Amy Atwell - Lying Eyes

Cosmo scratched his ear. “Well, that’s true…”

“So, if Aunt Tatiana’s gems were going to be given to Donovan and returned to Alexei Gorseyev,” Iris said slowly, “then what were you planning to do with the real Romanov alexandrite?”

“Exactly what I am doing.” Cosmo blew out an exasperated breath. “Bring them to you so you would understand that Irina’s stories were true. So you could see and touch the craftsmanship of your ancestors. And then I was going to take you to St. Petersburg to meet Aunt Tatiana and all your cousins. I thought you should learn more about your family before you married David.”

Iris’s throat tightened at the thought of how such a gift would have-had-affected her future.

“But the stones disappeared, and so we came here,” Marko said. “It is good, yes?”

“Yes, I think things worked out even better than I’d planned. Well, except for George.” Cosmo shook his head sadly. “He knew Irina, and God knows he knew me. I think he suspected I was planning something. That’s why he wanted to get his payment before he turned over the gems. But he had a soft spot for Iris-remembered her from when she was a child-so he gave me the collar with the whereabouts of the gems. I was going to switch out the gems Friday night, but then Mickey nabbed me. And Turner-well, he killed George and sent a very clear message by stashing the body in my car.”

Iris swallowed. Now she got it. “Even though I had George’s information in those fake rubies all along, you never told me. You were trying to protect me.”

“But then I dragged you into this whole mess.” Mickey squeezed her hand. “I’m sorry.”

She smiled at him. “I’m not.”

“Once both of you got involved, you became marks, too,” Cosmo said. “No, from that point on the only thing to do was play it out until we caught Donovan.”

Tatiana clucked at Cosmo’s story. “You should have told us all about this Donovan character at once.”

“I was trying to keep everyone else out of danger,” Cosmo said sullenly.

“You cannot forever act on your own,” Marko said. “You asked for help, and now we have a happy ending for everyone, yes?”

Tatiana accepted the Romanov gem back from Iris. “Indeed. We will take these back to Russia. It is fitting that the Gorseyev family bestow them on a proper museum.”

Cosmo shook his head like a dejected child. “Seems a shame to stick them in a museum after all we went through to get them.”

“They belong to all Russians,” Tatiana said. “Besides, these stones have always had a troubled history. The blood of many people can be traced to them. We will make sure that your friend’s part of the story is not forgotten.”

Cosmo furrowed his brow. “What about my part?”

Tatiana pursed her lips primly. “We shall see.”

“Aunt Tatiana?”

“Yes, Iris?”

With everyone’s attention on her, Iris grew nervous, but then decided she needed to make her offer and see how it was received. “If you like, I can put the Romanov gems back into their original necklace. And I can copy the necklace, so you’ll have one to keep with your synthetic alexandrites.” She watched the older woman’s face, awaiting her decision.

Tatiana smiled broadly. “I would love that, my dear. It would be all the more special for our family’s history to have your craftsmanship become a part of it. But you must promise me something.”

“Anything,” Iris answered.

“You must keep the copied necklace for yourself. It will be your bride gift from all of us.”

Warmth rushed up Iris’s face as she glanced from her great-aunt to Mickey. “Well, but Mickey and I…I mean, we’re not…”

Mickey leaned in to kiss her cheek. “Run with it,” he whispered.

Cosmo helped gather up the loose gemstones in their respective bags. “Aunt Tatiana, it means a great deal to me that you would do that for Iris. She deserves to carry on her family heritage. You know, she’s not to blame for my…indiscretions.”

“Indiscretions?” Tatiana’s voice became more strident than normal. “I knew all about the marriages, were there also infidelities along the way?”

“What? No!” Cosmo stopped. “You knew?”

Tatiana cackled so hard, tears streamed down her wrinkled cheeks. The other Russians burst out in laughter, too, until Cosmo scowled at them.

Marko brought his aunt a tissue, and she wiped at her eyes.

“Did you think I did not know? I knew before you married Irina. I even told her, but she would not give you up. She loved you, and she wanted to live in America. She carried your child, and I allowed her to go. For a few years, I wrote to her and begged her to come home, but all I did was drive her away. She stopped speaking to me.”

Cosmo lowered himself into a chair. “She never told me she knew. But she always made it so easy whenever I told her I needed to leave.”

Tatiana’s eyes sought out Iris. “I think she kept us away because she feared I might tell you. She never wanted either of you to know. It was very important to her that she live the illusion of a normal American life. It was only important to me that she was happy.” She looked over at Cosmo. “And I don’t know how you did it, but you did make her happy.”

Iris went to the tiny older woman and kissed her cheek. “Thank you.” So many things fell into place now that she knew she belonged to this special family.

After dinner Iris took Mickey onto the suite’s balcony to watch the Bellagio fountains perform their magical ballet. They stood shoulder to shoulder, straining to hear the music that floated up on the night wind.

The music swelled, and a final spout of water shot from the lake, signaling the end of the performance. When it was over, the lake returned to its tranquil state, a small dark haven in the middle of the Strip’s bright lights. In the stillness, removed from all the bustle below, Iris cherished having Mickey by her side as they leaned on the balcony’s railing.

“Guess you’ll be glad to put all this behind you and get back to your usual routine,” he said quietly.

Without giving herself time to talk herself out of it, she leaned into him. “I don’t want my usual routine. I wasn’t living then. Just barely getting by, really.” She captured his lips with hers.

The kiss was warm, a mutual celebration, a mutual homecoming. His hand came up to caress her cheek as she withdrew.

“God, I love you,” he said.

She snuggled close to his chest, encouraging him to put his arms around her. “Good, because I think you may need me. And I know I need you.”

“I promise to always keep you and protect you.” His words were a solemn vow in her ear.

“Shh.” She pressed a finger to his lips. “You don’t need to protect me. You’ll be too busy protecting others as part of your job-and that’s as it should be,” she added when he tried to interrupt. “No, when you’re with me, just love me. And let me love you.”

“Gladly,” he whispered before pulling her to him for another kiss.

2008 RWA Golden Heart Award finalist Amy Atwell has enjoyed many careers that enriched her life-horse trainer, Shakespearean actress, children’s theater director, rock singer, designer of custom closets and wine cellars, caretaker of an island ghost town-but writing fiction has proven to be the greatest adventure of all. A believer in pursuing dreams, she wrote for ten years and earned many awards for her unpublished manuscripts before selling her first book. She now writes full-time and runs an active online community for goal-oriented writers. When not traveling, Amy lives on a barrier island in northeast Florida with her husband and two highly imaginative Russian Blue cats. Lying Eyes is her first novel featuring Cosmo Fortune. Visit her online at http://www.amyatwell.com.