I owe everyone a huge apology for taking so long with this chapter. First, There was spring break, and I didn't have a computer, and then I had schoolwork, and then FF.net wasn't uploading the chapter correctly! But here it is, and I hope you enjoy it.
Chapter Thirteen
Mina was quiet as Malachite threaded his way through the late night city traffic. She had checked out a day early. There was no point in paying for the rooms when her last night in New York City would be spent in the arms of her lover.
Her lover.
She glanced over at the dignified gentleman at the wheel beside her. His suit was elegant and obviously not off the rack, his hands and nails clean and manicured, his hair a fall of regal silver over his shoulders.
There was a tiny smear of sunny coral lipstick on his collar.
Mina turned her head and grinned down at her purse, for the lipstick was hers.
Life seemed too good to be true. She was in love with a fantastic guy who was just as nuts about her.
Wasn't there supposed to be some sort of catch to this stuff?
A gentle finger tapped her cheek, and she blinked up at Malachite. "Huh?"
"Daydreaming, darling? We're here." He smiled, and her heart melted for the eighty-third time since she'd met him. She was counting.
Mina looked around and realized that they had pulled into a parking garage. When she glanced at him inquisitively, Malachite shrugged. "Unlike my esteemed employer, I prefer the hustle and bustle of the city, so I lease an apartment."
"Okay."
He continued to talk as he separated her overnight bag from the other luggage and carried it into the elevator, where he inserted a key next to a floor number. "I find that the countryside makes me fidgety, and I prefer being close to the gallery in case of any emergencies."
She smiled, both for his need to explain and for the reasons themselves. The doors opened, and she stepped out into Malachite's home. It was sparse, yet elegant at the same time. And purely male. It was also inhumanly neat, even by her standards, and she could just bet that he didn't employ a cleaning service.
Malachite crossed through a door. "I'll just put your bag in the bedroom. Please make yourself comfortable."
She shrugged off her jacket and dropped both it and her purse on the floor beside a chair, knowing that he'd wince. Mina considered her lover's over-compulsive cleanliness rather cute.
Her lover. She simply couldn't say the words to herself often enough.
There was a fire in the fireplace. It was gas, and not real wood with lots of wonderful-smelling smoke, but that was okay, and she settled comfortably to look more closely around the room.
-And went cold.
A woman beamed mischievously at her, teeth gleaming white and blue eyes a-sparkle.
She could almost be Mina's sister.
Oh, there were differences. Mina had always thought that her eyes were a bit too wide-set, her lips a bit too thin. There was always that extra five pounds to lose. The woman smiling at her from within the plain silver picture frame had model-perfect features; her eyes were a deeper blue, her hair more the color of ripe wheat rather then Mina's own strawberry-blond. But the resemblance was there. And hadn't Serena mentioned something about Mally's late wife being a model?
"Would you like a nightcap, darling? Or just water? I wasn't sure if you like-" Malachite broke off at the expression on Mina's face as she turned to him. Her eyes stared somewhere in the direction of his chest, not meeting his gaze. He saw the small picture clutched in her hands and cursed to himself.
"Your wife was very lovely, Malachite." Her voice was calm. Impersonal.
"Yes, she was." Damn it, why wouldn't she look at him? He had known this talk would come, known ever before Darien had voiced his own reservations earlier that evening. But this was too soon! He had wanted to tell Mina himself, explain that it was just coincidence, that he wanted her for her own, wonderful self. "Mina, I-"
"Is it because I look like her? Is that all you want?"
"No!" "God, Mina, she has nothing to do with us. You're nothing like her!" He couldn't even say Susan's name out loud, afraid that it might act as some evil charm.
"Nothing?" Mina could feel the tears stinging her eyes as they welled up and rolled down her cheeks. There was indeed a catch. There was always a catch. "Nothing?! Mally, you married her and I look just like her!" It just wasn't fair. She choked down the scream of hurt rising in her throat and scrubbed her hands over her face. She wasn't one of those lucky women who could look beautiful even when crying. Susan probably had been.
With a heavy sigh, she dropped her hands and sat carefully on the couch, next to the damning picture, which she turned over and stared at in silence. She could feel Malachite's eyes boring into her head. When she had gained enough control over herself to speak, she looked up into his gray eyes.
He sat beside her, took one of her hands in his. He didn't even glance at the picture of his dead wife. "Mina, when I looked up and met your eyes, all I could think was that you were the most lovely woman I had ever seen. No, don't-" He held up a hand when she opened her mouth. And while it was your appearance that first caught me, I soon realized that you were the most enchanting creature I had ever known. And what's more, sweetheart, is that since I've known you, I haven't once thought about my late wife." He tightened his hold on her hand, his eyes pleading for understanding. "Mina, I love you for being you. Not for anyone else. I'm not a man who likes to beg, but I'm asking you to please believe me."
Eighty-four. Her heart was melting again. But she had to be sure. "What was her name?" she murmured softly. "Serena never mentioned it. What was she like?"
Malachite sighed. "Her name was Susan. We met in college, dated, fell in love. She was a very successful commercial model, away on photo shoots so often that it took her six years to finish her degree." His mouth quirked a bit as he revealed that. "It didn't really help that Susan wasn't the most academically-minded of women. To be honest, she was at college because she thought it a waste not to get the education and the degree, but her mind was always on what came after. We were married a year after she graduated. Life with Susan was… always upbeat. She was a butterfly, flitting from this to that, always happy. It sometimes baffled me that anyone could be so in love with life, every minute of every day."
He looked down at their joined hands, searching for the words. How to explain the woman you had loved and lost to the woman you would now give the world for? "We had two years together, married, before they found the cancer. The doctors tried everything, but they hadn't caught it in time. Susan had never been one for doctors and check-ups, so it was too advanced to save her. They gave her six months, tops. And Susan lived for one year, nine months, and eleven days before it killed her.
"It hurt so much. I didn't realize that it would. I thought that I had used all of those months to prepare myself for the idea of not having Susan. But nothing does prepare you."
Looking at him, the emotions in those gray eyes, Mina felt the knot in her heart slowly loosen. It wasn't ready to let go, not yet, but it loosened. She placed her free hand atop his, waited until he looked up at her. "Mally…" She trailed off, not quite sure what she was feeling, or how to express it. But perhaps words weren't necessary. She rose and placed her arms around him, holding him to her. Slowly, his arms crept around to return the embrace.
After a time, she pulled away and knelt at his side. "I can't rush into this," she whispered to him. "I want to. I love you. But give me time, all right? I need to go home, make sure that this is right. And I want you to be sure, too."
Malachite looked as though he wanted to shake his head, but he only sighed. "I understand. I don't like it, but take your time. Take all the time you need, love. I'll be here waiting for you."
* * *
Serena sighed in contentment and giggled a bit as Darien lifted her coat from her shoulders. "This was a good weekend. Not just the showing and everything. It was wonderful to see Mina, to spend time with her. She never takes time off from work, and I couldn't afford a trip down to her, to be honest. Of course, that's kinda different now, isn't it?" She was babbling, and she knew it, but there was just so much happiness bubbling up inside her that she couldn't hold it all.
Behind her, Darien grinned as Serena floated her way into a sitting room. He hadn't exactly counted each glass of wine as she'd drunk it, but little Miss Kyle had obviously gone a bit past her limit. Still a little drunkenness never hurt anyone, and so he settled down in an upholstered chair to watch with amusement.
Serena hummed some nameless tune to herself as she slowly spun on her toes. The movement set her off balance, and she giggled again at the wonderful sensation of giddiness. It was warm, so she peeled her suit jacket off, fumbling over the buttons, and tossed it toward a couch. "I think Mina and Mally are perfect, don't you? It makes me so happy."
"Good.Darien felt his mouth begin to water as Serena added her blouse to the discarded jacket. Underneath, she wore a pale blue lace bra.
"Yup!She told me, today, that she loves him. That's good, too. She told me at lunch, and then we went to that spa, and got all done up, and I got that stupid Anne kicked out!" She spun again, and laughed at the slightly confused look on Darien's face. "Didn't tell you about that, did I? She came in when the lady was painting my toes, and her face was all green –Anne, not the toe-painter- and she called me a tart and a bitch, and accused me of dating you for your money." She bit her bottom lip adorably, and squinted, trying to remember what else Anne had said.
Darien stared as the minx in front of him twirled on her toes and laughed gleefully. "It was perfect!"
"I see. Is that what put you in such a good mood tonight?"
"Oh, partially." Serena reached up and absently pulled a hairpin from her chignon. "The spa was great, and I liked seeing Mina so happy. I realized that she really hasn't been very happy, all these years. It makes me feel good that she is, now." She pulled another pin out, and another. Darien felt it necessary to check and make sure he wasn't actively drooling, as his lover pulled pins out, exactly as he had fantasized earlier.
Finally, the weight of Serena's silver-blond hair pulled it down to drape over her back. She stared out of a window, loosing herself in the dark night. Then, slowly, she turned again to face Darien. "And I realized something else, too. I realized that I'm happier here, with you, then I've ever been in my life. It's better then standing in front of my fire, making magic with my glass, and I didn't think I'd ever love anything more then glass."
She walked closer, until she stood just outside his reach. He could sit up and stretch his arm out, he though, and he could touch the goddess in front of him. But he remained still, watching her. "I'm glad to hear that, Serena."
"I love you, Darien."
Her words left him breathless. He needed to return them, say them back to her, but he couldn't find his voice. He couldn't even move.
"I love you." And slowly, so painfully slowly, with that slight haze of drunken happiness clearing from her eyes, Serena peeled away her bra and left herself before him clad only in thin slacks. "I love you, and right now I want you to take me up to your bed, and make love to me all night long."
The look in her now-clear blue eyes, more titillating then even the sight of her perfect breasts, returned control of his body to Darien. "I think I can do that." He rose and swept her up into his arms. "I certainly think I can do that."
* * *