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He reached forward in the small space of the elevator to take her hand. His white palm, crisscrossed with spiderwebs of brown intrigued her. That was not how his hand looked before. What had happened to him?
Maybe something had happened to him.
Was that why she never heard from him again?
He pulled his hand back from her and turned facing forward, letting them both get a good glimpse of his strong back. The same back she had clung to many nights in the summer of 1942, writhing, twisting, crying out underneath him in pleasure that bordered on pain.
The elevator bounced, matching the roller coaster emotions in her belly. “Don’t worry ladies. This lift got a mind of its own, but I have control of it.”
He pulled the gate back, then the doors, pulling Andie’s bed off the lift by her feet. Cat stepped gingerly over the edge, not wanting to get a heel caught. “This way. She’s going to be on the top floor in the penthouse suite.”
Andie giggled from beneath the sheets. Giggle? Her daughter? Not since the horrifying morning when she complained she didn’t feel like going outside to play, had Andie giggled in any way. Yet, here was Mike, the creator of the best and worst in her life, causing her to giggle.
She didn’t know whether to laugh or cry.
Turning to look at her as he pushed the bed down the little narrow hallway, he said over his firm shoulder to her, “She’s something, your little one here.”
She pushed her pocketbook further up her arm. “Yes, she is.”
“Smart too. Anyone can see that.”
“Thank you.”
“I was at the top of my class,” Andie interjected without invitation. “And when I go back to school…”
“Hush, Andie.” She spoke up loudly in the hallway so her daughter could hear her.
“We got school here, Andie. Bet you didn’t know that. You probably smarter than all the kids here put together.” Mike’s deep voice rose over hers and caused her busy child to calm.
What was she thinking of? What was he? Should he even say that?
“Please. Don’t cause trouble here.”
Mike fixed her with a strong look. “It’s not about trouble Cat, it’s about truth.”
“Well, all of these children can hear you. The doors are open.”
“Hey, they know what it is when someone new comes in. Makes them stronger and up for the competition. And your child will be a fierce fighter, I know.”
He stopped them in front of the smallest room at the end of the hall. “Here you are, my lady. Your suite.”
Giggles again. “Thank you.”
What was it about Mike that allowed him to have that way with females? It was better not to be with him. He did her the biggest favor leaving her on that hot August day, leaving her sobbing and clinging to his arm, his promises of returning to her echoing in her ears. It would be nothing but trouble to have to deal with a man who insisted on flirting with females, charming and schmoozing his way through life. She didn’t deserve that.
Pushing the bed with Andie in it beside a saggy, worse looking bed, he pulled back Andie’s sheet, and she could hear the sharp intake of breath from him.
Yes, her daughter’s case was bad. Her small, skinny coal-black limbs were twisted and contorted. To make it worse, Andie suffered her summer rashes and so the crooks of her knees and elbows screamed bright blood red with inflammation.
Cat righted herself. No matter what, she didn’t want his pity. Everyone had their cross to bear, and hers was Andie. She would protect her and help her no matter what.
“Got to move you to this new bed, chocolate drop. I’ll lift you up and you let me know when you are ready.”
“I’m ready, mister.”
Gently, with great tenderness, Mike slipped his large hand underneath Andie’s braids, cradling her neck, supporting it. His other hand rested on the underside of Andie’s thin thighs, where no strength resided anymore.
How did he know?
