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Toby nodded.
“And I’m Natalie. What’s your name?”
“Toby. His name’s Toby,” Rick supplied quickly.
Toby reached out shyly and touched one of the bangles on Natalie’s dress. A silvery laugh escaped her. In a vamp’s voice, she said, “You like? Come zeez way, my darlink.” Taking Toby by the hand, she rose. The Saint Bernard trailed behind as she led the boy back into the parlor, circling around the bemused Rick for the second time.
At one end of the sofa lay a huge old steamer trunk, its lid flung back, various articles of clothing spilling out. Natalie led Toby right to it.
“This trunk was my grandma Kate’s,” she announced. “It belongs in the attic.” She pantomimed wiping her brow. “Don’t ask me how I managed to get it down here. Boy, was it heavy!” She groaned. “And how I’ll get it back up is another thing.” She shrugged. “I’ll think of something. Later. But for right now, Bernie and I have been having fun. I found this fabulous dress in there.” She looked down at her bangles and beads and then up long enough to grant Rick a wink. “Not to mention these incredible shoes. And some of my grandpa Ben’s things are in here, too.”
She knelt by the trunk. Toby stood to her left, and the Saint Bernard dropped to his haunches on her right. “You see, Toby, this house was my grandma and grandpa’s ‘second honeymoon’ house.” She began pulling things from the trunk. “When they’d been married a long, long time and two of their kids were pretty much grown, they bought this house across the lake from their big mansion.”
She pulled out a flowered scarf, a wide-brimmed pink hat and a black patent-leather clutch purse, all of which she set on the floor. “Do you know why they bought it? I’ll tell you. They bought it because they realized they’d grown apart over the years and they needed to find each other again. This house was the perfect place for that. It was simple and quiet and comfortable and they both fell in love with it. And they hoped that they might fall in love with each other again when they stayed here.”
She lowered her voice to a conspiratorial whisper. “And do you know what?” Toby was watching her, his small face rapt. “They did find each other again. Nine months after they spent one beautiful week here, my grandma had another baby.”
Natalie began dressing the Saint Bernard in the things she’d pulled from the trunk. “It’s true.” She slanted the wide-brimmed hat just so on the dog’s head. “After one short stay in this house, Grandma Kate had my aunt Rebecca, who is only a few years older than I am.” Natalie tied the flowered scarf around the dog’s neck and stuck the purse in his mouth. Then she clapped her hands in delight and declared, “He looks great, don’t you think?”
Toby actually nodded. The dog thumped his heavy tail.
Natalie looked up and caught Rick watching her. She flashed him a quick grin, then rose and advised Toby, “Go ahead without me. Bernie loves to play dress-up.” Bernie managed to bark in agreement without dropping the purse from his big, droopy jaws. “I’m going to show your father the house.”
She moved out from behind the trunk. “Ready for the tour?”
Captivated, Rick heard himself say, “Sure.”
She marched past him in her silly, glittery shoes. He fell in step behind her, but couldn’t resist one backward glance at his son, who was trying on a World War II army helmet and ducking to avoid Bernie’s affectionate tongue.
Natalie led him to the foyer and up the stairs first, explaining that the house had been thoroughly modernized four years before, that the kitchen had been remodeled and a bath and a half added.
“Now all the windows are double-paned.” She smiled over her shoulder at him. “And you’ll even have air-conditioning, for those hot summer days.”
Rick listened to her little sales pitch, but his mind was on what had happened in the parlor. As they reached the top of the landing, he couldn’t help remarking, “You have a way with kids.”
She shrugged her padded shoulders, and the beadwork on her dress glinted in the buttery sunlight that spilled in the window over the stairs. “Kids and dogs. What can I say?”
“Next you’ll be telling me you’re a kindergarten teacher.”
“First and second grade, actually. I teach at the school in town.”
“Town?”
“You came out from the Cities, right?”
“Yeah.”
“Well, if you keep going on the road you took to get here, you’ll come to Travistown, around the far end of the lake. Population three hundred and forty. We have our own school, though a few grades always get combined, and we have a market, a hardware store and a couple of gift and clothing shops. And Walleye Property Management, of course.”
“Right. Bud Tankhurst is one of the agents there.”
“Bud Tankhurst is the only agent there. He owns it and he runs it. His wife, Latilla, does the books for him.”
“I see.” Her eyes really were the biggest, brownest eyes he’d ever seen. And her face was…familiar.
Her smooth brow furrowed. “Is Toby all right?”
Rick tensed. “What do you mean?” He knew he sounded defensive.
She leaned against the banister. “I mean, is something bothering him? He seems…too quiet. I don’t think he said a word just now.”
Rick looked away. He’d been in this woman’s house for ten minutes, max. She was a stranger. But she didn’t feel like a stranger. She drew him. And in ten minutes, she’d already accomplished the impossible: She’d made his little boy smile.
He met her eyes once more. “Both Toby’s mother and his maternal grandmother died several months ago. A car accident. Toby was in the car when it happened.”
Natalie made a small sound of distress.
“Toby hasn’t spoken since the accident.”
“Oh… I’m so sorry….”
“His mother and I were divorced. And I…hadn’t seen Toby in a while. That’s why I’m interested in this place. Toby’s doctor says Toby’s making progress, but that he would get better even faster if we had more time together, just the two of us. Time for Toby to learn for certain that he can trust me. And time for me to get to know him better. Does that make sense?”
Those big eyes were full of understanding. “Yes, it does. Perfect sense.” She came away from the banister. “Let me show you the rest of the house.”
He thought that he could stand here talking to her forever, but all he said was “Yes, that’s a good idea.”
She pushed the doors open on two small bedrooms and showed him the bath the rooms shared. “These will go with the rental.”
He looked across the hall at two closed doors. She caught the direction of his gaze and explained, “That’s my bedroom, a bath and a sitting room. There’s a master bedroom and a study downstairs, so I was hoping that maybe we could just leave my private rooms out of the arrangement—if it’s only going to be you and Toby.”
“I see.”
“I’d adjust the rent accordingly, of course.”
“If I take the place, that would be okay with me. There are more rooms than we’ll need, anyway.”
She led him back downstairs, through the study and the big master bedroom, with its private bath. There was also a spacious kitchen, a pantry and laundry room with a half bath. Between the parlor and the kitchen was a formal dining room. And branching off from the kitchen was a breakfast area and a big, open family room, which Natalie referred to as the great room.
Once Rick had seen it all, they settled at the breakfast table to talk things over. Natalie said she’d hoped to find a renter who would take the house “as is,” with all her furniture.
“That would be fine with me. But if we do this, I’d like to use the study for Toby’s bedroom. Sometimes he has nightmares, and I want to be close by.”
“I understand. I wouldn’t mind at all if you brought down one of the beds from upstairs.”
“Great.”
She was grinning. “I think this just might work out.” She braced her elbow on the table and propped her chin on her hand.
It hit him then. He remembered a spread he’d seen in some glossy magazine. A gorgeous redhead sitting at a table with her chin in her hand and an impudent grin on her lips. Her eyes had captured him as he thumbed the magazine: big and brown and soft. Just like the eyes of the woman across from him now.
The caption under the picture had read Fortune’s Face: Your face. Then, now and always…
He couldn’t stop himself from asking, “You said your grandmother was named Kate? Kate Fortune?”
She sighed. “The truth comes out.”
“The Kate Fortune? Of Fortune Cosmetics?”
“Yes.”
“You know, you look a little like—”
“Allison Fortune.” She said the name of the world-famous model and spokesperson for Fortune Cosmetics with resignation. “She’s my sister. Actually, she’s married now. Her last name’s Stone. Allie Stone.”
She didn’t look very eager to say more, and Rick wished he’d kept his mouth shut. He remembered reading how her grandmother, an expert pilot, had died tragically over a year ago. The plane Kate Fortune was flying had crashed in the jungles of the Amazon. The body, from what Rick recalled, had been burned beyond recognition.
“If you decided to take the house,” Natalie said, a little stiffly, bringing them back to the topic at hand, “the groundskeepers from my family’s estate, across the lake, will look after the property, so you won’t have any worries there. And a woman will come in once a week to clean the place.”
“Fine.”
She looked down at her hands, which she’d folded on top of the table.
“What?” he asked.
She met his eyes again, and her white teeth worried her bottom lip.
“You look as if there’s something you don’t quite know how to say.”
She chuckled. “You’re right.”
“Just say it.”
“All right. There’s one condition, if you did decide to take the house.”
“I’m listening.”
“You’d have to take care of Bernie while you’re here.”
He really hadn’t been prepared for that one. “You want me to watch your dog for you?”
Her face was flushed again. “I know, it’s crazy. But Bernie comes with the house.”
“But why?”
She glanced away, then back. “This is Bernie’s home.”
He knew there had to be more to it than that, but she was obviously reluctant to tell him what. Rick considered her request, remembering the sight of his son standing in the doorway, with his hand on the dog’s neck. And there were ten acres of property around the house; enough even for a dog that large.
While he thought it over, Natalie provided more detail about her plans. “I’m renting the house because I want to take a long vacation. I’m going on a cruise of the Mediterranean. I’ll be leaving July twenty-eighth, to return at the very end of August so I can get ready before school starts. But if the time frame’s wrong for you, I can stay across the lake, at the family estate I mentioned, either before or after I leave for my trip. My parents have split up and my father’s living alone at the estate now. He’d be glad to have me.” Her big eyes clouded a little, making him wonder whether there was some problem with her father.
The Fortunes were a very important family. And since Kate Fortune’s death, it seemed to Rick, there’d been a lot of news in the papers about them. A missing heir had turned up, and Fortune Industries stock was down. In fact, Jacob Fortune, CEO of the Fortune companies, had made the front page of the Star Tribune only this morning. The article had not been flattering. Could that particular Fortune be Natalie’s father? If so, it was no wonder she was worried about him.
Rick studied the woman across from him, thinking how uneasy he’d been about this whole “vacation” idea. He was a professional man, after all. He’d started out with nothing, and the whole focus of his life had been making something of himself. He’d never had much time for kids—and he didn’t understand what made them tick. The painful truth was, he’d been scared to death that he would blow this experiment royally.
But fifteen minutes ago, he’d seen firsthand that his little boy could be reached. Natalie Fortune had reached him—just by smiling and saying hello.
Now, she was watching Rick anxiously, no doubt worried by his extended silence. “Mr. Dalton?”
“Call me Rick. What?”
“Is there some problem?”
“No. No problem at all. This sounds just right for us. And I’d be glad to look after the dog. I need a couple of weeks to arrange a leave of absence from my job and tie up my affairs in the Cities. So I’d like to move in on July twelfth, and stay until August thirty-first. And don’t move across the lake unless you want to. It’s a big house, and you’re welcome to stay right here until you leave on your trip.”
The smile she gave him then took his breath away. “Whew. Relief. That’s what I’m feeling now. Capital R. I thought for a moment there that you were going to say this wasn’t what you were looking for.”
“No, this is exactly what I’m looking for.”
“Good. Because you and Toby are perfect. Bernie will be so happy you’re the ones.”
“Bernie will be happy?”
She rolled her eyes. “I really wasn’t going to go into it.”
“Into what?”
“You’ll think it’s odd.”
“Tell me.”
She shrugged her spangled shoulders. “All right. It’s like this. Bernie was my grandma Kate’s dog. When she left me the house in her will, she stipulated that Bernie always had to have a home here. Also, until I get married, the house always has to be occupied.”
Rick understood then why she’d seemed so uncomfortable when she requested that he look after the dog. He couldn’t help asking, “What does your getting married have to do with anything?”
Around her neck she wore a thin gold chain with a single charm, a golden rosebud, hanging from it. Her fingers closed around the charm. “If my grandmother were still alive, you can be certain that I’d ask her.”
Rick shook his head, marveling at the eccentricities of the very rich.
“So. Do we have a deal?” she asked.
“You haven’t named a price.”
She did.
“That sounds more than fair,” he said.
She stood. “I’ll get you an application, then. But it’s just a formality. If you want the house from the twelfth of July until the end of August, it’s yours.”
