May 4th, 1899
Dear Nina,
Your Uncle Gideon was visiting yesterday. That man has never liked me, which is just as well because he always gave me a bad feeling in my gut. I know when you were little, you used to adore him. But, lately, it feels as though he's turned…sour. I think he has a gambling problem, but Gabriel knows my dislike of his brother and he will not discuss him with me. It is the one problem we have fought over and over again in our marriage.
I think…Sometime I feel as though Gideon knows my secret. But, the thought of your father betraying me like that...oh, but my darling, you do not need to worry about these things. Have fun, keep dancing, make friends. Perhaps, I'm being paranoid because of my illness. He brought you a gift, I shall send it forward with my letter. Maybe then you'll write back?
Love always,
Mama
David saw Nina three times from afar that week after seeing her in the restaurant at Monday night dinner, a weekly tradition that the guys had cooked up not too long after Blink and Katherine got together. They had Sunday dinners at Race and Clara's house, but David didn't often attend that one because Jack was always there with his daughter; the constant reminder, no matter how cute, that he had cheated on Sarah.
Which, to this day, could still make David's blood run cold with fury. As he saw it, Jack had been warmly accepted into his family with open arms and his parents had all but considered him a third son. There had been hopes of a marriage proposal, to make him officially part of the family.
Until the day David had come home from an overnight shift at the Chelsea hotel to find Sarah sobbing in their mother's arms. He had felt guilty about not seeing or hearing about Jack's affair before she found out, but he had thrown himself into his work after watching the love of his life die in his arms not quite two weeks before. His selfishness had caused his sister pain.
Without thinking, with almost no sleep, he'd left the apartment to go to Jack's selling spot and the resulting fight had been the death of their friendship. 'The secret to surviving was knowing what to throw away, and knowing what to keep.' It was one wisdom Walty, his hotel mentor, had told David that had stuck out more than most of the other tidbits of knowledge.
So, David had thrown away Jack from his life just as the Cowboy had thrown Sarah away.
But, now he had to set that stuff aside for an evening. Sighing, he raised his hand and banged the brass door knocker. He didn't bother to paste a fake smile on his face, just let it settle into a look of resignation as Clara opened the door and beamed up at him, "David! I wasn't expecting you."
"I told Race I'd be here." He said, eyebrows furrowing. He had sworn he had told Race.
"Oh, hey, Clara!" Race's voice came from inside the house, "David's comin' tahnight."
The red-haired woman rolled her eyes good-naturedly and pulled the door wider for David to enter. He couldn't help but give her a small smile. He always liked Clara, any woman who would put up with Racetrack was a saint in his opinion.
"Everyone's in the sitting room. Dinner should be ready soon." She told him, leading him to the parlor.
David entered behind her and took swift account of all the people. Blink and Katherine sat on a loveseat, Blink's arm draped casually around her shoulders. Vivian sat in an arm chair by the fire with Mush sitting on the arm rest beside her, his hand on her stomach. Clara's father was in the armchair across from Vivian, Race standing beside him. Jack, Hazel, and Wesley were sitting on the floor playing with a box of what looked like logs that were stackable. Diana, Mrs. Renwick, and Sophie were all seated on a couch, talking, while Scott and Carlos stood off to the side, glasses of scotch in their hands. Mrs. Mclean sat on the window seat where Clara joined her.
"Hey, Davey." Mush called out, "Who's watchin' the hotel if everyone's here?" He joked, his brown eyes crinkling around the edges.
David moved to stand near Scott and Carlos, "Greg's there. Sunday nights are usually quiet, anyway."
"Quiet even with a host of ballerinas?" Vivian inquired, smiling up at Mush. Sometimes those two made David feel a little nauseous, but Scott handed him a scotch and he took a nice gulp of it to stave away the queasiness.
Glancing down at his glass, he felt a smirk pull up the edge of his mouth as he thought about last week, "Yeah. Now that Blink's taken, I haven't had to worry about any shenanigans…except his complaining."
Katherine cut a narrowed gaze towards Blink, "Complaining about what?"
He lifted his arm from around her shoulder to put both hands up in pose of surrender, "I'm only complaining because none of them are as beautiful to look at as you." His poor lie caused everyone save Katherine to laughed as she stood and moved to the window seat to sit beside Clara and Nancy. "Babe." Blink called after her, "I was just jokin'." He shot a look at David, "Thanks, Dave. Ya a real friend." He told him sarcastically.
"In his defense, he was only complaining that it was bad luck for them to come after he fought a gang for you." David added.
Katherine shot another glare at Blink who sighed, "That's not really helping." The blonde man told David, exasperated, but he turned to blow a kiss towards Katherine who waved it away, but couldn't hide the small smile around the edges of her mouth. Blink winked at her and she turned her head away to hide a bigger grin.
David took another sip of his scotch to hide his own smile. It was too easy to tease that couple and they had a good relationship, so he wasn't worried that what he said would hurt it. They were almost as easy to tease as Clara and Race, who were forever knocking jokes back and forth at each other, which was something David liked about Clara. She gave as good as she got.
Which was one thing that David hadn't realized had been missing from his relationship with Minny. Anytime he teased her, she took it too much to heart, leaving him feeling guilty and apologizing.
Thinking about that made him feel guilty even now, eight years later. He shouldn't be comparing his past relationship with Minny with what Race and Clara had, it wasn't fair to a dead girl. He winced at thinking of her as a 'dead girl' and knocked back the rest of his scotch, tuning into the current conversation to ignore the direction his thoughts were going.
"…were thinking we could all go to opening night." Mrs. Renwick was saying.
"We should just get a box in that case." Scott added, "Our group would take up an entire section."
"Oh, daddy, can we please go see the ballerinas?" Hazel asked, excitedly as she looked at Jack with a hero-worshipping gaze.
"Whatevah you want, kid." Jack said, mussing her hair and beaming down at her with a proud gaze.
David ignored the pinch of jealousy, surprised he could feel anything resembling envy when it came to Jack. He worked in a factory, barely afforded his apartment, and had the trouble of raising a little girl. What about that was enviable? But, that little girl adored him and David realized the chances of him ever having a family of his own had grown very slim since Minny had died. He just couldn't imagine a future where he found himself falling in love with someone else, and he wouldn't marry for the sake of convenience.
Turning his head away, he caught Carlos watching him with a keen hawk's gaze. As much as they had been working together to gather all the information on the current guests of his hotel, they still circled each other warily. Carlos was a giant question mark to David, enigmantic and mysterious with a sordid past that no one ever talked about. He thought, perhaps, that Carlos saw him in a similar manner.
"Carlos, I wanted to ask you something." David said, keeping his voice low. Scott raised an eyebrow when they both turned blue eyes on him and he shrugged as he moved away from them, closer to his father, Mush, and Vivian.
Turning back to David, Carlos raised one dark eyebrow in inquiry, and sipped his scotch in silence as he waited for David to continue.
Glancing around to make sure no one was paying attention, he dropped his voice lower and leaned casually against the wall, "I was wondering if, instead of finding someone for me, just keep a watch on a particular person. Gather any more information than what's in their file and give me weekly updates."
"Depends. Who would I be stalking?" Carlos asked, his eyes lighting on Sophie for a second, softening when she felt his gaze and passed him a soft smile.
Hesitating, David took a light breath and released it, "Nina Teleshova."
An interest David didn't like alighted in the Spaniard's blue eyes, "The Prima Ballerina?"
"Yes."
Carlos tilted his head slightly to the side, narrowing his gaze on David, "Why?"
Bristling slightly, David straightened, "Do you want the job or not? I can find someone else who will do it without questioning me." His voice was sharp even to his own ears.
"Not anyone who would be as good as me." Carlos told him, not arrogantly but in a matter-of-fact kind of way. "But, I'll do it."
"Starting tomorrow." David added, trying not to let him see how relieved he was. He didn't know how to explain how the woman rubbed him the wrong way, how she made his stomach tighten when he saw her, or the way her laughter stole his breath. There was something there that set him on edge and he wanted to know what it was. He had to know everything about her in order to decide why it was that he kept thinking about her.
"Tomorrow, then." Carlos shot him a quick grin before moving away to stand behind Sophie.
"Ya mean, no one's evah noticed?" Race was saying, looking around at everyone who just stared at him. "C'mon. Katherine's got the dark hair and eyes, Vivian's got the blonde hair and blue eyes. They'se chose women that looked like their best friend. It's a bit creepy."
Scott snorted a bit of scotch at Race's observation and everyone laughed as they looked between Vivan and Mush and Blink and Katherine.
"Hey, I feel honoured Mush found a lady that looks like me. He has good taste." Blink defended.
"That was not your feelings when you first met me." Vivian replied, raising an eyebrow. "As I recall, you purposely interrupted our first kiss, and rode home with us in the carriage. I'm surprised you didn't follow us up to our rooms."
"Well, I mean I thought about it…but, Mush had really bad taste befoah ya, Viv."
Clara was laughing as she said, "So did Katherine, before Blink."
"Same thing can be said for you, Clara." Katherine quipped back and everyone laughed.
Clara stood to cross towards Race, "Yes, but now I have mio Polpetto." She rubbed her nose against Race's and his face heated up.
"Clara, I told you not to use that in front of people." He whispered loudly.
"What does it mean?" Diana asked, looking between Clara and Race.
"Don't translate it." Race all but begged Clara.
She lightly slapped his cheek, "My little meatball."
The laughter drowned out the maid who came to inform them dinner was ready. After a few minutes, they finally heard her and everyone stood to go to the dining room. "Ah, mio polpetto, ya nevah gonna live that down." Blink said, clapping Race on the back.
"That's the last time I tell Clara anything about my childhood." Race muttered to David as they walked out of the parlor together.
"We used to call Clara brzydalu." Mr. Renwick told Race, and Clara gasped.
"Daddy, no."
Sean Renwick grinned adoringly at his daughter, "My mother was polish. It means 'ugly one' but it's a popular endearment."
"Clara was an ugly child." Scott added, and winced as the petite red-head punched him in the arm. "Kidding, kidding."
"You weren't the cutest kid, either." She muttered, "The doctor almost dropped you, you came out looking so ugly."
The entire group laughed at the siblings' bickering, "All of my children were just beautiful." Mrs. Renwick spoke up as they sat down, ever the peacemaker.
David looked around at the group, laughing and chatting, and felt a warmth of happiness spread through him. It also made him feel a tad ache as he thought about his own family. He hadn't visited them in a few weeks. He should go over soon, see how Les was doing in school, see how Sarah and the kids were. Her two boys just got bigger every time he saw them. Arthur was four and Peter had just turned two…David shook his head. He completely forgot Peter's birthday, he'd have to go out tomorrow and pick something up for him.
Dinner passed fairly uneventful, with only a few mentions of 'little meatball' making its rounds. Race took it all, his eyes still gazing at Clara as if she were the very source for his life force. Clara did apologize halfway through, causing Race to roll his eyes and reply that it was a little late for apologies.
But, the dinner ended too fast for David's liking because now he had to do something he'd been dreading for a week. After bidding his hosts good night, he followed Jack and Hazel out of the door and into the front yard, the October air crispy and chilly. He called to his former best friend. "Can I talk to you?" He asked, hearing the grudging in his own voice but he was too annoyed with what he had to do to stifle it.
Jack told Hazel to stay right where she was on the walkway and kept an eye on her as he came over to David, "Well, this is a surprise." He muttered, sarcastically, "David acknowledges me."
Gritting his teeth, David reached into his pocket, "It has come to my attention that you helped out last week on the arrival of the Ballet company. I just wanted to pay you for your time."
Jack crossed his arms, "I don't want ya money, Dave."
"Too bad, you're going to take it. I don't let people work for free." David replied, holding the rolled up bills towards Jack.
"I'm not taking that." Jack replied, "I was helping Race out. It was a friend helping anothah friend."
"C'mon, Jack. You're a single father. Take the money and let me go home." David replied, growing tired of their constant ego-ridden contest to see who could hate the other more.
"David!" Race called from the front door, "Oh, good, ya still out there. Greg's on the phone. Somethin' wrong at the hotel."
"Take it." David pressed, until finally Jack did take it.
"But, only because I have Hazel to think about." Jack bit out, tucking the money away and turning back to his kid as David sighed and headed back into the house. He took the phone from Race and listened as Greg talked, his voice strained with stress.
"I'll be there as soon as I can be." David said, hanging up.
"Dave, wait. What's going on?" Race asked as David walked briskly to the front door.
David felt another sigh, he had been doing that more and more lately, and replied, "Someone broke into one of the ballerina's room."
"Which ballerina?" Carlos asked, eyes narrowing.
"Natalia Malakhov." David answered, before walking out the front door.
A/N: Bum, bum, buuuum. Much love and thanks to Pixielou for allowing Clara to call Race her little meatball. Too funny, guys! Review, please!
Truly,
Joker is Poker with a J~
