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"C'mon, sweetie, do you want Mommy to carry you?"
Katie looked up at her mother and shook her head vehemently.
Noelle smiled at her little girl's independent streak. She crouched down on the sidewalk in front of her daughter and zipped her pink parka up further and pulled her white hat down a little more over her chestnut curls. "I can't believe you're almost two. You're growing up too fast. And you're getting so big, aren't you? You have to stop growing or Daddy won't recognize you when he gets home on Friday!" she teased her.
Katie furrowed her brow. "Dada home?"
"Just a few more days, I promise. Daddy's doing something really important. We should be very proud of him," Noelle said wistfully.
Katie put her hands on either side of her mother's face. "Mama sad?"
"Yeah, I guess I am a little, sweetheart, because I really miss your daddy. Which is really silly 'cause he just left yesterday morning and sometimes when he's on nights we can go days without really seeing each other…" She trailed off, seeing the perplexed look on Katie's face at her rambling. She shook her head with a smile, leaning over and kissing her daughter's cheek. "C'mon, Remy's probably already waiting for us."
Noelle took her daughter's hand and they walked the rest of the block to the café in Washington Square. She walked inside with Katie in tow and glanced around. A wide smile crossed her face when she found what she was looking for, and she led her daughter towards the table in the back. "I guess we've come a long way from the days when we wouldn't be caught dead in the Village, huh?"
Remington Kavanagh glanced up from the pages in the file she had been leafing through and smiled. She tucked a strand of her long, blonde hair behind her ear as she looked her friend over. "My God, Noelle! Look at you, you're practically glowing."
Noelle laughed softly and greeted her friend with a warm hug as she stood. "You don't look so bad yourself. Obviously traveling the world agrees with you." Feeling a tug on her sleeve, she reached down and picked her daughter up. "Remy, this is Katie. Sweetie, can you say 'hi'?"
Katie grinned. "Hiya."
"Hi, Katie. Aren't you pretty!" Remy looked from the little girl to her mother. "Noelle, she's just beautiful. I'm so happy for you."
"Thank you."
"I am so sorry I couldn't make it to the wedding. Bridgette and Karen me a full report, but, of course, I want to hear it all from you. Have a seat."
Noelle stripped Katie of her hat, mittens and parka, then sat down with her daughter on her lap. She ordered a latte for herself and some apple juice for Katie, then she and Remy started catching up, falling into the familiar rhythm from their days together at Sarah Lawrence. Noelle told her friend all about the wedding and her honeymoon in Israel, then Remington regaled her with stories of her travels through Europe where she had been working as a fashion photographer.
"You know, I actually had an ulterior motive in asking to see you," Remy explained as they both sipped refills.
"Okay, I'm intrigued…"
"Well, see, I'm working exclusively with Moda Bella magazine right now. You've read it, right?"
"Sure. I pick it up every month. Much more my speed than Cosmo or Vogue."
"I am so glad you said that, No."
"Why? What's going on?"
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Don raised the collar of his overcoat against the snow that was falling as he headed out of City Hall and crossed Nathan Phillips Square downtown Toronto. He decided against heading straight back to the hotel and instead turned west down Queen Street for a walk, pulling out his cell as he did so. Glancing at his watch, he dialed his wife's cell number as he passed Osgoode Hall. He stopped, looking through the iron gates at the impressive example of architecture with a smile, which soon turned to a scowl as his wife's phone went straight to voicemail.
"Hey, sweetheart. I guess you're still out with your friend. You were right, you know. This place is pretty cool. Just wish you were here. Give Katie a kiss for me, huh? Call me when you get this." He flipped his phone closed with a sigh, then continued his walk.
Don headed north up University Avenue, passing the four hospitals situated in two city blocks before he crossed College Street, dodged the traffic in Queen's Park Crescent and took in the Parliament Buildings. The snow had tapered off, and the architecture of the University of Toronto buildings fascinated him, so he crossed the street and headed into campus.
He was standing across from University College in King's College Circle when his phone buzzed. He slipped it out of his pocket and flipped it open, "Yeah, Detective Flack."
"Mrs. Flack here."
He grinned to himself. "Hey, doll."
"You sound like you're outside."
"Yeah, I decided to take a walk. I'm in the middle of the university campus."
"U. of T.? There's a building in the centre of campus, the architecture is phenomenal. Uh, University College, I believe."
"Looking right at it."
"Stunning, isn't it? Uncle Mike took me for a tour when I was up one summer in high school. I told Mom and Dad after that I had to go to a college with ivy covered buildings. Not exactly the best criteria for picking a school," she laughed. "So, uh – I just had an interesting visit with Remy this afternoon."
"Care to elaborate?"
"She's been working for Moda Bella magazine and she's got an in with the editor-in-chief. Anyway, one of their columnists resigned and they're looking for something to fill the space. She wants me to submit some of my work."
"Noli, that's great!"
"Well, I mean, it's nothing definite. But apparently, they want to change things up a bit, start incorporating short stories, serialized work…The timing is ridiculously freaky, isn't it? I mean, a couple months ago I would have thought she was crazy for even suggesting me."
"Sounds like it could be a good fit. So, are you going to send them some of the stuff you've been working on?"
"I really have nothing to lose, right? I mean, if they say no, I've still got my job."
"But when they say yes…Sweetheart, something like this could open up some serious doors for you," he encouraged her.
"I know. And –"
"Me talk Dada!"
Don smirked as he heard Katie's demanding voice in the background.
"Oh, there's someone else here that wants to talk to you," Noelle laughed. "You got a second more?"
"Of course." He headed across the street and leaned up against a tall evergreen as his wife put the phone up to their daughter's ear and told her to say hi to her daddy.
"Hiya, Dada," Katie greeted happily.
"Hey, there, cutie. You being a good girl for your ma?"
"Yep. And play wit' Wocco and Unca Danny an' got ap' juice…"
As she continued to ramble, Don tried to make sense of what she was telling him, but after a while realized that he didn't care. Just hearing her voice made his day. He felt a pang inside, though. Even when he was working crazy hours and barely saw his family, at least he knew his daughter was just in the next room or he could just sit and watch her sleep, or he could feel his wife breathing in the bed next to him. Now, he was still at least three days from actually seeing them. A year ago, he would not have cared and would have welcomed a trip that took him away for a few days. Now he just wanted to be back in the city with the family he had made.
"Love you, Dada," Katie finished quietly.
"Ah, I love you, too, cutie. I'll be home in three days, okay? And Saturday, we'll go to the park," he promised his little girl.
"Yay!"
He laughed at her excitement over a simple trip to the park, and found that he couldn't wait either.
"I love you, Donnie," Noelle said then as she came back on the line.
"You, too, doll. I'll call ya tomorrow."
"Okay. Talk to you then, baby. Bye."
"Bye." He flipped his cell shut and slid it back into his coat pocket. He rubbed his gloved hands together, starting to feel the cold, and decided to head back to the hotel. Three days, he reminded himself. In the grand scheme of things, what was three days?
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"All right, sweetie, let's get you all bundled back up and get home, huh?" Noelle suggested as she put her cell phone back in her purse and grabbed Katie's parka. "C'mere."
Katie squirmed as her mother tried to zip of her coat and protested even more as Noelle put her hat back on. "No!"
"It's cold outside, Ekaterina. Now, where did your mittens go?" Noelle glanced back up at the table in the café where the empty coffee cups and juice glass still sat, along with her purse, but did not see Katie's mitts. She checked her own coat pocket and furrowed her brow as she looked down and saw they had fallen on the floor under the chair Katie had been sitting in earlier. She went to lean over to pick them up but stopped as a pair of expensive Italian loafers stepped up in front of her.
"Please, allow me."
Both Noelle and Katie looked up at the source of the voice. "No, that's fine," Noelle argued.
But it was too late. Carlos Caravaggio, clad in a well-cut Italian suit and overcoat, bent down and picked up the little girl's mittens, holding them out to her mother.
Noelle grabbed Katie and pulled her back against her with one arm as she reluctantly took the proffered mitts. "Thank you," she muttered.
"Well, you certainly are a pretty little girl, aren't you!" Carlos greeted Katie.
The little girl grinned widely. "Hiya!"
Noelle grimaced, wishing her daughter was still in her shy phase.
Carlos crouched down so he was eye level with her. "You're a very lucky little one, aren't you? To have such a beautiful mother?"
Katie nodded.
He smiled at Noelle then. "Such a nice winter day, isn't it? The city just comes alive on days like this. Your daughter is very lucky to be growing up in a place so full of culture and opportunity. It's certainly a long way from Kiev."
Noelle tried to hide her surprise at how much he appeared to know about them. "I, uh – I'd appreciate it if you didn't speak to me or my daughter," she requested.
He looked at her in confusion. "I'm sorry, did I do something to offend you, Mrs. Flack?" he asked as he stood back up.
She stood up and pulled on her coat, keeping Katie pressed back against her leg. "Yes, you threatened my husband."
"I assure you, I intend neither you nor your beautiful daughter any harm, and as long as your husband stays out of my way –"
"Just stay away from my family," she ordered, trying to keep her tone even, despite the fact that her heart was pounding.
He glanced down once more at Katie, then with a dismissive nod, he turned and walked out of the café.
Remembering what Don had told her at the Policeman's Ball, Noelle grabbed her purse and dug around for her cell phone. Pulling it out, she scrolled through her phonebook until she found the number she was looking for and hit "Talk."
"Hey, you've reached the voicemail of Detective Danny Messer –"
With a sigh, she disconnected the call. Furrowing her brow, she scrolled further down through her contact list, her hand nearly shaking now as she dialed the number, her other hand holding onto her daughter's tightly.
"Detective Taylor."
"Mac, hi. Um, it's Noelle."
"Noelle? You sound upset. What's wrong?"
"Don told me to call you or Danny if – if I saw Carlos Caravaggio," she explained. "And I just saw him. Actually, he approached me and Katie in a café in the Village and I'm freaking out a little because he knew things that he shouldn't have known unless he was digging and –"
"Where are you now?"
"We're still in Washington Square."
"Do you have your car?"
"Yeah."
"Okay, I'm out at a scene in Staten Island, but as soon as I can get Stella or Sheldon down here to cover for me, I'll meet you at the Crime Lab."
"I feel like I'm imposing and –"
"Noelle, you're family. Get used to the fact that we take care of our own. I'll see you soon."
She hung up her phone feeling a little better, and a little guilty as she noticed the confused look on her daughter's face. She crouched down in front of Katie. "It's okay, sweetie. We're just going to go visit Uncle Mac for a little while, okay? C'mon, let's get out of here. Mommy really doesn't like the Village."