Beautifully Forgotten (5 page)

Darcy rinsed her mouth and put her toothbrush back. The day she’d signed the lease on her little apartment in Times Square was a wonderful affirmation that she was making it on her own. Her degree in business administration had landed her a job managing Sookie’s, a family-owned catering company, and that’s where she’d found her niche. She loved the work and she was good at it.

She moved into her living room, taking a moment to stare at the print of Gustav Klimt’s
Three Ages of Woman.
The painting had moved her the first time she’d seen it in Sister Anne’s room, but the meaning behind it had grown exponentially for her after she’d left St. Agnes because it was a reminder of her past and how no one stayed the same. Every time she looked at it she appreciated just how far she had come and what she had lost along the way.

Even without the print, Lucien was never far from her thoughts. She had looked into the man who had come to see her, even recruited Sister Margaret’s help, but they were never able to figure out who he was. He definitely had someone on the inside of St. Agnes who had gotten him in under the radar so that there was no record of him ever being there.

When Darcy had found herself in need of a job after leaving Sookie’s, she had given specific instructions to her headhunter that if a job became available in any of Lucien Black’s organizations, that she wanted to know of it. It had been fanciful and, she realized after the reality of their disastrous reunion, foolish, but she had hoped that he would recognize her name and they would take up where they left off. He hadn’t recognized her name, though; he hadn’t remembered her at all. And that reality was unimaginably painful.

Lucien returned his sax to its case. The jam session had helped keep his mind occupied, but now thoughts of
her
crowded out everything else. He thought about getting drunk, but that would only be effective if he stayed drunk, and becoming an alcoholic was not on his bucket list. When he heard his name, he was relieved to have the distraction. He turned to see Kyle walking toward him.

He and Kyle shared a love of music and, after Ember had introduced them, they often found themselves at the same clubs, jamming. Lucien had no delusions about his skill and played only as an escape, but Kyle and his band were a different story. They had the kind of stage presence that sucked an audience in. It was a crime that they were only playing the small venues that they were.

“That was amazing,” Kyle said in way of greeting.

“Thanks. Have you played?”

“I’m up later. You want to get a drink?”

“Yeah,” Lucien replied.

Halfway to the bar, Kyle stopped abruptly, which made Lucien look in the direction that he was staring.

“Kyle?”

“What the hell is he doing here?”

“Who is that?” Lucien asked.

“Todd Samuels. An acquaintance of Ember’s.”

“Ah, the gambler. There’s a back room here, poker mostly.”

Kyle responded by shaking his head in disgust before he continued on to the bar. “Two beers,” he called to the bartender.

“So how’s the music? Getting any new gigs?” Lucien asked.

“Yeah, we have a few more, but we still aren’t at the stage where I can give up my bartending job and focus completely on the music. We’re working on it, though.”

Lucien studied the other man for a minute. He knew how hard it was to get a break; even talented musicians like Kyle struggled for that one gig that could change everything. Someone once gave him a nudge in the right direction, and it was time for him to pay that forward. “I have some friends in the industry. I could give them a call.”

“Are you serious?”

“Absolutely.”

“Man, that would be awesome. Anytime and anywhere. We’ll drop everything for the chance.” Kyle’s excitement was almost palpable.

“Let me see what I can do.”

A ruckus broke out in the back of the place. Lucien turned to see Todd being physically removed from the club.

Kyle had noticed Todd too. “What the hell was that all about?”

“My guess—he was caught cheating. He must be pretty desperate to take the risk of cheating these card sharks,” Lucien added almost absently.

Kyle replied to that with a snort. “He made his bed.”

T
he heat of the summer sun never seemed to warm this place. Nature continually attempted to reclaim the stone paths that guided visitors through the maze of stone memorials. Lucien walked in long, unhurried strides through the overgrown tangles. The small stone angel was centered in a colorful garden—each season the plants reflected the time of year. He didn’t know who planted the garden and kept it, probably someone from St. Agnes, but he knew that Sister Anne would really have appreciated it.

He knelt down in front of her grave and rested his hand on the base of the angel where only four words were carved into the stone, “Gone, but not forgotten.” She hadn’t wanted a tombstone at all. She’d said the money should be used for the children. He’d wanted to honor her request, but he had to have something that he could visit, a place where he felt her.

He absentmindedly pulled the weeds that were poking through the bright-colored flowers as he remembered the day Sister Anne had died and how Darcy had known exactly what he’d needed. She hadn’t cried, nor had she offered condolences; she’d just sat quietly at his side holding his hand in hers. That was the day he fell irrevocably in love with her. To think that only a few weeks later she would take his heart and squash it under her foot.

Coming here was a double-edged sword, because as much as he craved the connection to Sister Anne, it was here more than anywhere that his past came back to haunt him.

Fourteen years earlier . . .

He checked his watch for the sixth time while he continued to pace, but he was excited because he and Darcy were leaving here together. He didn’t really care where they ended up as long as she was with him.

He opened his palm to the little silver cross that Sister Anne had left for him, a necklace she was never without. He was going to give it to Darcy. He wanted her to know how he felt about her and this was the only thing of value he had.

A half hour later, his excitement had started to fade. Darcy was never late. Was she having second thoughts? He looked in the direction of the orphanage, wondering if they had gotten their signals crossed. He was about to walk up the hill to find her when someone came up behind him and wrapped their arms around him. He grinned.

“I thought you were having second thoughts.” He turned into Darcy to kiss her only to realize it wasn’t Darcy, but Heidi—the creepy girl who followed after his friend Trace like a lost puppy. He didn’t understand why she continued to come around. She had been moved to different housing after she had given birth. Nor did he understand why the nuns were seemingly okay with her hanging around all the time. Before he could push her away, she kissed him. It took him a minute to react, but when he finally did, he pushed her hard enough to knock her to the ground.

“What the fuck are you doing?”

Her pale eyes always freaked him out. She tilted her head and smiled like a snake. “I just wanted a taste.”

He turned from her without a second thought and went in search of Darcy, but when he reached her room, she wasn’t there. Her roommates were sitting on the floor playing cards.

“Where’s Darcy?”

The smallest of the girls looked up at him through her smudged glasses. “She left.”

“What? Where?”

He noticed that she couldn’t keep eye contact when she said, “She said she was leaving with her mom. Oh, she left you something.” She stood and grabbed a note off the dresser and handed it to him.

His feet moved him out of the room as he looked blindly down at the note. It took him a while to work up the nerve to read it.

Lucien,

I can’t go with you. I’m sorry. You’ll thank me one day for not tying you down, maybe you already do.

Be happy. I wish only good things for you.

Darcy

His vision blurred from the tears that filled his eyes at how callously she’d discarded all the plans they had made. He crumpled up the note before pushing it into his pocket, and then he walked away and never looked back.

Darcy sat across from her headhunter, Michelle, trying desperately to keep from biting her nails. After the pain had subsided from the epic failure that was their reunion, she realized that it wasn’t possible for Lucien not to remember her. If for no other reason than that she was there when Sister Anne died and that woman had meant everything to him.

If he wanted to pretend he didn’t know her, she was fine with that. Really, she couldn’t blame him, but she needed the job and having a chance to be near him again was just too tempting. She was surprised when Michelle called her and said that Lucien had requested rescheduling the interview. Maybe part of him did want to see her. It was why she was sitting here with her headhunter, who was even now making excuses to the man himself for Darcy’s ridiculous behavior.

Michelle smiled at her and gave her the thumbs-up.

“Yes, even without one? That’s wonderful. I’ll pass that along. Yes, eight o’clock Monday morning. Fabulous. Thank you.”

She hung up on a sigh. “He didn’t want an interview; he hired you. You start on Monday.”

Excitement struck Darcy first, but then she sobered. If Lucien had loved her the way she believed he had, after what she’d done, he had to hate her. Maybe this was her penance. Lord knew she deserved it. Maybe she could make amends and right the wrong she had done him. Losing him as a lover had been hard, but losing him as a friend had been devastating.