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“That must be pretty incredible.”
He smiled. “It was special to watch what they shared.”
Again she paused. “Can I ask you something personal?”
“Always.”
“What do you do for her?”
“Do for her?”
“At my appointment, she said she’d do anything for you, and she didn’t make me pay for the visit, so I wondered why. There has to be more to it than Charles was your mentor and close friend.” He could almost see her shrug. “Or it seemed like more.”
His initial reaction was not to tell her, considering he hadn’t talked about it since Charles’s death, but he’d demanded the truth from her. “Charles had pancreatic cancer. He fought hard and lived for twenty months after the diagnosis, yet in the end, it took him. Before he died, he asked me to take care of Mary.”
“Do you not want to talk about this?” Presley whispered. “We don’t have to.”
He hadn’t realized that he sounded any different, though his voice mu
st’ve been drenched with grief. “It’s all right, doll.” He sighed, swallowed the emotion. “That time in my life was hard, but let me answer you.”
She stayed silent and he continued, “When Charles first got sick, I was only a few years out of college, and as I told you, I worked beneath him at the casino. His medical bills drained the family financially, since some of the unconventional treatments weren’t covered by his insurance. Before Charles died, he asked me to make sure Mary and their children were always looked after. At that time, I didn’t give her much because I didn’t have much myself, but that changed, and I do continue to help her.”
In her sweet voice that sounded so restrained with questions, she said, “That’s really nice of you.”
He frowned, shaking his head. “Doll, ask what you want to know.”
“How much do you give her?” She groaned, and he could only imagine that her head was in her hands, with her cheeks flushed bright red. “Oh my God, you don’t have to answer that. I can’t believe I asked.”
“It’s all right to be curious. I think anyone would be.” He softened his voice. “Once I became president of the casino, I paid off her mortgage to clear up her biggest debt, making her monthly expenses easier to manage on her income. Now I typically deposit a hundred thousand into her account every year to restore the savings they lost with Charles’s treatments and, likely, what he would’ve provided for the family. But this year was good to me, so I deposited a hundred thousand into each of the kids’ college funds.”
“Oh.”
Dmitri turned on the couch and raised his feet onto the armrest, staring out of his office window into the dark night. He knew the number impressed her, but money would never be enough. “It’s all relative. I give that much money because I have the means to. Charles gave me purpose and changed my life when I needed it. No sum can pay back that debt.” He ran his hand over his tired eyes. “To ensure that his wife lives the lifestyle she would have if he’d lived, and puts their three children through college, is the least I can do.”
She changed the subject. “Do you see her often?”
“No.”
“Why?”
“We tried in the year after his death to see each other monthly, but it became too hard for her.” He remembered how frail Mary looked and how much worse that got after their visits. The decision not to see each other often and talk on the phone had been his idea, but Mary had accepted it without reluctance. “Seeing me is a reminder of what she lost.”
Presley sighed. “Yeah, I can see why it would be.” She paused again. “Is it hard for you, too?”
Dmitri bristled at her question. It had been so long since anyone had asked him something that private. His friends were men who didn’t discuss such things, and the only women he knew on a personal level were Club Sin submissives who would never dare approach him in that manner.
He sighed away the tension in his chest and wondered how he felt about his dinner with Mary. It did bring back the ache of Charles’s absence, yet the truth stared him dead in the face. “It is difficult to face the memory of Charles. I do miss him. But Mary needs to thank me for my help, or argue with me for providing it, and I won’t refuse her that.”
“I see.”
Dmitri swallowed past the emotion within her voice. If she were with him now, he’d embrace her. “Doll, you have a sweet heart that you care so much for others.”
Presley took two deep breaths before she said, “I was just thinking the same thing about you.”
* * *
On Monday night, Presley turned over in bed, squinting in the darkness as she looked at her clock on the nightstand. The green lights displayed nine o’clock. She sighed, rubbing her heavy eyes, as the workday had been long. Her hands ached from the nonstop clients who sat in her dental chair. Why hadn’t Dmitri called?
