Danielle Steel - Passion's Promise

“I can’t sleep and I’m hungry. Did I wake you?”

“No, no, of course not. I always get up at six. In fact, I’ve been up since four.” He looked at her chidingly and she laughed.

“Okay, okay. I get the message. Is it too early to get you some coffee, and me some tea?”

“Sweetheart, this ain’t the Fairmont. Do you really want to get moving that bad?”

She nodded. “How soon can I see him?”

“I don’t think they let you visit till eleven or twelve.” Christ, they could have had another four hours of sleep. Alejandro silently mourned the lost hours. He was half dead.

“Well, we’re up now. We might as well stay up.”

“Wonderful. That’s just what I wanted to hear. Kezia, if I didn’t love you so much, and if your old man weren’t such a fucking giant, I think right about now I’d kick your ass.”

She smiled delightedly at him. “I love you too.”

He grinned at her, sat down, and lit a cigarette. She already had one in her hand, and he saw that the hand was still shaking, but aside from that and the pale, pointed look of her face, she looked better. Some sparkle had come back to her eyes, a hint of life and the old Kezia. The girl was a fighter for sure.

He vanished into the bathroom and came out with combed hair, brushed teeth, and a clean shirt.

“My, don’t you look pretty.” She was wide awake and full of teasing this morning. It was a far cry from the condition she’d been in the morning before. At least that was a relief.

“You’re just looking for trouble this morning, aren’t you? Hasn’t anyone ever told you not to bug a man before his first cup of coffee?”

“Pobrecito!”

He flipped her the finger and she laughed at him.

“And now that you’ve dragged me out of my warm bed, I suppose you’re going to take two hours to dress.” He waved at the nightgown and robe.

“Make that five minutes.”

She was as good as her word. She was moving very quickly this morning, like a kid waiting for her first trip to the circus, up at dawn, nervous, jumpy, and already tired by breakfast. And they still had five hours to kill before they could see Luke.

Alejandro’s thoughts drifted constantly to Luke now. How was he taking it? Was he all right? What was he thinking? Was he already back to the jailhouse jiving, the cold indifference of lost hopes, or was he still Luke? And if he had already reverted to what he’d once been, how big a shock would it be for Kezia? And how would she adjust to the visit? Alejandro knew it only too well, but he knew that she didn’t. Visiting through a thick glass window, speaking on a static-ridden phone, with Luke wearing a filthy rumpled orange overall that would barely reach to his elbows and knees. He would be living in a cell with half a dozen other men, eating beans and stale bread and an imitation of meat, drinking coffee grinds and shitting with no toilet paper. It was one hell of a place to take Kezia, visiting with pimps and hookers and thieves and distraught mothers and hippie girls who would bring ragged children in their arms or on their backs. There would be noise and stench and agony. How much could she take? How far into this world would Luke lead her? And now it was on his back. It was Alejandro’s baby. Taking care of Kezia.

There was a knock on his door that broke into his thoughts. Kezia again. Dressed and ready to go.

“Boy, you sure look gloomy as hell.”

His thoughts must have showed. “Morning is not my best hour. I can’t say the same for you, though. You look pretty sharp for tea at a truck stop.” She was, as usual, expensively dressed. And there was a brittle cheeriness about her which was beginning to make him nervous. What if she cracked?

“Shouldn’t we call a cab?” They had dispensed with the limousine when they checked into the Ritz, again with an oversized tip to buy the chauffeur’s silence.

“We can walk. I know a place a few blocks away.”

They headed south in the damp air, and crept down the steep hills hand in hand.

“It’s really such a beautiful city, isn’t it, Al? Maybe we can go for a walk later today.”

He hoped not. He hoped Luke would tell her to get her ass on a plane to New York. By the end of the week, Luke would be back in Quentin, and there was no point in her staying for that. She couldn’t visit him until she got clearance anyway, and that could take weeks. And sooner or later, she’d have to go home. Better sooner than later.

The truck stop was full but not crowded, the room was warm, and the jukebox was already alive. The aroma of coffee mingled with the odor of tired men, cigarette smoke and cigars. She was the only woman in the place, but invited only a few uninterested glances.

Alejandro made her order breakfast, and she made a face. He was unyielding. Two fried eggs, bacon, hash browns, and toast.

“For chrissake, Alejandro. I don’t eat that much for dinner.”

“And you look it. Skinny upper-class broad.”

“Now don’t be a snob.” She ate one piece of bacon, and played with the toast. The untouched eggs stared up at her like two jaundiced eyes.

“You’re not eating.”

“I’m not hungry.”

“And you’re smoking too much.”

“Yes, Daddy. Anything else?”

“Up yours, lady. Listen, you’d better take care of yourself, or I’ll squeal to the boss.”

“You’d tell Lucas?”

“If I have to.” A flicker of worry flashed through her eyes.

“Listen, Alejandro, seriously….”

“Yes?” He laughed at the way she was beginning to squirm.

“I’m serious. Don’t upset Luke about anything. If he saw it, that hideous picture in the paper will be bad enough.”

Alejandro nodded, sobered, no longer teasing. They had both seen the small item on page three of the Chronicle that morning: Miss Saint Martin had not yet returned to New York; it was assumed that she was “hiding” somewhere in the city. There was even some speculation about whether she had been hospitalized for nervous collapse. She had certainly looked well on her way to it in the pictures. But they also suggested that if she were in town, she’d probably show up on a visiting day to see Luke, “unless Miss Kezia Saint Martin has pulled strings for private visiting privileges with Mr. Johns.”

“Gee, I never thought of that.”

“Want to give it a try? It may spare you some hassles with the press. It seems pretty clear they’ll be watching for you on visiting days.”

“So let them. I’ll go on the same day as everyone else, and visit just like everyone else does.”

Alejandro nodded. The remaining hours until visiting began to grind by. It seemed like weeks before it was a quarter to twelve.

Chapter 28

“Ready to go?” She nodded and picked up her handbag. “Kezia, you’re amazing.” She looked like an extremely pretty young woman without a care in the world. The makeup helped, but it was the way she carried herself, the mask she had slipped into place.

“Thank you, sir.” She looked tense but beautiful, and totally different from the sobbing woman he’d held in his arms in the City Hall corridor two days before. She was every inch a lady, and every ounce in control.

Only the tremor of her hands gave her away. If it weren’t for that, she would have looked completely unruffled. Alejandro mused as he watched her. So that’s what it was, the hallmark of class, to never show what you feel, as though you’ve never known a moment of sorrow. Just comb your hair, put it back in an elegant little knot, powder your nose, smack a smile on your face, and speak in a low subdued voice. Remember to say “thank you” and “please” and smile at the doorman. The mark of good breeding. Like a show dog, or a well-trained horse.