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Catarina squealed in delight. “I like cats.”
“No one has ever called you Cat for short?”
“No.” She screwed up her little face as she thought about it. “Nonna calls me Catarina il mio po ’di sole.”
Shakarri worked out the meaning and determined it was something like my little sunshine. “Goodness, she calls you that every time?”
Cat giggled. “Yes. Come see my room, Mamma Sha.”
A warm feeling washed over Shakarri. She followed Cat from the hall into her room and paused at the explosion of color. Cat must own every toy that was ever made in the history of entertaining kids, and her room was literally bigger than Shakarri’s old apartment. “Wow, honey, I don’t remember there being this much stuff in here when your dad took me on a tour of the house. Did your toys multiply?”
Cat ran to the double closet doors and threw them wide. “See? My clothes.”
“They grew too!”
The little girl was getting a kick out of Shakarri’s shock. She bounced and spun, swinging her arms and grinned as if she had performed magic to make the items increase. “I’m here now.”
“I know you’re here, sweetheart. I can see you.”
She stopped spinning and wobbled a bit. “No, I’m here from now on. I live with Papà forever and ever.”
Shakarri gaped. “F-full-time?”
Ezio never told her his daughter would come to live with them. In fact, he had been clear in telling her Cat didn’t stay with him as often as he might have liked because he was so busy with work. Was this in his plan all along? If it was, he was going to hear from her. Not that she expected him to dump Cat on her. It was obvious that Cat still had her nanny, and no one had awakened Shakarri that morning to get her to look after Cat. Their way of doing things around here still came across as unnatural, but Shakarri needed to know if there was a change in what Ezio expected.
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After she played with Cat a while, Paxe put the little girl down for a nap amidst loud complaints that she was practically a grown-up and didn’t need naps anymore. How three-years-old was almost grown, Shakarri didn’t know.
Chuckling, Shakarri headed to the door, but Paxe stopped her on the way. “Signora, thank you for playing with Signorina Catarina. She lonely, but you make her feel better.”
Shakarri paused. “Lonely? She’s got you and her dad, and she hasn’t been here that long.”
“I different. Her mamma no longer keep her.”
“Oh, you mean because they decided she would live with Ezio from now on? I don’t have kids, but I can’t imagine how she gave up her baby. Not even for visitation every other day. I would want my little girl with me all the time.”
The nanny twisted her hands and looked away. “She not have a choice. Signore Ezio—” Her eyes widened, and she clamped her lips together, looking horrified that she’d been about to gossip about Ezio.
I don’t blame her. She doesn’t know me. I might go back and tell him for all she knows.
A new thought struck Shakarri. “Are you trying to say Ezio bullied her into giving up her daughter?”
The nanny bustled toward the closet. “I have to get Signorina Catarina’s closet straight before she wakes up. Per favore, have a good day, signora.”
Shakarri started to follow her but then determined what was the use. Paxe had said all she would say. She wasn’t the gossiping type, and Shakarri let it go. Besides, she had been able to make an appointment with her doctor for that day and needed to get to it on time.
She left Cat’s room and headed downstairs. The house lay in silence, but as soon as her foot touched down on the first floor, Goro appeared from out of thin air. “Signora, Pete will go with you today.”
She frowned. “Who?”
He gestured, and another silent man stood some feet away. His broad shoulders and thick arms said bodyguard. “I haven’t chosen a bodyguard yet.”
Goro reddened. “Pete will go with you today.”
She gave up. Talking to him was like talking to a wall. Besides, the way Goro said it, she thought maybe Pete was temporary. Ezio might not intend to override her determination to help choose her own guard. This sour-faced man would do for now, but he gave her the willies. She wanted a guard who looked dependable but wasn’t so harsh-looking he scared her. That and she needed to know he was loyal to her. The last requirement might be tough being that he would know who paid his salary.
In forty minutes, Shakarri made it to her old doctor’s office. Hopefully, Pete was too new to be briefed him on the fact that Ezio insisted on a different doctor when they got involved, one that the upper crust used and probably someone he had in his pocket. Shakarri wanted confidentiality.
