Chapter 21

 

Elora glanced up over Caitlin’s head and spotted the man of her dreams standing there in a comfortable pair of chinos and a polo necked shirt.

“Danny!”

Danny ignored her calls and stalked away in the opposite direction. Elora wasn’t about to let him go. Seeing Danny again had pushed everything else from her mind except for her need to explain. She set Caitlin down and hopped into an awkward hobble as she dashed after him. She grabbed him by the arm and forced him to a halt.

“Please stop,” she said.

“We have nothing to say to one another,” Danny said.

“Let me explain.”

“There is nothing to explain.” Danny thrust his hands into his pockets. He looked pointedly at her hand on his arm. “You can let me go now.”

“No,” she said. “Not until you’ve heard me out. If you still want me to go after you’ve heard my story, then I’ll leave. But not until then.” Danny plucked her hand off his forearm and dropped it.

Caitlin caught up to her and grabbed her by the hand. “Mommy, I hafta show you the kitties,” she said.

Elora looked around for Patrick and noticed him indulgently bringing up the rear. She needed Patrick to distract Caitlin while she talked with Danny alone.

Danny’s glance went from her to Patrick then back again. “I’m not a home wrecker, Lori. We have nothing to discuss.”

“Home wrecker?” Then it dawned on her what he was saying. Before he could disappear again she grabbed his arm. “You’ve got it all wrong. Please, you have to wait.” She felt near to tears. “Let me explain.”

He stopped and stared at her. “Explain what exactly?”

Elora resisted the urge to heave a huge sigh of relief at Danny’s willingness to at least wait and hear her out. Instead of answering him, she spoke to Patrick over Caitlin’s head. “There’s been a change in plans, Patrick. I can’t join you for lunch right now. I’ll meet you later at the hotel, after Danny and I—.”

“Daddy?” Caitlin squealed. She launched herself at Danny. She threw her pudgy little arms around his knees, effectively holding him in place for a few precious seconds more. With wide eyes the child stared up at the man and asked in all earnestness, “Are you my daddy?”

Elora took a deep breath in an effort to try and get things back on track. How could her life have taken off on such a wildly divergent path without any conscious action on her part? She wanted to laugh at the absurdness of the situation, but one look at Danny’s stony expression convinced her to swallow her humour.

“Caitlin,” she said as she put her hand on the child’s head. “This man’s name is Danny, not daddy.” 

“But I don’t want another uncle,” Caitlin said peevishly and reluctantly let him go. “I gots lots already.” She smiled winningly up at Danny. “I want my daddy to be a prince,” she said. “Besides, he gives the bestest hugs.”

Elora rolled her eyes. If Danny had been ready to bolt before, she could just imagine what he must be feeling now.

“My mommy’s a real princess,” Caitlin informed Danny. “A fairy princess. I heard Uncle Pa talking to Auntie Ronnie last night and he was saying—”

“Enough, Caitlin Anne,” Patrick said. He scooped the child up in his arms. “We are going to look for Auntie Ronnie while mommy and Dan have lunch.” Patrick’s apologetic gaze met with Elora’s as he said, “Take your time.” He then glanced at Danny. “I will indulge Veronica, my wife, with a shopping spree, and then you can find us in the playroom at the Harbour Towers Hotel whenever you’re done.”

“What about my kitty?” Caitlin said.

“We’ll go to the farm after this is all sorted out,” Elora promised. She kissed Caitlin on the cheek. Caitlin in turn threw her arms around her mother’s neck.

“Yuv you, mommy,” she said.

“Love you too, Caitlin Anne. Be a good girl for Uncle Patrick.”

As Patrick strode off with Caitlin riding high on his shoulders, the child turned around and shouted to Danny. “Be'member you’re a prince,” she called. “You have to save my mommy now cause she’s a real princess!”

Elora squared her shoulders as she turned to face Danny. She wondered if it were too late to practice damage control. Danny stood rooted to the spot with his arms crossed impassively over his chest. He didn’t look inclined to rescue anybody right then and there.

“You and Patrick aren’t married?” he finally asked.

“No.”

“Have you ever been married?”

“No.”

“And Caitlin’s real father is…?”

“Dead.”

“I see.” He pulled at his beard. “And there’s no other man waiting in the wings somewhere to come between us?”

Elora shook her head.

Danny sighed and opened up his arms. Elora willingly snuggled into his warm embrace. She closed her eyes and inhaled his familiar woodsy scent, feeling safe and cherished. She just knew everything was going to be all right.

“Okay,” he said. “Let’s go somewhere where we can talk. I have some things to tell you as well.” He kissed the top of her head. “But first things first.” He tilted her chin up with one finger. His mouth covered and claimed hers. Elora’s entire system went into a wild routine of flips, jumps, and spins.

Danny finally broke off the kiss. She rested her forehead against his chest where she could feel his heartbeat hammering away in overtime. She smiled to herself.

“Maybe, instead of lunch, we should get ourselves a room.” He smiled his wolfish grin, his eyes twinkling wickedly.

She felt her own smile fade. “If you still want to after everything I’ve told you, then I’m all yours.”

His steady gaze never wavered. “Nothing can be that bad, sweetheart. Trust me, we’ll make it all work out.”

He draped his arm over her shoulders and, holding her tucked in against his side, began to guide her back up the street. Elora willingly followed where he led.

“Where would you like to eat?” he asked.

“I hear there’s a great restaurant in the Harbour Towers,” she said. “My bags are there, and that way we’ll be on hand to get Caitlin when we’re done.” Elora felt Danny stiffen momentarily at her side. “Unless you have something against the Harbour Towers?”

“No, no. That’ll be just fine.”

Danny arranged for them to have a private table in the Top of the Tower Restaurant near a window with a great view of the harbour. From their vantage they could see the Art Gallery buildings, the Maritime Museum, and even the Historic Properties where the Bluenose II was docked. Aware of the momentous conversation that lay in wait, they both commented on the inconsequential view instead. Once they’d placed their orders, Danny reached for Elora’s hand.

“So, Caitlin is your daughter,” he said. “She’s beautiful, like you.”

Elora willed her heart rate to slow down. She picked her words carefully and began with the easy stuff first.

“Caitlin is my twin brother, Elliot’s, daughter,” she said. “He and his wife died when she was a baby, and I’ve raised her as my own since then.”

“Ah… Now I remember. You once mentioned you had a niece.” Danny chuckled. “She’s quite the precocious handful.”

“What of your dislike of children?” Elora pursed her lips. “That afternoon in Charlottetown, when you—”

Danny shook his head. His eyes grew serious. “My nephew died just last year, he was only seven.”

“I’m sorry.” Elora squeezed the hands that held hers. “I didn’t know, and when you’d mentioned—”

“It’s okay.” Danny smiled. “Meeting Caitlin today showed me that I can care for another child again.” He shrugged. “I never thought it would ever be possible, but she’s special.” He rubbed his thumb along the pad of her palm. “But she’s not why you ran out on me.” He raised a single eyebrow. “Children wasn’t the real issue last night.”

“No,” she agreed. She slipped her hand out of his warm clasp on the pretext of eating. “But first let me give you some background information about myself. Then you’ll be better able to understand what I have to tell you next.” She arranged the napkin on her lap and played with her fork over her salad.

“My real name is Elora St. James.” She nudged a tomato around on her plate. “I don’t know if you follow sports or not, but I’m a—”

“World class figure skater.” His eyes widened. “Of course I know who you are. My parents are your biggest fans. You won gold in the World Championship title just last year. You’re Nova Scotia’s Fairy Princess. That’s what Caitlin was talking about.” He sat back in his chair and stared at her.

“I should have recognized you,” he continued. “There was always that something familiar about you, but I could never quite grasp what it was. I saw your comeback in Los Angeles. Oh, Lori….” He reached for her hand across the tabletop. He laced his fingers through hers. “I had never witnessed anything so poignant as that tribute to your family. It was incredible.”

“I never really felt connected to that performance,” Elora whispered. “What you saw that day was my heart in command of my body, bidding them all a final farewell.”

“I remember the absolute silence that filled the entire arena when it was announced you were going to be skating,” Danny said. “Then the theme from Titanic came on and you just seemed to float out onto the ice. You literally soared through the tribute, and when you finally  dropped to your knees in the center of a tiny pool of light the silence was deafening. Not a single person interrupted your performance with applause. Everyone was too busy weeping. And then the flowers started to fall. In all that silence the rink was simply flooded with bouquets of flowers. Lori,” he whispered, “I never even knew you, but my heart broke for you on that day.”

“I must admit, the support from all my fans, mostly people I didn’t even know, gave me a lot of strength to go on. But my main reason for being was Caitlin. She kept me sane.”

“You were the favourite heading into last winter’s Olympics in Vancouver.” Danny squeezed her fingers. “But you were injured, or something, and simply disappeared just a couple of weeks before the Olympics started. I’m afraid I didn’t follow it too closely. But I do know my mother took your sudden retirement hard, coming so hard on her only grandchild’s death. She always seemed to take your triumphs and tribulations personally. Like I said before, she’s probably your biggest fan.”

“I wasn’t injured.” Elora shook her head. She pulled her hand free. Deliberately she wiped her suddenly damp palms on her napkin. Her mouth felt dry. She tried to calm herself by taking a sip of water. The rattling of the ice against the glass unnerved her, and she set the glass back down.

“Easy,” Danny said. “Take your time. If you’d rather not tell me just yet, then don’t. I can tell you about myself first, otherwise.”

“No, no,” Elora said. “It has to come out. It’s the whole reason why I left you, why I felt I couldn’t stay the other night.”

“Okay.” He reached for her hand and refused to relinquish it when she tried to pull it free. “Take a deep breath. I’m here. I promise I won’t leave, no matter what you say.” He gave an encouraging smile.

“Don’t promise anything until you know the whole truth.” She found his caressing fingertips both soothing and disturbing at the same time.

“Whatever you say,” he agreed. “So tell me, if you can.”

“At the beginning of January I got a blister on my left big toe, and right afterwards I became very ill. The blister became infected with something called necrotizing fasciitis.” She paused and licked at her lips.

“I’ve heard of that,” he said. “It’s also called flesh eating disease. Often they have to remove the surrounding tissue to get rid of it. Is that what happened, Lori? Did they have to remove your toe?”

He looked at her with so much compassion that Elora wanted to weep. Instead she swallowed her tears and continued with the rest of her grim story. “More than that,” she said. “They had to amputate my entire left foot. There’s nothing below my knee except for a stump.”

“You have no foot at all?” he asked, horror lining his voice. “But your career—?”

“Is over,” she said. “I’ll never skate again.” He stopped stroking her hands. She pulled them free and he let them go without protest.

“How terrible for you. I can’t imagine you not being able to skate. You were so gifted.” Absently he ran his fingers through his hair.

“I have other gifts and talents,” she said softly. “I’ve begun a new career, and I still have Caitlin. I know, no matter what, I’ll always have her. She’s been my anchor throughout everything. And when you’re gone, I’ll still have her.” She tried not to let her breaking heart show.

“Me, go?” Danny looked bewildered. “Why should I leave?”

“I don’t know.” She bit her lip and stared at him. She loved this man more than words could ever say, but until she knew what his feelings were in return, she didn’t want to trap him with her admission. “I guess it never occurred to me you might be serious about our relationship. Given the way you live your life like you’re on one big holiday, I didn’t know you were looking for anything more permanent.”

“Permanent?” He sat back in his seat. “That’s a bit fast. I know I’m starting to care for you. But….”

“But?” She felt deflated by his flat, emotionless statement.

“None of this explains exactly why you ran out the other night right in the middle of things.”

Elora looked away. She noticed the still full plate of salad and pushed it away. “You thought I was perfect, you found me sexy. I was terrified of your reaction when you’d see the truth. I couldn’t bear to see the look of disgust replace the look of passion in your eyes. So I bolted.”

“Why would you think I could ever be disgusted by you?”

She took a deep breath. “I was engaged to my coach. When he came to the hospital to see me, he … he took one look at what was left of my leg and said he couldn’t possibly marry me anymore. He said that I had been beautiful before. He said…,” her voice trailed away and she stared at the tablecloth.

“Lori, look at me.” Reluctantly she did. “I still think you’re the most beautiful, sexiest woman I’ve ever known. I have to admit I was shocked when you told me, not at the thought of how you must look, but at the idea of you never skating again.”

“I don’t want your pity.”

“It’s not you I feel sorry for, sweetheart.” He reclaimed both her hands and held them securely between his two strong ones. “My pity is for the rest of the world. You gave something few performers have – heart. I’m sure your leg isn’t exactly a pretty sight, but that won’t keep me from wanting you. It’s you, the woman Lori that I care for. It’s who you are now, today, who I find so appealing.” He gave her one of his wolfish grins. “Do you think so little of me that you’d think I wouldn’t want you because of that?”

“I love you, Danny.” The words just popped out of her mouth. She probably shouldn’t have said them, but she would never wish them unsaid either. She had meant to tell Danny the truth, the whole truth, and her love for him was part and parcel of that truth. His hold on her hands slackened, and this time it was she who held onto him across the table. “And I love being with you.” She decided to lay all her cards on the table. “I want you in my life.”

“I…. I’m not sure what to say,” he finally got out. “I never meant to lead you on. Still….”

“It’s okay,” she said. “I don’t mean to rush you. I guess I just wanted you to know how I feel. It’s why I took the chance of telling you the truth.”

 

Emotions surged through him. Her reason for running out on him had shocked him only in that he grieved for the loss of her talent, but her proclamation had shocked him more. He didn’t know if he was ready to share his life with any one woman. And yet, if there was one woman worth being with….

Dan gazed at her softly smiling mouth and her shining eyes. He felt humbled by the truth he saw there. Her lips moved. It took him a moment to register the words she was saying.

“I know you care,” she said. “And believe me, it’s enough for now. I realize you’re being hit with a lot of things all at once. And I promise I won’t try to bribe you into moving out to Lunenburg either.”

“Bribe me?” 

Just her being out there was enough incentive for him to want to go. He didn’t tell her about his resignation. He didn’t want to give her any false hopes until he was sure of what he wanted. Besides, even if he did move out there, he’d need a job. And his original job offer no longer existed; he’d never take that away from her.

“What would you consider bribery?” he asked. Playfully he waggled one eyebrow. “Now what could you possibly have that I might want to follow you all the way out there for?”

“Maybe an in to working at a golf course,” she said. Nonchalantly she shrugged her shoulders. She lifted her fork, speared a piece of lettuce, and daintily popped it into her mouth.

“Becoming a golf pro,” he chuckled. She probably knew the owner of every golf course around. After all, she did set up tournaments with them using her hotel connections. “Now you’re twisting my arm,” he said. “That’s unfair.” Being a pro would be a fun hobby, but not enough for the long haul. Still, it would give him something to do while giving him and Lori a chance to be together.

“You’re right.” She grinned. “I’m cheating. It’s just that I’d love to have you closer at hand so that we could, you know, date and stuff.” She blushed. Lord how her blushes seared his insides.

“I’d be coming only for you,” he said. “If I came I’d have to get a job, a real job,” he chuckled. “No more planning on becoming a golf bum when I grow up, kind of stuff.”

“I don’t want you to give up your dreams because of me.” She put her fork down and dabbed at the corners of her mouth with her napkin. Her seriousness took Dan unawares.

“If I can help in anyway, I wish you’d let me,” she said. “You know, the Victoria’s Day Best Ball Tournament takes place in two weeks. It would be great if you wanted to help out with that.” Her sparkling eyes fascinated him.

All he had to say were three magical little words. Could he bring himself to utter them? Did he believe in her love to that extent? Did he believe in his own growing feelings? He looked into her eyes and saw the truth that she never even bothered to conceal. The power of her love humbled him.

He reached across the table and once again took her hands in his. He felt his mouth begin to frame the words of a short phrase, a very short phrase.