, Ava checked her phone. There was one message, from the hospital, asking for her to report back.

  Ava chided herself as she excused herself to a quiet hallway. She was supposed to check in at the hospital at least twice a day, even if nothing happened. And yet, already on her second day, she’d been having so much fun with her charge—and the father of her charge, to be true—that she’d completely forgotten. She took a deep breath and speed-dialed the number.

  She groaned inwardly when she recognized the voice. Dr. Stupid Brat. “Hello, Brian.”

  “Oh, look, the prodigal daughter,” he snapped. “How nice of you to grace us with a phone call.”

  She rolled her eyes. “Could you please tell Dr. Follett that I’ll be submitting my full report tonight? Everything is under control, though. Olivia is well taken care of.”

  He snickered. “I’m sure Aleksander is being well taken care of, too.”

  She grimaced, pressing herself against a wall to avoid the tourists bustling by in ski clothes. From where she stood, she could see Aleksander and Olivia at their table, his hand in hers, looking so happy together.

  “I have no idea what you’re talking about.” She decided to change the subject. “How are things there? Busy?”

  “It’s a fucking swamp here,” Brian muttered. “So you got the nice cushy job taking care of Mr. Rich Guy and his spoiled daughter and I get the dregs. Nice. That’s the way it always works, right? If I had tits and ass, maybe your man would’ve chosen me.”

  “You could have volunteered,” she said through clenched teeth, wondering if Brian could be trusted to relay her message to the doctors.

  “Yeah, I could’ve. And you could’ve kept that big mouth of yours shut. Dr. Wang almost skinned me alive.”

  “Next time, don’t use the ladies’ restroom for your…private meetings.” She sighed. “Can you put me through to Whitney?”

  “Yeah,” he said in a mocking tone. “Please hold.”

  She did. And about a minute later, the line went dead.

  Stupid, spoiled brat.

  Maybe I should have not picked a fight with him. Ava closed her eyes and counted to ten before dialing Whitney’s private cell number and leaving a message. Maybe I should have not accepted this job.

  But she had done both things.

  And now she would bear the consequences, come what may.

  Chapter 13

  When Ava returned, with flushed cheeks, Aleksander couldn’t help but feel that something was bothering her and he was about to ask her what it was when the waitress arrived to take their orders.

  And after the waitress had gone away, the flush on her face had disappeared and she had settled into a closed silence, looking like she was appreciating the scenery, but he could tell she was far away. He realized for the thousandth time since this trip had begun that all he wanted to do was delve into her mind and see what was going on inside it.

  As he drew his butter knife over a small piece of bread roll, contemplating what it was that had ruffled her feathers, Olivia said, mouth full of bread, “Daddy, do you think Ava is pretty?”

  What? Aleksander stopped chewing for a second because otherwise he would have choked on his bread and butter. After he swallowed, he asked Olivia, “Why do you ask?”

  She stared at him plaintively. “Because I want to know.”

  An awkward silence ensued.

  The flush was back on Ava’s cheeks, but Olivia clearly wasn’t going to let this go without an answer.

  “Daddy?”

  He decided the best thing to do was to play along.

  “Well, let me see…” He made an obvious display of assessing her face while he gathered his thoughts. Pretty didn’t even begin to explain Ava. She was the most gorgeous woman in the room, no competition. In fact, she was the most beautiful woman in every room he walked into. “Yes, she appears to be a fine looking woman—Viking Valkyrie and all.”

  Olivia frowned at him. “Fine looking?”

  “Valkyrie?” Ava queried.

  “But you know what’s even better than that?” he asked, ignoring Ava’s comment for the moment. “She’s a great doctor. And that’s what I love about her.” Shit. That was the wrong word to use while trying to steer her away from this subject.

  “Love?” Olivia smiled and her eyes lit up.

  And of course, Olivia picked up on it. Nothing escapes her. He swallowed his groan and smiled at his daughter. “It’s a way of saying it.”

  Olivia tapped her pen on her notebook. “What else is on your dating list, besides pretty?”

  “My…dating list?”

  The waitress arrived to refill their drinks and Aleksander hoped that with the interruption, this conversation would be forgotten. Unfortunately, once Olivia sunk her teeth into a line of questioning, she never gave up. She’ll undoubtedly make a great investigative reporter one day, if only—

  “Yeah,” she barreled right in, the second she finished a swig of chocolate milk. “If you made a list of what you like for dating someone. I think she would have to be pretty and she’d have to like hamburgers. And what else?”

  “Well, there’s probably some kind of hospital rules against playing matchmaker between your father and your doctor, so we should—”

  “But we’re not in a hospital.”

  “She has you there,” Ava said, locking him in to the awkward corner.

  Olivia took a bite of her bread and Aleksander raised his eyebrows at Ava for just a second.

  “Well, if you were to hypothetically assess if your doctor and I were romantically compatible—hypothetically speaking—then we should probably find out first what’s on her dating list.” How do you like the ball
in your court, doctor?

  Ava leaned forward. “Olivia, do you know what hypothetical means, Pixie?”

  “Like a needle?” she asked, squinting her eyes in uncertainty.

  “Mmm, no,” Ava shook her head with an amused smile. “That would be hypodermic.”

  “Oh yeah,” Olivia said, smacking her forehead. “It means, like, not for real. Right?”

  “That’s exactly right, Pumpkin,” a slightly relieved Aleksander replied.

  “But what would be on your real dating list, Ava?” Olivia insisted.

  Aleksander and Ava looked at each other. He challenged her with a mocking eyebrow.

  Ava returned it with one of hers. Okay, counselor, I’m game. “Let’s see…”

  Olivia waved her glass at Ava. “The floor’s all yours, doctor.”

  Ava laughed at Olivia mimicking her father’s oft-used expression. She ticked off items on her index finger. “Item one. No athletes.”

  “Daddy was a football star,” Olivia interrupted Ava. “He played in high school and in Harvard Law School. And he has lots of medals and trophies.”

  “Aw, shoot,” Aleksander said, not looking all that crestfallen. “Fortunately, as we know, I’m a lawyer and businessman. But why not athletes? Got something against a man with a physique and a game plan?”

  “Well, yes, I do. A bit.” A lot. Shaking the feeling off, she moved on, “Item two, good sense of humor. Three, kind. A kind person. Four, intelligent. Five…hmm…can talk.”

  “So no mutes, then,” Olivia said. “That’s a good one. I’m putting that on my list, too.”

  Ava laughed. “No, Liv, mute men, and any disabled men, are allowed as long as they can have an intelligent conversation about different subjects.”

  “What kind of subjects?” Aleksander prompted wanting to know what interested her.

  “Any subject, if the conversation is intelligent and interesting.”

  “And?” Olivia prompted.

  She looked at the girl and saw that she was frowning at her journal. “And what?”

  “That’s the list?” Olivia looked up with a disappointed air.

  “Well, I don’t really have a list.” Ava shrugged. “I mean, I’m not looking. But if I were looking, that would be my list.”

  “So good-looking doesn’t matter,” the little girl said dubiously and crossed out an item on the page.

  “No,” Ava said determinedly. “Looks are overrated. Good smile, though. That matters.”

  “Good in bed?” Olivia suggested.

  Ava choked on her iced-tea.

  Aleksander frowned at his daughter. “Where did you learn that, missy?”

  She shrugged. “From the TV.”

  “I don’t allow you to watch such shows,” he protested.

  “No, but I can hear what you watch when I can’t sleep.” She started blowing bubbles in her chocolate milk and smiled wryly, clearly loving how she was making her dad squirm. “You need to keep that racket down.”

  “Ah. I will, don’t worry,” Aleksander said, then muttered something under his breath, a half-smile on his lips.

  “Um, so what does good in bed mean?” Olivia asked. “That she doesn’t steal the covers from you?”

  Ava’s eyes flew to his face again. His smile started in the laugh lines around his eyes, extended down to that firm mouth. Slow, and sure.

  She tore her gaze away at last and took a hasty sip of her iced-tea.

  “Is it hot in here?” she asked of nobody in particular. “Or is it just me?”

  Their waitress bustled up with a tray, her brown hair swinging in a ponytail. “Double-bacon cheeseburger, plain chicken burger, and Caesar salad,” she announced, setting the plates down. She added the big paper-lined wire-aluminium basket of skinny-cut fries to the center of the table. “Anything else?”

  Aleksander looked at Ava who shook her head and back to the waitress. “Not for the moment. Thank you.”

  “Going to have to start watching that cholesterol pretty soon, Alek,” Ava said. “That’s a heart attack on a plate.”

  “Aw, thanks for your concern, doctor,” he said. “All my vital signs are real good and my body is in perfect shape so far.” Do you want to check it up?

  “Yeah.” She gave a ladylike snort. “Well, you watch yourself. You grow a gut and life will get a whole lot less…good-looking.”

  “You think Daddy’s good looking?” Olivia piped in.

  “No. Yes. I…” Ava’s train of thought jumbled and she had to shake her head at herself. “I mean, yes, your father is a handsome man but—”

  “Yes?” She bounced at the edge of her seat. “Doesn’t he have the greatest smile and the dreamiest green eyes? And a sea of hair you just want to run your fingers through?”

  Ava looked horrified for a second. Then she laughed. “You’re a menace, you know? Your daddy ought to keep you on a leash.”

  “Arf, arf,” Olivia said, acting like a dog.

  “So,” Ava said, working determinedly on her salad again. “Football star in high school, Harvard law school, one of the most powerful businessman in the US, and…” she added to another grin, “a face to die for and a good-looking body, too?”

  He shrugged and smirked at her, amused at how she had put it.

  “You really do have it all, don’t you?”

  “Don’t have a wife anymore,” he reminded her with a sigh. And I will be losing my daughter, soon.

  “I’m sorry,” she said, contrite, with a sigh of her own, “that was insensible to say.”

  “But you can marry again,” Olivia said to her father. And then looked at Ava and asked, “Can’t he?”

  A double menace. “I suppose so,” she said, awkwardly.

  Aleksander looked at her for a moment, before saying, “That’s not in my current plans.”

  Olivia’s eyes went from one to the other of them as if she was watching a tennis match. It was clear from the smile on her face that she was loving every minute of it.

  But thankfully, the little girl moved on to less awkward and tempting subjects and by the time their dessert arrived, the heat coursing through Ava’s body had toned down—as much as it could considering Aleksander’s proximity.

  He wiped his mouth with his napkin, elegance in his motions, tempered with masculinity. His large hands held power. His sensual mouth as well. She could imagine him skillfully using both to elicit pleasure. And then to her surprise, he stretched out his hand and brushed his thumb on the corner of her lips.

  Ava jerked back, startled, as a sizzling, delicious shock of excitement trilled along her nerves.

  “You had sugar on your mouth,” he said. He put a few bills inside the leather folder and rose, helping Ava out of her chair and picking up Olivia in his arms.

  While Olivia chatted away about where they would put the Christmas tree, both adults walked in silence to the car too conscious of the forbidden attraction simmering between them.

  Dazed, Ava crossed the street to the lot, feeling battered, like she’d been through a tame version of the Inquisition, all orchestrated by the cutest little eight-year-old imp the world had ever seen. They were waiting for Aleksander to pay for the parking when suddenly there was a commotion at the other end.

  “Help,” someone shouted.

  Ava rushed forward, finding a small group of people gathered around a hugely pregnant young woman, sitting on a bench. The front of her dress was wet, and she was breathing hard, clutching her belly.

  “I’m not due for another two months,” she cried, clearly in a panic.

  “It’s okay. I’m a doctor,” Ava said, looking up at the onlookers, as she slid in beside the woman. “Has anyone called 9-1-1?”

  A man in a ski jacket and skull cap nodded. “Yeah. They’re on their way.”

  Ava nodded and turned back to the woman. Her skin was pallid and ice-cold. She checked the woman’s pulse which was raging out of control, and felt the baby kick against the side of her belly. What this woman needed r
ight now was calm, so she didn’t put the baby in more distress. “Plenty of women have had their water break early. You’re going to be all right.”

  The distraught woman ran her hands over her round belly, doing her shallow breathing exercises. “I’m scared. I’ve had a couple miscarriages.”

  Ava took her clammy hand in her own and squeezed it gently. “You’re okay. The ambulance will be here soon and they’ll take good care of you.”

  She shivered and looked like she was going to cry. “I’m so cold.”

  It was then that Olivia crept forward, pulled the pink crocheted wool cap off her head, and laid it on the woman’s bare hands. “Here. Keep yourself warm.”

  Some of the attention that had been on the woman swayed to the little girl standing before her, without a hair on her head. With the cap on, she’d been just an ordinary eight-year old, and now, she was something else, a cancer victim, a sad case in herself, selfishly offering love to someone she didn’t know.

  But the woman on the bench didn’t care. She took the cap gratefully and wrapped her hands with it. “Thank you, angel.”

  Olivia beamed as the ambulance sirens just began to scream in the distance.

  Ava smiled at her, and when the EMTs arrived and she finally let go of the woman’s hand to let them help, she realized she had tears in her eyes. She blinked them away as the pregnant woman was loaded onto a stretcher.

  Before they wheeled her away, the lady handed the cap back to Olivia and thanked her and Ava.

  “You’ll be just fine,” Ava told her with another squeeze of the hand.

  “Both of you are my angels,” she said.

  Aleksander took the cap and pulled it over his daughter’s head. “Keep it on, Liv,” he said to her. “The last thing we need is you catching a cold.”

  Ava watched the ambulance speed away, lights flashing.

  Aleksander turned to Ava. “Always helping people out?”

  For a few seconds she was tempted to be cool, but being cool did not come naturally to her, and she turned to him and looked up, straight into those amazing green eyes. “I can’t not…it’s ingrained in me.”