COUNTERPOINT
An original romantic serialFrom Alina Adams the author of "When a Man Loves a Woman" (DELL 4/00), "Annie's Wild Ride" (AVON 8/98), "Inside Figure Skating" (METROBOOKS 11/00 & 9/99), "Thieves at Heart" (AVON 12/95) and "The Fictitious Marquis" (AVON 6/95)
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CHAPTER 17
Nicole told herself he wouldn't show up. She'd known plenty of men in her life, and if there was one truth she knew it was that you could tell a man was lying whenever his lips started flapping. She didn't know what Dr. Gabriel Scott's game was; maybe he saw her in the garage and figured that, after saving her life, Nicole would be an easy touch. He'd probably made that promise to Eve about the museum so he had an excuse to come by and try picking up on Nicole again. But -- no way, no how, not in this lifetime. Here she was, living in this dive, ignoring her credit cards and pawning the last of her jewelry so she could pay their rent and buy enough food to keep going until Robin came to his senses and got over his divorce notion. She'd sacrificed too much to save her marriage, to risk it for a stranger in a cheap suede jacket. Even if that stranger was the first person to offer Nicole anything resembling kindness in a very long time. And he was sort of attractive. Not like Robin, of course. But, in a working-class kind of way.
Nicole shook her head, wondering how she'd stumbled into this train of thought and chiding herself for being so hard up for a man -- any man. It's not like she would ever see Dr. Scott again. If there was one other truth Nicole knew, it was that once she made it clear he wouldn't be welcome in her bed, there really was no reason left for any guy to come around again.
And yet, at the prearranged time, there he was. Secondhand suede jacket and all.
Gabriel stood in the doorway, hands tucked into the pockets of his blue-jeans, peering over Nicole's shoulder. He smiled when he saw Eve, dressed and ready to leave since, by Nicole's count, about five-thirty in the morning.
"All set?" He held out his arms and allowed Eve to jump into them, lifting the little girl over his head and spinning her around while she laughed and clapped her hands. Nicole, who had A) Never seen her child run with enthusiasm to anyone, B) Hadn't known that Eve was capable of laughing until the previous afternoon, and C) Hadn't realized that when a man said "I'll be there at noon," he meant, come the big hand and the little hand meeting at the twelve, he would actually be knocking on the door... Could only stare in wonder at the spectacle.
"Will you be coming with us, Miss Simonge?" Gabriel settled Eve on his hip, and grinned at Nicole with the same enthusiasm he'd previously lavished on her daughter.
She hadn't expected to. But, then again, she hadn't expected him even to be here. And she certainly hadn't expected his smile to pierce her like flame through a candle -- she wasn't that hard up, after all. For the briefest moment, Nicole forgot about Robin. She forgot why she was living in a hellhole, and why she'd spent yesterday in a rancid taxi. All she knew was, she very much wanted for Dr. Gabriel Scott to make her laugh as hard as he had Eve.
And so she said nonchalantly, wondering if twenty years in was a little late in the game to start playing hard to get. "Okay. I guess I can come with you."
Gabriel smiled again, and, shifting Eve fully against his left arm, extended his right one to Nicole. She accepted it hesitantly, following Gabriel downstairs to his car.
He and Eve chatted like old friends during their drive to the museum, and, once there, Gabriel played tour-guide, sitting Eve on his shoulders so she could get a better view of each glass-encased, wind-up, miniature, turn-of-the-century hamlet. While Eve watched, as, with the plunk of Gabriel's quarter, Lilliputian Ferris-wheels and farm houses came to squeaky life, Nicole lagged a step behind, envying the ease with which Gabriel was relating to her child.
After the museum, Gabriel led Nicole and Eve out to the beach, holding Eve's hand tightly as she stretched out her arms and tried to balance along the stone, waist-high barrier that kept the ocean from spilling into the city. Tongue squeezed against her teeth in concentration, Eve clutched Gabriel's fingers, and dutifully placed one patent-leather shoe in front of the other as she wobbled across her rocky balance beam. Nicole walked alongside Gabriel, wondering why he wasn't as bored with this monotonous up and down as she was, and guessing that it was the boredom which provoked her, when he asked what brought them to the city, to confess her life story.
He was incredibly easy to talk to, and not the slightest bit judgmental, even when she told him how, at age thirteen, her mind filled with magazine stories about lifestyles of the rich along the French Riviera, Nicole traded her virginity for a passport -- with a new name she made up for herself -- and a ticket to Monte Carlo. His expression didn't change when Nicole, savoring the relief that came with finally telling somebody, relayed the various ways she'd supported herself once settled in the principality.
"I never walked the streets, though," she stressed, desperate that he believe her. "I never sunk that low, I never had to. Men just came up to me, you know? But, I never took money. It was one thing if they wanted to give me gifts. Clothes and jewelry. But, I never took money. So, I was never a common whore. Not really."
She told him about meeting Robin, and their wedding, and how, after Eve was born, she'd tracked Robin to the Elizabeth Fund Gala, because she knew it was the one place he'd definitely be each year, and how she'd waited outside for Robin to walk out with his father, Douglas, before confronting them with Eve. She'd gambled that even if Robin turned his back on her, Douglas was too honorable of a man to abandon his grandchild, and she proved correct. Douglas refused to buy Robin out of his marriage, lecturing his son that he'd made his bed, now he had to lie in it and face the consequences.
Nicole told Gabriel about her atypical marriage, and why she was certain that, despite his claims to the contrary, Robin would eventually find his way back to her.
"I'm the only one who can put up with him," Nicole explained. "See, Robin, he's almost two different people. When you first meet him, he's this lost little boy looking for someone to cheer him up. And he acts like you're it -- you're who he's been looking for his whole life, you're the answer to all his problems. He goes berserk to get you to like him. He does things like buying a sailboat and naming it after me. When I told him I like to draw, he had my room filled, I mean filled -- from floor to ceiling, so there's no space to sit -- with charcoal, brushes, paint, canvas. And it's fabulous and you can't help it, and you fall in love with him. That's when he turns on you. It's like, you fall in love with him, and now he hates you for it. He can't get rid of you quickly enough. That's when he gets malicious. Before, you were the answer to all of his problems. Now, you're the reason for them all. You're the reason he's so unhappy, you're the reason he pulls self-destructive stunts like diving off cliffs, and climbing on the roof and trying to walk the edge blind-folded. The harder you try snapping him out of it, the meaner he gets. Most women, they can't take it for very long, so they split. That's when Robin comes back to me."
"Because," Gabriel asked carefully. "You can take it."
"Oh, yes, sure. Sure, I can. Because, see," Nicole told him unselfconsciously, "I deserve it."