The Tycoon's Toddler Surprise (14 page)

She didn’t want to embarrass Victoria with her father behind her, but there was no way around it.  She had to take the leotard off, not laughing as she did so.  Tiny arms and legs were everywhere, tangled in with the curly hair and silly grin. 

It took a few minutes, but
the
ballet outfit was finally fixed, ballet slippers found, hair pulled up into bun and Kristen took a rapid shower, pulling on a sweatshirt and jeans along with sneakers and warm, thick socks.  She was just about to leave her bedroom when she stopped, hand on the door knob and looked at her
reflection
in the mirror over her dresser.  She looked pale and because of the cold, her lips were paler than normal.  She rushed back to her bedroom and put on a touch of lipstick.  Since that made such a difference, she then dabbed a bit of concealer under her eyes to hide the dark circles.  She had slept well last night, but this motherhood thing really wore a person out, hence the dark circles. 

A bit of powder, a touch of mascara…then a bit more mascara…perhaps a slight touch of eye shadow to bring out the color in her eyes….She looked much better, but
then
realized that the high for the day was going to be ten degrees above zero
Fahrenheit
.  For most of the day, she’d be bundled up in coats, hats, gloves and a scarf.  The eye shadow she’d put on was purple
to make her eyes look more green
, but her coat was
navy blue
, so the color would clash. 

With disgust, she thought about rubbing it all off, but she knew she’d already run out of time.  She was not trying to impress Mikhail, she told herself firmly.  And definitely not since she’d look ridiculous with all this makeup on. 

Wiping off the eye shadow, she hurried out of the room. 

“Momma!  You look pretty!” Victoria said as she raced through the den as soon as Kristen walked in.  “Daddy is sure to think so as well,” she announced and turned around, slipping her hand into her mother’s hand.  “Doesn’t she look pretty daddy?”

Mikhail was standing up, his long legs stretching in slacks that were casual, but one could still recognize the tailored precision in their perfect cut.  “She looks beautiful,” he replied, his eyes taking it all in with an amused, knowing look that told her he knew that she’d put on the makeup just for him. But then he glanced down at
Victoria
and shook his head.  “
But
she’s not nearly as pretty as you are, right?”

Kristen’s heart melted once again when she heard the perfect words come out of his mouth.  Why hadn’t she tried harder to keep him in Victoria’s life early on? 
They’d both
missed out on so much, just because she’d been hurt and jealous of Mikhail’s dedication to his work.  She’d been petty and mean and if she could do it all over again, she would. 

“We have to go or she’ll be late for ballet class,” Kristen said, clearing her throat before turning to grab coats and hats.  “Come on Tory.  We need to hurry.”  She couldn’t look at Mikhail, afraid he would know what she was thinking.  She wanted to be subtle.  She wanted to be oblivious to him.  She wanted him to be involved with Victoria, but not hurt either of them if he decided to leave.  So why was she primping for him?  Why was her heart speeding up at the memory of their kiss only thirty minutes ago? 

“Come on, love,” she said and herded
Victoria
to the doorway, stuffing her into her winter gear then out to the car. 

“Are you coming with us?” she asked over her shoulder, still unable to look him in the eye.   “We have to pick up the others before class too,” she explained, referring to the cousins and neighbors that she car pooled to and from ballet class. 

“I’m driving,” he said and plucked the keys out of her hand.

She started to object, but then stopped herself.  Let him try and start that stupid car, she thought with a small amount of vengeance.  He’d learn how irritating
the stupid contraption
could be and wouldn’t ask again.  It took a bit of
finagling
to get that temperamental
machine
to start each morning. 

While Kristen strapped Victoria
into
her
car
seat
, Mikhail
remained standing
outside the
vehicle
with a look of revulsion.  “Do you really drive a minivan?” he asked, not getting in as he looked at the car as if it were a donkey with a feathered hat. 

“Of course I do.  There’s lots of room, it’s easy for Victoria to get
in
and out of along with all our stuff, it’s
perfect
for the car pools as well.  This puppy can fit a lot of kids and their gear.”  She looked across the hood of the vehicle and almost laughed
at his expression
.  “If your male ego can’t
handle
the drive, I can take my keys back and drive it myself.”

He glared back at her.  “My male ego would be further offended by being a passenger in a minivan.”  He glanced at it once again and shook his head slightly.  “Get in.”

She smothered her laughter and got into the vehicle.  It was odd sitting in the passenger seat, but even more weird to be in the small space with Mikhail.  His extremely large body barely fit into the driver’s seat and she had a new thought.  “Do you even know how to drive?” she asked.

“Of course I know how to drive.  Why in the world would you ask that question?”

“Because I’ve never seen you drive.  In New York you were always
chauffeured
around.  I know you had a car in the garage.  Several in fact, now that I think about it.  But I don’t believe you ever drove them.”

“I drove them, but only when I was heading out of the city.”  He turned the key in the ignition and frowned when nothing happened.  “I don’t have time to deal with the parking and traffic in that
area
.”  He tried again, still, nothing happened.  The engine refused to turn over. 

“Uh oh.  I was afraid of this,” she said, unbuckling her seat belt.  “I’d better call Bob.  He always knows how to fix this.”

Mikhail ignored her and pulled the lever that would pop the hood.  “We’re not calling Bob,” he almost growled a moment before he got out of the car.

Kristen followed him
from her side of the car
, coming around and meeting him just as he was propping the hood up.  “Listen, I understand about men and their vehicles but we really don’t have time to waste here.  Bob can fix this in five minutes.  He just jiggles something and it starts again.  He told me to get the starter fixed but I just haven’t had time or the money yet so…” the words faded off as she watched in fascination as Mikhail unhooked several wires, twisted them around, reattached them to others and reconnected all of them. 

“Your solenoid switch is corroded.  You need a new one because even cleaning this one is g
oing to cause problems later on
.”  He uncapped something at the front of the vehicle and shook his head.  “Your antifreeze is low as well but it should be okay for a while.”  He stepped back and wiped his hands before slamming the hood.  “You need a new car.  This is a piece of junk.”

With that pronouncement, he walked
back to the driver’s side, slid into the seat and turned the key.  Kristen was still standing by the front of the minivan with her mouth hanging open as she heard her car engine turn over more smoothly than it had in months. 

“How do you know to do that?” she asked, racing around the car and sliding into the passenger seat.  Victoria was in her car seat, happily singing about a lamb and playing with the
tassels
on her gloves, oblivious to the astounding realization that her mother had just discovered.  Her husband knew how to fix cars?

She watched as Mikhail backed out of her short driveway, patiently waiting for his answer.

“Why would you think I couldn’t fix cars?”

She blinked and looked out the front window, sliding her sunglasses on because of the bright sunshine reflecting off of the snow.  “Well, perhaps because you’ve never mentioned doing anything like that before.  Or maybe because I’ve never even see you drive, so why would you be able to fix them?” 
She
waited for a long moment, then prompted, “Did your father teach you how to fix cars?”

“I never knew my father,” he said as if that would stop the conversation. 

This was news to Kristen.  She waited for another long moment, but when it was obvious that he wasn’t going to elaborate, she couldn’t help but ask more questions, even though she could tell that this was a subject that he didn’t want to discuss.  In the past, she’d asked questions like that but now that she thought about it, every time she’d brought up a touchy subject, he’d simply kissed her, distracting her from asking anything else.  And giving him an excuse to get out of an explanation. 

“So your mother raised you?”

He sighed as he stopped at a stop sign.  “Which way do I turn?”

“Right.  Your mother raised you?” she asked again, refusing to let the subject die.  If he was coming back into their lives, she wanted to trust him, to know that he would always be there for them before she could depend on him in an emergency.  She wanted to know she could talk to him about anything, but she couldn’t if there were all these landmines that could derail their relationship. 

“Why is this important to you?” he asked, turning right and heading down the street towards her sister’s house. 

“Because it’s obviously important to you.”

“It’s important that we change the subject.  My past is over.  Let it rest and let’s just look to the future.”

She thought about that for a moment, considering how he might feel about revealing something that was so painful that he couldn’t even talk about it.  Then she shook her head.  “I think it’s not over.  I think
it’s
still lurking in our future and unless I understand you, understand what made you who you are, then I don’t know who you are.”

“Yes you do.”

She shook her head, watching him carefully.  She remembered that tick in his jaw.  It was a big red flag that she’d always been afraid to challenge.  But she had nothing to lose now.  And she’d win him if she challenged it now. 

The big question was, did she want him? 

She looked back at Victoria who was playing with a stuffed monkey in one hand and a doll in the other, toys she’d pulled out of the bag Kristen kept attached to her car seat for driving around the city.  The monkey and the doll were having some sort of conversation which Kristen didn’t really understand, but was obviously enthralling for Victoria. 

Did she dare to push Mikhail?  If she did, would he leave?  Or would he shut her out? 

When the monkey bent over and kissed the doll, Kristen smiled gently, enjoying her daughter’s creativity and exuberance. 

Looking back at Mikhail, she gently laid her hand on his forearm.  Since it was the first time she’d voluntarily touched him since his return, he immediately glanced down at her hand, then back at her face.  “I’d really like to know about your parents.  If you have a mind to tell me, I think it’s very important to who you are today.  And I’d like to genuinely know who you are.”

They’d pulled into her sister’s driveway by that time.  She unlatched her seat belt and slipped out of the car, carefully walking up to the front door and calling inside.  The
sound that greeted her
was a stampede of little ballerinas all charging down the stairway.  They chattered noisily as they pulled on their hats and coats, mittens or gloves and grabbed their ballet bags that were stuffed with leggings, ballet slippers and extra hair pins just in case.  Calling out greetings, they all rushed out of the house and bundled into the back of the van, calling out greetings to Mikhail as if he had always been around. 

Kristen got back in the car and smiled to Mikhail who was looking a bit confused by all the chaos of little girls settling in behind him.  When all the seat belts were fastened and greetings exchanged. Kristen gave him directions to the dance studio which was only about three miles down the road. 

The rest of the day was a marathon of errands.  Kristen kept thinking that Mikhail would bail on her but he persevered through the grocery store where she found out how opinionated he could be about food, the shoe store where Kristen tried to buy Victoria a pair of running shoes but he insisted on buying her several pairs of different colored shoes,
and then he dragged them to the mall where he bought her
clothes, jeans with sparkles on them and little girl cowgirl boots to match.  At the hardware store, he was ominously silent, following her as she picked up new outlet covers,
light bulbs
and a new nightlight for Victoria’s room.  She didn’t understand what he was thinking, but since she was too rushed, she didn’t have time to ask.

Back at the house that afternoon, Victoria ran through the house, trying on her new shoes while Kristen worked in the kitchen.  Initially, Mikhail oohed and aahhed about Victoria’s shoes and laughed at her excitement.  But when she went down for her nap, he peeked into the kitchen to find out what Kristen was doing.