Waiting For Nick
Page 21

"Mama." Clutching the receiver, she turned three circles, making her way across the living room toward the kitchen. "Guess where I am. Yes." Her laughter echoed through the nearly empty rooms. "It's wonderful. I can't wait for all of you to see it. Yes, I know, at the anniversary party. Everything's fabulous." She did a quick boogie over the antique Oriental she'd picked up in the shop Sydney had recommended. "I saw them all on Sunday. Grandma made pot roast. A present?" she stopped her improvised jitterbug to listen. "From Dad? Yes, I'll be here all day. What is it?"
She rolled her eyes and began a new dance. "All right, I'll be patient. Yes, I got the dishes you sent. Thank you. I even lined the kitchen cupboards to honor them. I've picked up some essentials."
She snagged a cookie from the bag on the kitchen counter and two-stepped back into the living room. "No, I'm going to buy a bed here. I really hoped you'd keep mine in my room. It makes me feel like I'm still sort of there. Oh, and tell Brandon I haven't had a chance to get to Yankee Stadium yet, but I'm hoping to take in a game next week. And I've already got tickets for the ballet."
Two tickets, she thought. She'd get Nick there, come hell or high water.
"Tell Katie I'll commit every movement, every plié and fouettee turn to memory. Oh, and tell Dad—Oh, there's too much to tell everyone. I'll talk you all senseless when you come up, and—Hold on, someone's buzzing me. Yes, Mama," she said with a smile. "I'll make sure I know who it is first. Just wait. Yes?" she called into her intercom.
"Miss Frederica Kimball? Delivery for you."
"Papa?"
"Who you think?" came the strongly accented voice. "Frank Sinatra?"
"Come on up, Frankie. I'm in 5D."
"I know where you are, little girl."
"Yes, it's Papa," Freddie said into the phone. "He'll want to say hello, if you've got time." She was already unlocking her door and swinging it open. "You should see, Mama—I've got this great elevator, iron grates and everything. And my neighbor across the hall's a struggling poet who wears nothing but black and speaks in this tony British accent with just a hint of the Bronx underneath. I don't think she ever wears shoes. Oh, here's the elevator. Papa!"
It wasn't only Yuri. Behind him, Mikhail came, bearing an enormous box.
"Pots and pans," Mikhail told her when he set the box down with a dangerous-sounding thud. "Your grandma is afraid you don't have anything to cook with."
"Thanks. Mama's on the phone."
"Let me have it." Mikhail snatched the receiver even as her grandfather gathered Freddie into a bear hug.
Yuri was a big, broadly built man who squeezed her as if it had been years, rather than days, since he'd seen her.
"How is my baby?"
"Wonderful." He smelled of peppermint, tobacco and sweat, a combination she associated with love and perfect safety. "Let me give you the grand tour."
Yuri adjusted his belt, took one long, pursed-lipped look at her living room. "You need shelves."
"Well." She snuck her arm around his waist and fluttered her lashes. "Actually, I was thinking that if I just knew a carpenter who had some time…"
"I build you shelves. Where is furniture?"
"I'm picking it up, a little at a time."
"I have table in my shop. Goes well right here."
He stalked over to the windows, checked to see that they had adequate locks and moved smoothly up and down.
"Good," he pronounced. He was checking the baseboards and the level of the counters in the kitchen when Nick strolled in. "So," Yuri said, "you come to unload boxes?"
"No." Nick shoved a large, blooming white African violet at Freddie. "Housewarming present."
She couldn't have been more thrilled if he'd come in on one knee, with a diamond ring the size of a spotlight in his hands. "It's beautiful."
"I remembered you liked plants. Figured you'd want one." With his hands already seeking the safety of his pockets, he scanned the room. "I thought you said it was just a little place."
It would fit two of his apartment, he noted, and shook his head. So went the perceptions of the rich and privileged. "You shouldn't leave your door open."
She lifted her brows. "I'm not exactly alone."
"Papa. Tash wants to talk to you. Fred, you got something to drink in here?"
"In the fridge," she told Mikhail, watching Nick. "So, did you come by to look the place over, give it the LeBeck seal of approval?"
"More or less." He wandered out of the living room, into the bedroom that held nothing more than a closet, which was already full of clothes, a few boxes and a rug that he figured probably cost the equivalent of a year's rent for him. "Where are you going to sleep?"
"I'm expecting a sofa bed to be delivered today. I want to take my time picking out a real bed."
"Hmmm." He wandered out again. Dangerous area, he realized. Thinking of her in bed. Her bed. His bed. Any bed. "You want to keep these windows locked," he said as he strolled through. "That fire escape's an invitation."
"I'm not an idiot, Nicholas."
"No, you're just green." He glanced up in time to catch the can of soda Mikhail tossed at him. "You need a dead bolt on that door."
"I have a locksmith coming at two. Anything else, Daddy?"
He only scowled at her. He was mulling over the proper retort when her buzzer sounded again. It seemed there was another delivery for Miss Kimball.
"Probably the sofa," Freddie mused, as Nick lighted a cigarette and looked around for an ashtray. She found him a porcelain soapdish shaped like a swan.
But it wasn't a sofa. Her mouth fell open and stayed open as three broad-shouldered men muscled in the base of a grand piano.
"Where you want it, lady?"
"Oh, God. Oh, my God. Dad." Her eyes filled to overflowing instantly.
"Put it over there," Nick told them as Freddie sniffled and wiped her cheeks. "A Steinway," he noted, thrilled for her. "Figures. Nothing but the best for our little Fred."
"Shut up, Nick." Still sniffling, she took the phone from Yuri. "Mama. Oh, Mama."