Chapter 2
Roman sat at his desk, reviewing the specs on a new yacht that a German manufacturer wanted him to buy, when the phone rang.
Janine's voice came over the intercom. "Roman, it's that cute little sales Captain from the Netherlands; you know, the one in Europe."
"Yes, thank you, Janine. Put him through." Roman smiled. Janine was from the Bronx. She dressed like it, she spoke like it, she looked and acted like it, and it was one of the reasons he hired her. No one got to him unless they got through her first, and that was a chore.
"This is Roman," he answered his phone when it rang.
"Hello Roman! This is Jonathon Heatherwick. How are you doing?" he asked in his jovial voice.
Roman grinned and leaned back in his chair. "Well hello, Captain! How are you doing this fine day?"
"I'm wonderful, thank you, but my, it's been so long since I saw you, when was the last visit we had?" the old captain asked, reminiscing.
Roman knew right away when the last visit was. He touched his wrist where the silver bracelet used to rest, until he took it off six months after the day he'd bought it. It hurt his heart too much to wear it, and Denise hated it. She constantly made ugly remarks about it to him, and he couldn't bear to listen to her any longer, so he took it off and hid it in a special box in his closet.
"It was a year ago, good Captain,” he said solemnly. His mind flashed back to memories of her in his head. Memories that he only let filter through his thoughts once in a while, like sunlight on a foggy cloudy day, but those days were very few and far between. He focused on his business all of the time, and tried to keep up with his wife, and that was all.
"A year? Well that's too long. Listen, I have a new boat, and I want you to get the first crack at it. I'm going to bring it to you in San Francisco." Jonathon bubbled through the phone and Roman could hear the smile he knew the Captain was wearing.
"Well, if you're coming over here, please stay with me, I have tons of room in my house, and you're more than welcome to be my guest. I'd love to have you." Roman was glad to think of his old friend coming to the city.
Jonathon paused. "You still married to that woman?"
Roman blinked. "Denise? Yes." Jonathon had met her twice, and both times she had treated him like a barnacle on the bottom of a boat.
"Oh, well, uh.... I think I'll stay on the yacht. Thanks though, but it's a real dandy of a boat and I wouldn't want to trouble you at home." Jonathon stumbled through a declination.
Roman chuckled a little. "Maybe I'll come stay on the boat with you while you're here."
Jonathon let loose a long belly laugh, and said, "Son, you'd be welcome to. You come anytime you like, yes sir, you come alone any time you feel like it."
It was Roman's turn to let out a good laugh and he shook his head. "Alright, well, you let me know when you'll be here."
"I should arrive a week from Wednesday," Jonathon answered.
"Very good, I'll have a berth ready for you at my marina. It'll be good to see you again, Captain." Roman laughed again and hung up the phone.
He pressed the intercom. "Janine?"
She answered him back, "Yes?"
"Would you please make sure there's a berth ready at the marina for Captain Heatherwick when he arrives next Wednesday?"
"I already did it. I'm way ahead of you." She laughed at him and he smiled and shook his head.
"That's why you're working here, Janine. I couldn't run such a tight ship without you."
Roman hung up and his thoughts tried to take him to that dream weekend a year ago, but he shook his head and pushed the thoughts from his mind. He never allowed himself the freedom to really think about her or what happened between them, he just pushed it to a corner of his mind and told himself that it was a beautiful dream he'd had.
Denise was still as she had been with him, and except for the weekend with Cami, he had not had a woman in his bed, any woman, in four years. He took a deep breath and sighed, letting it out and letting it go, and then he went back to work.
A short time later, Allen came rushing into his office from down the hall. "I've got great news!" he said happily, sitting at Roman's desk.
Roman looked up from his computer. "Yeah? What's that?" he asked with high hopes.
Allen leaned forward in his chair. "Well, I just got off the phone with the Senator-"
Janine buzzed in and said with a disapproving tone, "'The Wife' is here."
Roman looked from Allen who seemed as though he might burst, to his telephone. "Well, I'm in a meeting, she'll have to-"
"I'd be glad to stop her for you, Mistah Bruce, but you have to promise me that you won't have me arrested if I do," Janine said loudly over the intercom.
The door of his office was flung open for the second time in about three minutes and a tall, leggy redhead with an extremely voluptuous and expensive body, sashayed through the door.
"I do not have to wait. I never have to wait. I'm your wife,” she purred with narrowed eyes, glaring at him.
"Ya know, if you wore bells on ya hips, you'd be your own brass band when you walked. Maybe then you could make ya own money," Janine snapped at Denise as she closed Roman's office door.
Allen almost choked trying to hold back his laugh and Roman just shook his head and looked up at Denise.
She was wearing a thin little royal blue, satin dress that was too tight to really fit her; it was extremely low cut over her enormous chest, and high cut over her knees so that when she sat, the edge of her thigh-high stockings peaked out of the slit up the dress on the side of her leg. Her red hair was piled in a messy bun at the back of her head, and her makeup was on a little thicker than usual. She must be trying to impress someone, he thought.
"Why are you here?" Roman asked his wife, leaning back in his chair.
She shifted her shoulders haughtily. "Well, I have some important news that we need to talk about." She looked down her nose at Allen. "So you can leave and go back to your hole."
Allen grew defensive, which he rarely did with Denise. "Listen, you aren't the only one with big news, and I happen to be in a meeting with Roman right now, an important meeting which you just interrupted!"
Denise turned her narrow gaze to her husband. "Roman, kick him out. Now."
Roman furrowed his brow at her. "I'm not kicking him out. We were in the middle of a meeting!"
She sat forward in her chair and bounced her breasts up as she arranged herself for better posture. "Well, this is more important."
Roman sighed and covered his eyes with his hand. Then he lowered his hand and shook his head at Allen, who was desperate to share his news with Roman.
"Alright, Denise. What's so important?" Roman sighed and looked at her with tired eyes.
"Well!" she exclaimed importantly. "I was at the yacht club for lunch today; did you know they're serving that escargot again? Who the hell wants to eat snails? I told them they have to stop serving it, but they are ignoring me again. I told them if they didn't listen to me, I'd have you fire them."
Roman leaned forward in his chair and looked at his wife with a dangerous expression. "You came in here and interrupted me to tell me about escargot?"
She waved her hand at him and shook her head, making her red curls swing around.
"No, no, no. That's just one of the things. Let me finish! So anyway, I want the escargot taken off the menu, permanently. The other thing is that I was sitting in the sauna with Cressida Halston and Bethany Woodrow, you know they're from-"
In a rare moment of frustration, Roman lost his patience. "Why are you here?!" he demanded. He had been put on edge a bit from his morning's memories, and his wife was no help, whatsoever.
She glared at him. "How dare you talk to me like that! Who do you think you're talking to?" She began to stand up and her breasts almost fell out of the front of her dress. "I won't put up with anyone talking to me like that!"
"Denise!" Roman almost shouted.
She sat down in a huff and shrugged her shoulders. "Well, I only wanted to tell you that girls at the club told me that they heard from Carmen Johnson, who is Senator Edward Johnson's wife, that he wants to buy a yacht from you."
Allen snapped his head in Denise's direction, and his jaw fell open in shock, and then he bit it shut again in anger.
Roman saw it and he turned his attention to Allen. "What was it that you were so excited to tell me?"
Allen gritted his teeth. "I just got off the phone with the Senator and he wants to buy a boat from us."
"Great work, Allen, I appreciate all that you're doing to make that happen." Roman smiled at him apologetically.
Denise shook her head. "Oh no... we're not leaving it up to him to make it happen. I'm not letting a chance like this go! Do you know how good it would be for us to be associated with the Senator and his wife? Carmen is a goddess in the social circles of this state! Granted, she had humble beginnings-"
Roman sighed and looked at her with decreasing patience. "She was his nanny."
Denise continued as if he hadn't spoken. "-but now she's really shown herself to be a woman of style and power, and I need to do everything I can to make this sale happen so we can get to know them and be friends with them. Can you imagine the look on Muriel Barnaby's face when she finds out that the Senator and his wife are our best friends? Ah! She'll be jade green with envy. I can't wait!"
Denise turned and glared at Allen. "We can't afford to screw this up, so we can't leave it in the hands of the hired help."
Allen’s eyes narrowed into thin slits.
Denise looked right at Roman. "We have to find a yacht for them right away-"
Roman leaned back in his chair again. "I already have one on the way."
Denise lowered her gaze at Roman for just a moment and continued, "Anyway, we need a yacht for them as soon as possible. When will this new one be coming?"
"Wednesday," Roman said, watching her with increasing irritation.
"Good! That's going to give me just enough time to put together a big party for the Senator and Carmen. If the boat gets here Wednesday, then we'll set the party for Friday, and I'll make sure to invite all the right people, and all the right press. We’ll have our photos in the paper on the society page, and we'll become best friends with the Johnsons.” She was practically glowing pink with her excitement, until she glared at both Roman and Allen.
"Don't do anything to screw this up or I'll never forgive you." She stood up and walked toward the door, swaying her hips from side to side and as she did so, Roman thought of Janine's snarky comment and had to raise his finger over his lips to hide the laugh that threatened to emerge. She turned dramatically at the door and looked back at Roman.
"So, next Friday, party on the new yacht, no other plans that day, and get a decent suit, you look like hell all the time now." Then she turned and walked out of Roman's office, leaving the door wide open.
"Don't let that front door hit you on the ass when you leave, Denise, I don't want the front door dented!" Janine called out to her, and Roman enjoyed the chuckle and closed his office door.
He walked to his desk and sat down with a sigh, looking at Allen. "I'm very sorry about her."
"I know," Allen said, standing up and walking to the door. "Me, too."
"Good job with the Senator, Allen," Roman said with a smile. "I'm really proud of you."
Allen nodded with a smile and walked out of Roman's office, closing the door behind him.
Janine walked in a few minutes later and handed him the mail for the day. Roman looked up at her. She was short and stout, she had dark hair that was turning silver at the temples, and she had a cute face, which belied the sassy attitude underneath.
"Janine..." Roman said quietly. She turned to look at him.
"Yes?" she answered.
"Why do you call her 'The Wife'?" he asked, almost not wanting to know but still morbidly curious.
Janine smirked. "I could call her something else. I have a long list of things I call her that I usually speak sotto voce. I could raise the volume of my voice when I use those names."
Roman chuckled and shook his head. "No, that's alright. As you were."
She nodded and walked to his door and then turned and looked at him. "I call her that only out of respect for you. She doesn't deserve that title."
Roman stared at Janine, and she turned and walked out of the door, closing it behind
her. He shook his head and went back to work.
The week passed and he hardly saw Denise; she was in a frenzy of activity, rushing about and getting ready for her big socialite party aboard the new yacht, which looked to be fancier than any yacht he had ever purchased before. The Captain had sent him the specs, and this one was grander, as well as being ecologically sound. That was one of Allen's major selling points to the Senator. It was green, and this Senator was the walking, breathing definition of green.
Janine had reminded Roman to go buy a new suit for the big event, and he'd gone shopping and found something he thought would work. He brought it back to the office, and having no one to try it on for at home or anywhere else, he took it to work to run it past Janine. Denise would only have criticized him, but Janine had good taste, and she would be honest without being vicious to him.
He pulled the trousers on and was standing in his office bare from the waist up as he wrestled with the buttons on the shirt when Janine walked in and stopped short, staring at him. "I don't think you'd better go to the party looking like that, but I also think the only person who would object would be your wife."
Roman looked at her in exasperation. "Janine! Please knock first!"
She nodded. "Well, normally I would, but you've got a special visitor here and I thought I'd send them right in to you."
"Janine! I can't see anyone right now, I'm half-" he stopped short and stared at the doorway, his shirt in his hands, as his mouth fell open in utter shock.
Janine moved aside as Cami walked in, pushing a pretty pink stroller in front of her. She looked up at Roman and gave him a little smile. "It's okay, I've seen it before."
The shirt fell from Roman's hands, but other than that, nothing in the room moved or made any sound for a long, long moment. Janine glanced back and forth between them. "Well, I've got things to do." She stepped out and closed the door behind her.
Roman tried to think; he tried to remember to breathe, tried to remember to move and speak, and slowly, as though he was thawing out. Finally, he was able to draw a breath.
"Aren't you going to say anything?" Cami asked, looking at him nervously.
He felt the blood moving in his legs again and he took slow steps toward her. "How... how is this happening? How are you here?"
The realization hit him and he gasped as tears stung his eyes. No one had ever made him feel as cherished and alive as this woman had made him feel, and she'd disappeared after their time together, with no word, no note, no contact at all for a whole year, and now suddenly she was standing in front of him. It was like he had woken up again and everything in his soul began to move once more, drawing him to her and setting him on fire with life once more.
He rushed to her and wrapped his arms around her, holding her close to him. "It's you!" he laughed through his tears. "It's you! I never thought I'd see you again. I thought it was all just a dream... it seemed so unreal as more time passed, and now you're here! You're..." He stopped talking and stepped back from her, looking at her as though she was the reason there was suddenly light in his life again. He leaned down to kiss her, but she turned away and he stopped, staring in confusion and then stepped backward.
"What's wrong?" he asked quietly.
She shook her head and laughed at him. "Can you see anything but me right now?"
He finally looked down and saw the stroller at her side and he stared anew.
It was a bassinet stroller, and the back was laid down while the top was pulled up in a canopy, so Roman had to walk around beside Cami to look down into it.
"What... what..." he whispered as his jumbled thoughts and emotions began to form some semblance of logic. “You... you had a baby?"
She shook her head. "No... Roman, we had a baby."
He could have been knocked over with a feather.
There was another long silence from him as this information sunk into his head. He was a father. He had a child. He had a daughter, by the looks of all the pink the baby was wrapped up in. Cami was back. Cami was standing in front of him, looking far more beautiful than he remembered in his dreams, and she was telling him that they had a child together.
"You should sit down." She said it gently, reaching for him and taking his hand. He held her hand in his, but he didn't move when she pulled a little on his arm. Instead, he looked down into the stroller and saw a precious baby with dark curls and chubby cheeks, a little button nose and beautiful dark pink lips. Her long eyelashes rested against her dark caramel skin and her fingers were curled around her blanket.
"I'm a father...." he whispered aloud, feeling amazed at the sound of it.
"Why didn't you ever tell me? Why didn't you let me know? I would have helped you; I would have wanted to be a part of all of it!" He turned to look at her and saw that she was smiling through silent tears. He reached out to her and wrapped his arms around her, pulling her close to him and rocking her as he closed his eyes. "You're here, you're real, and we have a daughter. I can't believe this at all, but I won't let go of it for anything."
She wrapped her arms around him too, and held him close, burying her face in his chest. She had faced so much alone without him. Now that he was holding her, it felt like he was taking his part of the weight from her, part of the burden and stress, his part of the joy and happiness, and his portion of all of the things that she had borne alone without him during the year they had been apart. It was profound for her and she wept and he held her.
She felt the feel of his skin against her cheek as she laid her face on his chest, and she closed her eyes, knowing that this was not a way for them to be. She picked her face up to look at him and he took her face in his hands and moved to kiss her again, but she turned away once more.
"No... we can't!" she whispered painfully.
He blinked at her. The last time she had been in his arms, they were making love. The last time she had been in his arms, they were making the baby that was sleeping beside them.
"What is it? You don't want me to touch you?" he asked in confusion.
She shook her head. "No, it's not that." She sighed. "You're still married, and I'm not your wife, or your lady; I'm just a woman you had an affair with once, and now we have a baby. I didn't know what to do for a long time, for the entire term of the pregnancy, really, but then after she was born, I knew I had to come up here to find you and tell you, to give you a chance to be a father to her, but you and I... we can only be friends.
“I'm not going to be your mistress, Roman. You aren't like that, and I'm not like that. Neither of us needs that in our lives, and our daughter deserves the best situation from both of us. That means we have to step up to the responsibilities of being the best parents we can be, which means that we can't be sneaking around together behind your wife's back.
“You're married, you're hers, and this baby is ours, and we are friends, and that's how it is, and that's how it's going to be. I'm just here so you can be around her." Cami spoke sadly, but truthfully, and he knew she was right.
He had no right at all to try to be more than friends with her, and he knew it deep down in his soul. "I'm sorry. I apologize. It's just... seeing you... it brought everything back for me, and I just wanted to... I needed to...." He looked down at his daughter, sleeping peacefully. "This isn't about us anymore, though, it's only about her." He looked up at Cami again. "I understand. I'm so sorry that you went through all of it alone. I promise to make it up to you." He turned and looked at her fully. "Are you still living in Los Angeles?"
She shook her head. "No, I'd like to try to find a place up here so we can raise her together. It's too much for me to try to do it on my own, and I don't want you to miss out on any of it."
"I'm here! I'm here. I'll help you. Never worry about that; never worry about it again." He walked over to door and opened it up, calling for Janine. Then he walked back over to the stroller and looked down at his daughter again.
"What's her name?" he asked softly, feeling the joy in him overflow and spread the smile on his face.
Cami walked toward him and looked down at their daughter. "Her name is Emma. Emma Bruce."
He looked up at her quickly. "You gave her my last name?" he grinned.
Cami smiled and laughed a little. "Of course I did; she's your daughter."
"How old is she?" he asked.
"She's two and a half months old," Cami said as their daughter began to stir and open her eyes. Cami leaned down and picked her up carefully. "Would you like to hold her?"
Roman nodded and grinned the biggest grin of his life as Cami placed the baby girl in his arms. She stared up at her father with big brown eyes; his brown eyes, they weren't as dark as her mother's eyes; and he felt like he could cry with joy forever.
Emma reached her little hand up and touched her father's face and Roman fell in love with her then, for the rest of his life.
"Yes?" Janine said, walking into the room and taking in the scene with a sly smile.
Roman turned to look at her and she raised her eyebrows.
"Janine, please close the door," he said softly.
She closed it and looked at him, waiting expectantly.
"Janine, this is my dear friend Cami, Cami this is my secretary and right hand, Janine." He nodded as he introduced them to each other while his baby patted his face.
The ladies shook hands and Cami grinned at Janine, who gave her a wide smile back.
"Janine, this is my daughter, Emma." He looked up at Janine who tried to blink back the water in her own eyes while her mouth pulled back wide. "Cami and Emma need a place to live, a car to drive, and bank accounts opened in their names. Please take care of that for them right away."
"It would be my honor, Roman," she said, her grin splitting open as she walked toward the baby to look at her more closely.
She gasped and giggled. "Look at that little pipsqueak!" She reached up and tickled Emma's face, and Emma smiled at her happily. "Don't you worry about anything at all, little pipsqueak! Your Auntie Janine is going to take care of everything! Yes I am!"
Janine looked up at Roman and shook her head in joy. "It's about time you got some good in your life. Cami," she said, turning toward the woman standing at Roman's side, "don't you go anywhere. You stay with this man for the rest of your lives."
She turned and headed toward the door, just barely reaching for the doorknob when she turned to look over her shoulder at Roman.
"What do I do about 'The Wife'?" she asked as though the words left a sour taste in her mouth.
Roman pursed his lips and looked at Emma, grinning away at him. "She doesn't need to know anything about this yet. Let's leave that be for now. I'll cross that bridge when I come to it. There's no reason to make all of our lives miserable just because we let her in on the greatest thing that's ever happened to me."
Janine nodded and walked out of the room, closing the door behind her, and Cami laughed. "Well, that's one way to do it!"
Roman turned and looked at her, laughing with her, and he said, "That's the only way to do it. The less she knows, the happier we will all be." He lifted Emma up in the air, bouncing her just a little and then bringing her back down to his chest to cuddle with her.
"Besides, your Auntie Janine is going to have everything all squared away for you in no time, and then you won't have a single worry in the whole wide world. Not one." He leaned forward to kiss her and as he reached her skin, her scent stopped him and he closed his eyes and breathed in the scent of his daughter's skin. It sparked something in him, and new places in his heart opened up where there had been nothing before.
He kissed her and felt the sweet softness of her baby skin on his lips. It brought new worlds of joy to him and a tear rolled down his cheek.
Cami stepped toward him and grinned. "There's nothing in the world like her, is there?" she asked knowingly.
He shook his head. "Nothing at all." He held her close and looked at Cami. "Thank you so much for bringing her here to me and for letting me have this chance with her. I'm going to do everything I can to give you both a good life."
Cami shook her head. "Well, I'm not here for me, but for her..." she smiled at Emma.
Roman looked at her intently. "Absolutely for you. You went almost a whole year on your own with her, through the pregnancy, the labor, the birth, through raising her on your own for a couple of months; there's all of that. There’s the fact that you mean a great deal to me, Cami, and I'm not about to let the mother of my baby, and one of my dearest friends, go without the best. It's my duty and my privilege to do everything I can for the both of you."
She walked up to him and wrapped her arm around him, and laying her head on his bare shoulder as they looked at their daughter. "Aren't we all the lucky ones, then," she said with more elation in her heart than she had felt in a long time.
"I didn't know if I should come; it's so funny, I was so worried about it, and now here I am, with you and her, all of us together, and it's incredible. I'm just sorry that I waited so long to come to you. I wish I'd done it sooner, and that you had been able to be in the hospital."
Roman shrugged. "Well, that's all past; this is what we have now, and what we have now is the best that I've ever had, so I'll take it."
Cami held him tight and he wrapped his arms around them both, and they stood there holding each other, the new little family; a precious secret to be shared.
Emma grew hungry and began to fuss, and her mother sat down to breast feed her. Roman watched in fascination and couldn't believe that anyone would ever have a problem with women breast feeding in public; it looked like the most natural and beautiful thing in the world to him.
Cami looked up at him as he watched her. "There's a good reason for my chest to be bare. Why are you running around your office half naked?" She looked at him with a raised eyebrow.
He blushed slightly and walked over to where his shirt was laying on the floor. He bent and picked it up and she didn't stop herself from appreciating his physique as he moved around her. She took a deep breath and tried to keep the memory of the feel of his body against hers out of her mind.
"Well, actually, it's kind of a mess, but part of it is good. Captain Heatherwick, who was on our cruise, is bringing another yacht into the marina today, and he's going to stay on it for a short visit while I decide if I'm going to buy it and then sell it to Senator Johnson. Senator Johnson and his wife Carmen are really interested in buying a yacht from me, and in joining my yacht club.
“My dear wife, whose eyes are always on the social aspect of things, is keen to have them become our new best friends so that she can brag to all and sundry that she is now a close personal confidant of the Senator of the great state of California. Myself, I don't care; I just want to be out on the water."
He pulled the shirt on and buttoned it up as he spoke and Cami watched him as he slowly covered his chest, one button at a time. She couldn't help feeling a little disappointed to see him dressing.
Roman continued. "So, in an effort to impress the Senator and his wife, Denise is planning some big bash on the yacht to impress him with her almost non-existent social status and convince him to buy the yacht. Janine, in a bid to save me from the wrath of my persnickety wife, sent me out to buy a new suit for the big bash, as my wife instructed me to do.
“This is that suit. I was trying it on when you came in, and that is why," he tucked the shirt in and pulled the jacket on, leaving the top two buttons on the shirt undone, "I was half dressed when you walked in; or rather, half naked, depending on your perspective of things." He winked at her.
"It's not nice to tease. Behave," she said with a grin at him.
He nodded. "Fair enough."
She burped the baby and as she was patting Emma's back, Cami looked at Roman and said thoughtfully, "You know, when we get a place, I'll want you to come over anytime you like and you can start feeding her, too."
Roman raised one eyebrow. "Uh... I'm not equipped for that." He smiled at her.
Cami laughed out loud at him. "You're too much. I have a breast pump, Roman, I'll pump the milk for her and put it in a bottle and then you can feed her. Daddy duty."
Roman looked excited at the prospect. "Absolutely! I can't wait!" He looked one hundred percent as if he meant every word of it, and he did.
When Cami and Emma left the office that day, after Auntie Janine had taken her turn to hold the baby and play with her, and then deciding that her nickname would be Pip, short for Pipsqueak, Roman watched them leave and realized that there was almost no way that his life could be better. Almost. It was hard to watch Cami leave and feel so confused in his heart about her and about Denise and his marriage vows.
He had no idea how he would explain it to his wife, but somehow, he was sure, he would find a way, and then maybe the nagging pull in his heart for Cami would go away and they could be the friends that they started out being on Captain Heatherwick's beautiful yacht.