Hearts Unfold (62 page)

You can’t imagine how excited/terrified I am of coming to
said NYC.
 
Please promise you'll stop me
from gawking at everything like the country girl I am.
 
I don't want to embarrass you; in fact I want
so much to make you proud of me.
 
But
I've never been to a city bigger than DC, and that was on my seventh grade
field trip.
 
All my travels have been
between
the
covers of books.
 
I envy you the
opportunity to see the world and earn your living at the same time.
 
After we’re married, perhaps I could tag
along once in a while?
 
I could iron your
shirts and carry your luggage, not to mention
massage
your tired shoulders.
 
Oh, but you
already have
John to do those things for you.
 
Are you sure you really need a wife?

I'll be ready to run into your waiting arms, after seven
hours alone in the back of a car.
 
Please
keep a light in the window for me?

Yours at sixes and sevens,

Emily

Darling Emily,

In the brief days we were together do you realize we
covered any number of major life events?
 
Birth, marriage proposal, meeting the in-laws, celebrating our

first Christmas together, not to mention my own personal
firsts.
 
I not only experienced a
spiritual awakening, but prepared my first tea tray, and ate my first wild
duck.
 
And I slept all night next to the most
beautiful girl in the world, maintaining my gentlemanly decorum.
 
Think what we can accomplish in our years
together if we can keep up the pace.

All the arrangements have been completed for your visit
to the Big Apple.
 
You have a suite
reserved on a lower floor of my own fine hotel.
 
Your virtue will be quite safe, as I could never take the elevator to
you at an inappropriate hour without incurring the disapproval of Jimmy the
elevator boy.
 
(He's old enough to be my
grandfather!)
 
We will be able to share
all our meals, spend all our waking hours together, and I can kiss you good
morning and good night for six days in a row., after which, I shall be
completely desolate for three months.

I’ve talked with John and we’ve made plans for trips to
your requested monuments and landmarks.
 
We have tickets for
Carmen,
A Little Night Music,
and
Radio City Music Hall.
 
As I told you, on
Friday night you will have to endure a chamber concert featuring several big
name headliners, including yours truly.
 
It's a benefit for one of Peg's charities, and she has made use of us
before.
 
It should be a good show; these
guys are great fun to play with.
 
We'll
rehearse that morning, so I wonder if you might like to come along and visit
with Peg.
 
She's amazed that I've found a
girl I'm willing to bring home to meet the folks.
 
If she only knew that she's already met you,
but I haven't given that away yet.
 
I
want to see her face when she recognizes you.
 
I think the two of you will get on famously, as you are alike in many
ways.

Jana is looking forward to meeting you also.
 
You’ll find her pleasant, if a bit
reserved.
 
Still waters run deep with
Jana.

Milo has been in a surprisingly genial mood since I
returned.
 
It may have something to do
with a certain wildly influential conductor who is very excited about my little
student workshops.
 
It never hurts to
have friends in high places.
 
Milo is
still pushing his bizarre idea for a new recording project, and in the end I
fear I’ll be forced to compromise.
 
But
he is more respectful now at least, not quite ramming the thing down my throat.

I plan to have lunch with him tomorrow, at which time I
will explain, in no great detail, how you and I have become “friends.”
 
That’s all he needs to know for now.
 
I want him to meet you, see for himself the
kind of angel you are.
 
I can't imagine
he'll be anything but supportive when he sees how happy I am.
 
Really, as long as I'm keeping my
commitments, staying sober and playing well, he'll be satisfied.
 
If he thinks you're contributing to my
stability, all the better.

Emily, you can't imagine how excited I am at the thought
of having you here, showing you off.
 
I'm
afraid after the photographers get sight of you, we may not have much
peace.
 
Never fear, John will be on hand.
 
But I can guarantee you some clippings to
take home.
 
For the first time, I would
welcome a little press as now I have
something to be
proud of.
 
You might practice a blinding smile, followed
by tucking your head and running for cover.
 
That's the best way to handle them.
 
A neat little wave of the hand adds a nice touch, too.
 
Since I've for so long been a confirmed
loner, your presence will no doubt create something of a sensation.
 
You won't mind will you?
 
Think how much you'll be doing to enhance my
reputation.

Speaking of John, he's anxious to get to know you since
he can see first-hand what a change you’ve made in me.
 
He's known me since I was a little boy, and
he never had much hope for me I fear.
 
He
says he wishes I would have a pensive mood now and then, just for old times'
sake.
 
John is a great man to have
watching one's back, much like your Jack.
 
He's probably the closest thing I have to real family, sort of a
brother, father, uncle rolled into one.

While you’re here, I plan to introduce you to a certain
very helpful sales clerk at Tiffany's.
 
I’d like you to show her the type of ring you
prefer so that I can make the right choice and not have you regret ever
accepting my offer.
 
We can tell her
we're just helping out a friend, right?
 
Surely, she would never suspect us.
 
Unless she remembers the hours she spent with me trying to choose your
Christmas present.
 
I warn you, I'm
hopeless.
 
I've become totally
transparent.

I'm sending Robert to drive you.
 
I know he will take the best care of you.

I'll be waiting in the lobby for you Monday night and as
I'm sure you will be starving, we'll go straight in to supper.
 
See, I've learned a great deal about the care
and feeding of Emily already.

Yours for always,

Stani

Chapter Fifty

From the warmth of the lobby,
John Kimble watched as Stani raced through the rain, dodging in front of the
doorman to open the car door.
 
The
umbrella he carried bobbed wildly as he took the outstretched hand of the girl,
pulling her from the rear seat and wrapping her in his arms beneath its
shelter.
 
In the middle of the sidewalk
crowded with pedestrians rushing past, heads lowered against the rain, Stani
stood his ground, kissing her soundly.
 
Robert had unloaded her bags and stood waiting for instructions, a look
of pleased indulgence on his face.
 
But
they were both oblivious it seemed, to the attention they were attracting.
 
Finally, John dashed out to them, tapping
Stani on the shoulder.
 
“For God's sake,
lad, get her in out of the rain!
 
You're
blocking traffic!”

As he rode up in the elevator
with them, he had his first opportunity to get a good look at her.
 
Stani had said repeatedly that she was
beautiful, but John had not expected her to be so elegant or so out of the ordinary.
 
Her heavy dark hair and those startling gray
eyes were certainly attractive; but there was an even more appealing quality to
her features, an intelligence in her expression, that spoke of breeding and
strength of character.
 
Her speech was refined;
her manner when they’d been introduced had been warm and confident.
 
In the few minutes he had to sum her up,
before he left the elevator to take her bags to her room, he concluded this
Emily was the perfect match for Stani.
 
In her own way, she was as unusual, as much an original, as he was.

John had always known it would
take an exceptional woman to understand Stani.
 
He had so little practical experience, growing up in a bubble the way he
had.
 
He would need a partner to guide
him through the business of everyday living.
 
It would take a woman who understood his
world, his extraordinary talent and all that went with it.
 
It would be her job to protect him when he
pushed himself too hard, to shield him from the demands of others who knew that
he was often too eager to please.
 
While
John had been impressed with Stani's efforts to learn more about what he called
living the life of a man, he knew only too well there would always be the need
for someone to guard the more vulnerable side of his nature.
 
This girl, with her simple style and her
straightforward manner, might be just the thing to settle him down, give his
life some purpose beyond exhausting all his energy playing that violin.
 

John had been the one, as
Stani worked his way back from the accident, who had seen most clearly the
tormented drive to recover his former skill.
 
He had been with him after those first performances, when Stani had left
the stage trembling with fatigue.
 
While
John eased him out of his coat and stripped off the sweat-soaked shirt, he had
watched as Stani struggled to hide the pain, fighting to hold back tears of
frustration.
 
It was a tribute to the
boy's talent that he'd been able to convince Milo too soon that he was ready to
go back to work.
 
But John knew the
truth, that the arm was still weak, that his fingers were numb and his shoulder
stiff with pain by the end of each performance.
 
He also knew that Stani was driven as much by fear as by the desire to
play again.
 
He had to respect him, but
at the same time he feared the pressure would ultimately be too much.
 
Whisky was a hard woman to leave, John knew
only too well.
 
And Stani was all too
willing to admit he had a fondness.
 
If
the man John had met in Scotland had indeed been Stani's father, then he could
well have inherited the habit.
 
That, coupled
with pain and fear of failure, could prove disastrous.

Stani had persisted, turned
away from the temptation to drink, forcing himself to work and bear with the
resulting pain.
 
But his mood had
suffered.
 
He'd grown increasingly
depressed, convinced that his survival was a cruel joke.
 
John had been frightened by the dark moods,
the mad drive and the long periods of silent, almost angry contemplation.
 
When Stani began to suffer from insomnia,
wandering his room at night, stumbling through his days in a stupor, John had
suggested as gently as he could that it was time to seek help.

That had led to the search for
memories, the questions about the days surrounding the accident, trips to the
scenes of that night and finally to this girl.
 
As skeptical as he’d been, John could see now that had been the turning
point for Stani.
 
His meeting with Emily
had altered everything, lifted him from the depression, set him on a path of
change and, John suspected, renewed his sense of his own manhood.
 
He could well understand why Stani now walked
with a spring in his step, why he so often wore a smile on his face for no
apparent reason.
 
This slender, graceful
girl, with her smoky eyes and generous mouth, would provide inspiration for any
man.

He had only to see the way she
looked at Stani, her eyes gleaming, the way she gently linked her arm in his,
to be satisfied that this was that one exceptional woman who would both love
and guide him.
 
When John left the
elevator to take the bags to her room, while they went on to Stani's suite, he
smiled at the thought of the boy's good fortune.
 
Just as he had once wondered about Stani's
relationship with Peg Shannon, he could now imagine the joy these two would
share.
 
But, very different from Peg,
this Emily was not a woman to come and go.
 
She would make a total commitment to a man or none at all.
 
This girl had won Stani's heart, touched his
soul and changed his life.
 
Now that he
had seen them together, John understood that not only had this slip of a girl
pulled Stani to safety in the midst of one storm, she intended to stay beside
him through whatever storms the future might bring.