Independence & Consequences - M J Marlow (manga ebook reader txt) 📗

at him. She saw him step back. “I’m sorry. I don’t mean to snap at you.” “We’ll know soon, Liza,” Gordon told her as he came to give her a hug. “Can you hang in there just a little longer?” “I’ve barely hung on as it is, Gordon,” Liza frowned. She nodded her head at his look. “It’s only a few more days. I’ll do my best.” Morning came and Isabel joined her uncle at breakfast. They talked about the opera for most of the meal. She tried to talk to him about the man she had met in his office but there never seemed to be an opportunity. Gordon took her to the shop where he had keys made and had copies of his house and car keys made. Isabel took them as if they were priceless and he was glad he was giving her the opportunity to be independent. Olivia had not been pleased when he had told her that Isabel would be staying at his penthouse. There had been words about his decision, but Gordon had stood his ground. He had finally reminded the woman that Isabel was his relative, not hers, and she should start looking for a new job. He smiled down at the girl as they stood by the agency plane an hour later. “Are you certain that you don’t want to come with me, child?” Gordon asked as he looked down at her with a smile. “I have vacation days to use. We could make real trip out of this.” “I have a recital Friday night, Uncle Gordon,” Isabel told him, though she was certain he already knew that. She smiled at him shyly. “I would have loved to come.” Gordon smiled down at her, delighted. She was such an exceptional child, he thought. So warm, so giving. Any other girl would be holding it against him for staying out of their life. But Isabel accepted the necessity of her isolation and made place for him in her life. He bent down and kissed her on the cheek. She was so much like her mother, he thought to himself, hiding the sadness of that loss from this child. “If you need anything more,” he said as he handed her a checkbook and credit card, “let Morgan know.” “This is too much, Uncle Gordon,” Isabel exclaimed as she opened the checkbook and saw the amount in the account. “You had time to do all of this?” “The account was opened on the day you were born,” Gordon told her. “I have added to it every year since.” He stroked her cheek. “In hopes that we would find you one day.” “What if you had never found me, Uncle?” Isabel asked him. “That was never an option,” Gordon told her bluntly. He kissed her on the forehead. “I’ll call you once I’m settled and let you know my room number. You have my cell number…” “I’ll be fine, Uncle Gordon,” Isabel broke in, smiling. She went up on tiptoe and kissed him on the cheek. “Don’t worry about me.” “I wouldn’t be a very good uncle if I didn’t worry about you, child,” Gordon smiled down at her. “I’ll be back on Sunday. Behave yourself.” Isabel watched until the plane had lifted off the runway and then got into his car and drove away. She went to the Grand Theater where she was dancing in a recital on Friday evening. The theater manager, Simon Tremont, came up the aisle, smiling widely as he saw her coming in. The man was dressed in his usual black, but he had a knack for making even this plain attire seem flamboyant and daring. The lights bounced off his deep black hair worn long to his shoulders as he strode towards her. Isabel let him envelop her in one of his bear hugs and then accompanied him backstage to the dressing room he had assigned her. She wasn’t surprised when Olivia rose from the chair in front of the makeup mirror. To say the woman was displeased would be putting it mildly. “Your uncle informed me that you will be staying with him until you find a place of your own,” she launched right into the argument. “You’re not old enough…” “I am a legal adult, Mother,” Isabel broke in gently. She quieted as she realized that she couldn’t call this woman that. “But you aren’t my mother, are you?” “He told you?” “Not everything,” Isabel said. “But enough. You kept me from my family, Olivia.” She held up her hand as Olivia started to say something. “I don’t know why you would do something like that, but I think it’s time I had a chance to make my own way.” She shook her head as Olivia started to protest. “I’m not cutting you out of my life. You are the only family I have known until now. I’m just spreading my wings a bit.” She looked at the clock. “I need to change.” “You don’t know what you’re getting yourself into, child,” Olivia said as she waited for Isabel to come out again. “There are a lot of very nasty people in this city who would jump at a chance to hurt your uncle by harming you. You’ll be exposing yourself to all kinds of danger.” “Doesn’t everyone?” Isabel called out from behind the screen. “Honestly, Olivia!” she sighed as she came out in her ballet leotard and tights and sank down on the chair to pull on her slippers. When she was finished, she pulled on her wrap skirt and stretched. “You’re being a bit overly dramatic.” She decided to risk it. “By the way, Uncle Gordon is having a DNA test run. We’ll know exactly who I am in a few days.” Olivia looked at the girl as if she’d never met her before. Was this the same Isabel that she had always been able to control before? She had been out of Olivia’s hands for one night and had found a backbone. She followed Isabel out to the stage and sat down on the piano bench. She waited until Isabel had warmed up and then began to play. Isabel moved through the dance with a new joy in her step. When the dance was over, she was startled by the sound of clapping. She and Isabel turned to see some of the other girls and their mothers, as well as members of the orchestra, seated in the front seats. Simon Tremont, the theater manager, was beaming from where he stood in the aisle. He turned to the other dancers and picked a clipboard up off the railing in front of the orchestra pit. He gave out the room assignments and left them to disperse. Then he came up on stage and picked Isabel up in his arms, twirling around with her. “You are a goddess!” he enthused. “I have never seen anyone move as you do at such a young age, Isabel! You must not let this gift go to waste.” He set her down and looked down at her with some concern. “Are you up to running through it one more time with the orchestra and lighting tech?” She nodded and he turned to the control booth and waved. “Are you ready, Boris?” The lights flashed off and on and he nodded. “Then if you could, my little goddess.” Isabel smiled and went to the spot where she would start. The orchestra began the music as the lights hit Isabel and she was off. The tech had no trouble following her through the solo. When it was over, Isabel went to her dressing room and laid on the couch to relax. Olivia brought her a bottle of water and sank back on the chair, frowning. She was still upset about Gordon’ decision but this was not the time to start an argument. She let the girl relax and thought over what Gordon had told her. She was glad that she had kept aside money from the allowance Isabel’s other uncle had given her to care for Isabel now. Rafael Alvarez sat in the back of the auditorium and watched the practice with mounting worry. She was such a beautiful child. It would be a shame if anything happened to her. He had a very uneasy feeling that she was in danger. His father had been fuming after he had made his usual call to the Chambers woman. What had gotten into them both? Olivia had been hired to keep the girl away from her Uncle Gordon. Instead she had openly defying his father’s edicts and taken her to the man. As if, she too were aware of the danger that was about to be visited on the child and wanted Isabel where she would be safe. His beeper went off and he went out to his car and dialed the hospital. “This is Dr. Alvarez,” he said simply as he started the engine. He pulled away as the message came through. “No,” he told the woman on the other end. “I am not available to my father at this time. In fact, if he calls again, you are to tell him I am not available to him until our family dinner.” He hung up and put the beeper in his glove compartment, feeling as if he had just shed his shackles. He thought over what his father had done and began to realize that it was wrong. He knew his uncle Ricardo well; that man would never have harmed his daughter, even as grief-stricken as he had been after Cassandra’s death. Rafael had been eight when his aunt had died. He still remembered it well. As much as he mourned his dear wife, Ricardo had been a man obsessed as he had searched for their lost child. It was time he knew just where his child had been the past 18 years. “Is he in?” Rafael asked the guard at the head of the ramp as he strode onto the yacht Ricardo used as his home base. “He is with your father, Doc,” the guard, Eduardo Sanchez smiled. He had always liked this young man. He was going to make something of himself despite his heritage. He saw Rafael’s frown. “I take it you still are not speaking to your father?” “You disapprove?” “It’s your life, Doc,” Eduardo replied. “If you go along the deck and down through the galley, he won’t see you.” Rafael nodded and started away. “And Doc?” Rafael turned back and Emilio was struck by how much this young man favored his uncle rather than his father. “I’d be careful how you interact with your father. He is not in the best of moods these days.” Rafael nodded and went down the ladder into the galley. He picked a carrot stick up off the tray and the cook, a very sweet lady named Elisabeta frowned at him. He kissed her on the cheek and continued to eat. She had been more a mother to him than any other woman his father had ever brought into his life. Like Cassandra and his uncle Ricardo, Elisabeta had gone out of her way to care about how he felt, what he thought. He could hear voices from the end of the passageway and knew his father was in the lounge. Elisabeta looked at him knowingly. “Your papa is not a happy man,” she said as she handed him the tray, “but you should not avoid him. It only makes it worse when you do speak.” “You are a very nosy old woman,” Rafael smiled at her as he took the tray. She was right. It was better to get this over with. “But I love you!” “And you are a very cheeky young man,” Elisabeta laughed. She shooed him out of the galley, and he took the tray with him. “Put a smile on that long face of yours, Rafe. Anyone would think